Burnout: What Happens to Your Brain (and How to Recover)
Recent research shows that chronic stress doesn’t just make you feel foggy or unmotivated—it literally changes your brain’s structure. The amygdala (your inner alarm system) gets bigger and louder, while the prefrontal cortex (the part that helps you focus, plan, and chill out) shrinks and loses its edge (Savic, 2015). It’s like your brain’s smoke detector is stuck on high alert, and the part that’s supposed to calm it down is out to lunch.