The human neuroendocrine system has changed very little since the time of cave people. Yet today we are likely to receive more stimulation in one day than our ancestors did in their entire lifetime.
Most of us are inundated constantly with demands for our attention. So I don't need to tell you how stressful it feels. It can be tempting (and sometimes necessary) to try to attend to two tasks simultaneously. Sometimes, it's harmless - like listening to a podcast while working out. Other times, trying to pay attention to more than one thing at a time costs us more than we might realize.
We get increased heart rates, and then the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline get released, and they flood our bodies. This causes physical symptoms, such as headaches or issues with the digestive system, and then there is the emotional aspect: You might notice that you're feeling irritable, anxious, you've got low mood, lack of motivation: these are key signs that you are under a lot of stress.
In my last post, we explored why you may be too tired to parent the way you want-to the knowledge-capacity gap that leaves even well-informed parents unable to use the tools they know when they're depleted. We talked about how chronic stress limits access to the parts of your brain responsible for self-control and empathy. Today, I'm sharing seven practical steps that actually help when you're too exhausted to parent the way you want.
When we're under a lot of stress, our brains do something fascinating and often harmful to our relationships: They shift into scarcity mode. Often, people think of a scarcity mindset only as something related to our finances and resources: We don't have enough money, food, or time. But scarcity mindset, or the general belief that there isn't enough, impacts people in every area: their skills, their worth, their general capacity in life.
According to the American Psychological Association's latest Stress in America™ 2025 survey, societal division has emerged as a major source of stress for U.S. adults. Conducted online by The Harris Poll, the survey found that 62% of 3,000 adults, ages 18 and older, identified societal division as a significant stressor in their lives. As we head into the holiday season, this finding feels especially relevant. The same gatherings that promise warmth and connection can also stir tension, particularly when social and political differences arise.
Professor Neil Walsh and his team at Liverpool John Moores University have established that people who are dehydrated have higher spikes of cortisol during stressful situations. And these findings, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, suggest that over the long term, dehydration could have important implications for chronic diseases that are associated with heightened stress responses over time, including depression, anxiety disorders, heart disease, and diabetes.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed right now? We are all feeling it lately, personally and collectively as a society. You may be absorbing not only your own stress, but stress from those around you, as well as national stress. The world - and maybe your life - feels like it's turned upside down and may not seem like it makes sense anymore.
'Our recent research found that parents, compared to non-parents, reported higher desire for and engagement in infidelity during periods of significant external stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.'
James Tucker emphasizes that effective cyber resilience strategies contain three elements: "processes, technology, and people." Companies often overlook the importance of the human factor in resilience strategies.
