Illustration: Kieran Blakey

The Nuance

Why the Stressed Brain Falls Back on Old Habits

In an effort to save energy and cognitive resources, the stressed brain prioritizes old habits and routines over purposeful, deliberative action

Elemental
Published in
5 min readOct 15, 2020

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Distressed dogs tend to repeatedly lick their forelegs and paws. Happy and healthy dogs also do…

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Markham Heid
Elemental

I’m a frequent contributor at TIME, the New York Times, and other media orgs. I write mostly about health and science. I like long walks and the Grateful Dead.