{"id":9868,"date":"2026-09-25T00:53:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/?p=9868"},"modified":"2026-09-25T00:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:54:48","slug":"advice-from-a-neuroscientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/2026\/09\/25\/advice-from-a-neuroscientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice from a neuroscientists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you can\u2019t switch off after work, that\u2019s not dedication. That\u2019s a prefrontal cortex so flooded with cortisol it\u2019s physically lost the ability to downregulate.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you push harder when you\u2019re exhausted because rest feels lazy, that\u2019s not discipline. That\u2019s a nervous system that\u2019s forgotten the difference between threat and ambition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you feel guilty the moment you stop being productive, that\u2019s not high standards. That\u2019s a brain that\u2019s wired rest and stillness to the same threat circuitry as failure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you hit a wall suddenly \u2014 not gradually \u2014 that\u2019s not weakness. That\u2019s your prefrontal cortex hitting its glucose limit and shutting down executive function to protect itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you feel emotionally flat even about things you used to love, that\u2019s not apathy. That\u2019s dopamine receptor downregulation \u2014 your reward system so depleted it can\u2019t generate enthusiasm on demand.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you get sick the moment you take a holiday, that\u2019s not bad timing. That\u2019s your immune system finally getting the signal that the threat is over and releasing everything it held back while you were \u2018coping\u2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you can\u2019t concentrate for more than 20 minutes, that\u2019s not distraction. That\u2019s a prefrontal cortex rationing its remaining cognitive resources because it\u2019s operating on empty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you feel more anxious on rest days than work days, that\u2019s not personality. That\u2019s a nervous system so habituated to stress hormones that calm has started to feel like something is wrong.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you\u2019ve started crying for no reason, that\u2019s not a breakdown. That\u2019s your limbic system finally overriding the suppression your prefrontal cortex has been running for months.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you keep saying \u2018I just need to get through this week\u2019, that\u2019s not a plan. That\u2019s a brain in survival mode convincing you the finish line is close enough to justify<br>destroying yourself to reach it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From Facebook joshphycology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Facebook joshphycology<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9870,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9868\/revisions\/9870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dankohn.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}