Our brain is an important machine which steers our body. In stress, and even worse, burnout, we can look at what is going wrong in the brain. This namely provides us with insight in what we can change in order to calm down our brain again. In this article we will describe how the sympathetic nervous system functions in stress, or worse, burnout.

The sympathetic nervous system and worrying?

In stress, the stress hormone cortisol is secreted. This hormone will make it so that several neurons in the brain start going off due to the secretion of sugars. Furthermore, adrenaline is released, when we experience stress. This latter hormone will make it so that our thoughts end up in worrying more quickly. The hormone will namely make tit so that our thoughts are passed on more quickly. This causes our thoughts to move so quickly that they cannot touch down at the solution focused part of our brain. Thus, worrying develops.

The sympathetic nervous system and the vicious cycle?

Because adrenaline and cortisol make it so that our thoughts race through our brain more quickly without stopping by the solution focused part, a vicious cycle of these worrying thoughts is developed. We cannot get out of this, but will also find it much more difficult to come up with any solutions. Stress namely makes it so that part of our brain is disregarded. This vicious cycle and the worrying will in turn lead to symptoms of stress, like having issues sleeping. During sleep, a psychological and physiological cleanse takes place, which makes it so that we are more rested and can link associations more easily. But because of the stress, you sleep less and therefore all functions, which are solution focused, are turned off one by one. Thus a vicious cycle develops, which is difficult to get out of.

15 Minutes 4 Me and breaking out of the vicious cycle

15 Minutes 4 Me is an online self-help program which is specialized in the treatment of stress, burnout, and depression. Thanks to daily videos, exercises and questions you will reach new insights. Furthermore, exercises will be offered which can teach you to stop the vicious cycle and the worrying thoughts.

Do I have stress?

To measure to what extent stress is present in you, you can take our free stress test. This test takes about 5 minutes of your time and you will receive your score right after!