Scientists have confirmed that high stress environments can cause the brain to rewire itself in ways that reinforce and contribute to ongoing stress. "In other words," the New York Times explains,

the rodents were now cognitively predisposed to keep doing the same things over and over, to run laps in the same dead-ended rat race rather than seek a pipeline to greener sewers. “Behaviors become habitual faster in stressed animals than in the controls, and worse, the stressed animals can’t shift back to goal-directed behaviors when that would be the better approach,” Dr. Sousa said. “I call this a vicious circle.”

Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist who studies stress at Stanford University School of Medicine, said, “This is a great model for understanding why we end up in a rut, and then dig ourselves deeper and deeper into that rut.”

The truth is, Dr. Sapolsky said, “we’re lousy at recognizing when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Our response is usually to do it five times more, instead of thinking, maybe it’s time to try something new.” [Link]

The good news is, the study also found that when the rats were allowed to destress, they went back to their normal, open-minded selves - that is, they stopped behaving in uselessly habitual ways, and reverted to behaviors that made sense for their true desires.

For the rats, it took four weeks' vacation. But knowing may be half the battle - rather than thinking we must make changes in order to reduce stress in our lives, we may need to reduce stress first in order to see how to change our habits.

What can you do to help reduce stress so you can begin to make adjustments to habits that aren't helping you?