Stress Makes You Stupid

Imagine approaching the end of your workday and getting ready to leave the office. It has been a busy and intense day. It would be best if you went by a particular time because you promised your spouse you would be home for dinner.

Then the worst thing happens, you get called into the boss’s office. There’s an error in the report that is due by the end of the day. Now you need to stay until it’s resolved. You don’t have enough time to get it done and still meet your commitments — a classic example of what can trigger feelings of anxiety and worry in any of us.

What’s worse is that our projections increase our stress. I guarantee in this situation, none of us immediately thinks, “Oh, this will be fine, it’ll only take a few minutes to correct the error” or, “It’s okay if I’m late home for dinner, my spouse will understand.” Our projections about the situation are so much worse — especially off the back of a busy and intense day at the office. You experience an immediate stress response.

That “stressful” feeling comes from the flood of chemicals (specifically cortisol and adrenaline) that get released in the body when the brain launches into speculation. When you perceive a threat — in the example above, a risk to your personal or professional reputation — you activate the adrenal system. You trigger the fight-or-flight response.

Acute stress is any stress you suffer from for a short period — like traffic, an argument, criticism, or someone breaking into your house.

For our ancient ancestors, this response enabled them to perceive and react to threats faster and survive. It was absolutely critical and often the difference between living to see another day and meeting your end. We have inherited this highly attuned survival mechanism.

Even today, our immediate stress response can be pretty useful. Controlled levels of stress can be powerful motivators in times of laziness or complacency.

So, stress is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. It is prolonged stress that can kill you.

Chronic stress is stress from repeated situations that lead to the release of stress hormones. Chronic stress causes wear and tear on the mind and body.

Many scientists think that our stress response system was not designed to be continuously activated.

If you’re stressed all the time, you are mobilizing resources from your body, including your gut, your elimination system, your immune system, and from your higher brain centers, and you are putting that energy into your muscles to fight or run for your life.

That means your memory is weak, your concentration is impaired, you can’t digest your food correctly, you can’t properly eliminate toxins from your body, and your immune system is compromised.

I stumbled upon an article about researchers wondering what would happen if they set up rabbits to live on grassy areas between the lanes of a freeway in Los Angeles. The rabbits would be relatively safe with fences, but they would be exposed to the constant sounds and fumes of passing cars and trucks.

It turned out the experiment was a disaster for the rabbits. Living on the freeway did all sorts of things to their brains and nervous systems. They failed to thrive, and their baby bunnies died. This study drives home the obvious: it’s hard to thrive in modern fumes and noise. High stress like this is a given in many organizations. Some days I’m sure some of you feel like these rabbits — you’re never off duty, and the pressure to get it all done never stops.

Unfortunately, we make it worse by expecting and accepting high stress in the workplace, so we don’t do much about it. Many people I have met or worked with think that stress gives them their edge — as if stress is the thing that keeps them driven and ahead of the next person.

Well, if you’re comparing your performance to the next stressed-out human, then you will never know your full potential. Stress makes you stupid. Studies have shown that your IQ measurably drops within minutes of your body releasing the stress hormone, cortisol.

If only we could keep that under control, imagine how much more effective we could be.

Now, there are countless ways to reduce stress in our lives, from regular exercise and eating well to meditation and getting a good night’s sleep.

We can manage stress by attempting to remove or change the source of stress. We can even learn alternative ways of coping.

However, I think there is nothing more powerful than altering how we view a so-called stressful event. Stress is a feeling of not being able to cope with specific demands and events. In other words, our perception.

The trouble is, we don’t stop to think about the fact that our response is based on perception. It’s pretty helpful when you’re a caveman, and a saber-toothed tiger jumps out on you. But when you realize that you’ve forgotten to do something at work or your boss asks you to come into their office because they want to “talk,” are you really in mortal danger? Should you experience the same feelings of panic? Should you have such a severe reaction? No, of course not. We have not learned how to adapt our highly attuned survival mechanism to our modern environment.

We think this way of being is natural. It’s normal for most people in the working world, but it’s anything but natural.

For me, the most impactful shift I made in my relationship with stress was one of perspective.

I realized that the daily pressures and demands placed upon us, and the number and variety of stressors that come our way (in and out of your work life) do not determine our stress level.

Our response dictates everything. And we have the power to choose our response.

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