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Dr. Shadé ZahraiDr. Shadé Zahrai

Overcome Overwhelm & Anxiety with these 3 Neuroscience-Backed Tips

Learning how to better navigate your state during times of uncertainty, to reduce overwhelm, stress and anxiety, and actually perform, is really important at work – especially if you want to establish yourself as a credible leader. Let’s face it – the workplace is full of change - from restructures or re-organizations, to new policies, transformation programs, new management and new priorities. It can become exhausting really quickly and could lead to burnout. In this video, I’ve invited my business partner and husband Faysal to join and we’ll be sharing 3 insights from recent neuroscience research to help you perform during uncertainty. The three insights are: 1️⃣ Break free from stress-induced ‘tunnel-vision’ 2️⃣ repurpose the ‘struggle’, and 3️⃣ See Uncertainty as a learning opportunity You’ll find references to the research below. __________________________________________ 🚀FREE TRAINING– Career Clarity: https://www.shadezahrai.com/cct-registration To find out more about Shadé, visit the website: https://www.shadezahrai.com FOLLOW ON SOCIAL: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadezahrai/ • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shadezahrai • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadezahraispeaker • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadezahrai __________________________________________ 📚 REFERENCES: Experiment re Electric Shocks: de Berker, A.O., Rutledge, R.B., Mathys, C., Marshall, L., Cross, G.F., Dolan, R.J., Bestmann, S. (2016). Computations of uncertainty mediate acute stress responses in humans. Nature communications, 7, 10996. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10996 Lateralised Eye-Movement and aMygdala Deactivation: de Voogd, L. D., Kanen, J. W., Neville, D. A., Roelofs, K., Fernández, G., & Hermans, E. J. (2018). Eye-Movement Intervention Enhances Extinction via Amygdala Deactivation. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 38(40), 8694–8706. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0703-18.2018 Brain Circuits Salay, L.D., Ishiko, N. & Huberman, A.D. A midline thalamic circuit determines reactions to visual threat. Nature 557, 183–189 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0078-2 Massi, B., Donahue, C. H., Lee, D. (2018). Volatility Facilitates Value Updating in the Prefrontal Cortex. Neuron, 99(3): 598-608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2018.06.033 Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman Video Interview (with Tom Bilyeu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGa_jt3IncY

Dr. Shadé Zahraihost
Dec 6, 20206mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Three neuroscience tips to reduce uncertainty stress and perform better

  1. Uncertainty can be more stressful than a guaranteed negative outcome because the brain finds unpredictability especially threatening.
  2. Stress and anxiety narrow attention via amygdala activation, and lateral eye movement during forward motion (like walking) can help calm this response.
  3. When uncertainty blocks clear wins, dopamine drops and motivation fades, but reframing struggle as purpose-aligned progress can restore drive.
  4. Uncertainty can prime the brain for learning by increasing prefrontal cortex activity, so treating it as a growth signal improves regulation and performance.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Uncertainty is inherently taxing—often more than bad news with certainty.

A cited experiment suggests people feel more stressed by a 50/50 chance of a shock than a guaranteed shock, mirroring how leaders may cope better with a known bad quarter than an unknown future.

Stress-induced tunnel vision is a brain state you can interrupt physically.

Uncertainty activates the amygdala and narrows attention, which impairs rational thinking; deliberately shifting from screen-focused vision to broader visual scanning can help break that loop.

Take a forward-moving walk to quiet the amygdala and widen perspective.

Research referenced from The Journal of Neuroscience indicates lateral eye movements during self-generated motion (walking/cycling) can reduce amygdala activity, signaling “no immediate threat” and easing fight/flight/freeze.

Movement can also support approach behavior, not just calmness.

The video links lateralized eye movements and forward motion with engaging circuits associated with confronting challenges (citing Huberman’s discussion of a “winning circuit” tied to courage/boldness).

Motivation collapses in prolonged uncertainty when dopamine ‘wins’ disappear.

If goals can’t be completed due to unclear targets or disruptions, dopamine-based reward signaling drops, increasing the likelihood of disengagement and giving up.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

As humans, we actually find uncertainty more stressful than even the certainty of failure.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

It elevates our stress and anxiety levels by triggering the amygdala. That's the part of the brain that's, uh, the fear center, which puts you into this tunnel-vision mode, meaning your vision literally becomes narrowed as a survival mechanism to help you focus your attention on that immediate threat.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

In other words, you can hack your brain to break free from stress-induced tunnel vision by something as simple as just taking a walk in open space.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

This is a really powerful insight because it indicates that if you can reframe even the suffering or pain that comes from uncertainty as part of the journey, you're able to tap into the reward pathways and increase your drive to cross that undefined finish line.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

We only learn when there is uncertainty, and that is a good thing.

— Professor of neuroscience at Yale, Dayal Lee

Uncertainty vs certainty of failure (stress response)Amygdala activation and tunnel visionLateral eye movements and walking to downshift threat responseDopamine, motivation, and perseverance without clear targetsPurpose alignment and rewarding incremental progressPrefrontal cortex activity during uncertaintyReframing uncertainty as learning and growth

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