There’s a type of exhaustion that doesn’t disappear with a long weekend. It doesn’t present with immediate pain, but instead diminishes attention, limits creativity, and impacts decision-making. For Canadian neuroscientist Terrie Hope, this pattern points to chronic stress – a condition that has become normalized in modern life.
Hope, who has a background in the pharmaceutical industry, shifted her focus to applied neuroscience in 2010. Since then, she has investigated how changes in neural coherence and the regulation of the nervous system influence cognitive function and emotional resilience. This growing area of research is important as chronic stress is increasingly linked to a range of health problems.
She was part of the neuroscientific team for Joe Dispenza and led the first study evaluating the effectiveness of access bars, a manual technique created by Gary Douglas in 1995. That practice has been associated with improvements in brain coherence and reductions in indicators of anxiety, depression, and stress.
Currently, Hope travels the world as a speaker, working with corporate leaders and elite athletes to optimize performance and modify productivity schemes. Her approach challenges the idea of simply “resisting and pushing through,” advocating for a healthier and more sustainable model where well-being and high performance go hand in hand. “We’re not facing a problem of motivation. We’re seeing the limit of a model that demands without allowing recovery,” Hope warns. “There’s an ingrained idea that the brain controls everything, but it’s exactly the opposite: when we talk about the mind and how we exist in the world, the brain is the last thing involved.”
—And what is the first thing?
—The person. The “being.” It’s what drives us and what makes decisions.
—Would that be the equivalent of what many call the soul?
—It could be said so. What makes you seek to stay in a place doing something isn’t your brain – it’s something more. It’s what tells you something works and something doesn’t. What drives you to do things a certain way. Experiential experience doesn’t go through the brain; it goes through the person as a whole. The brain suffers the consequences of our way of life and, naturally, is what stops us when we “push” too much.
—“Pushing too much.” “Continuing to produce despite…” These are some of the premises of modern life… from which many believe it’s impossible to escape.
—Yes. And that’s where the problem lies: the model that has long been the norm is demonstrating that it is no longer efficient, sustainable, or human.
—If the “being” drives and the brain regulates, how does stress fit into that relationship?
—First, stress is an individual perception: what is stressful for you may not be for me, and vice versa. Second, stress is not an illness: it cannot be pointed out or quantified. You can’t take a pill to solve it. Stress arises from our way of understanding the world. We are the ones who manage it. The brain adapts – it deregulates – to be able to sustain it, until burnout appears, like a kind of emergency brake, like a switch that turns off.
For example, if when you get up and go to work you perceive that what you are going to do is a fun, enjoyable activity, in line with your personality, then its “stressor” effect will be less and there will be less probability that a deregulation will be triggered in the brain. In contrast, if you do something that is not fun for you, that goes against your nature, forcing yourself to try too hard, then it will probably generate stress.
—You say that you either have stress or you don’t. There are no degrees or levels.
—Exactly. It’s up to you to react to an objectively stressful situation. You could decide, for example, not to get stressed, since it doesn’t build sense. And that decision will change the trajectory of who you are. It will define whether stress becomes a chronic component in your life.
—How do you detect stress in yourself?
—For some, it translates into more energy… until they fall exhausted. Stress is insidious: it slips in, and the brain doesn’t stop you the first time, it adapts so you can live and function with that stress, until it can’t anymore. Until you reach a point where the only thing you can think about is that you need a vacation. The problem is that vacations are often not enough for brain regulation.
—And how is it observed at the neurological level?
—In early studies, the first thing seen is that the nervous system begins to be constantly activated. The amygdala is always working and stops being able to discern whether there is a real danger or not. Essentially, stress makes us more reactive: the more stressed we are, the more sensitive to stress we become. It’s a cascade effect.
This, in turn, generates chronic inflammation in certain parts of the brain, but also in the circulatory system. Studies have found that more stressed people have more vascular inflammation in the arteries – coincidentally, one of the main causes of coronary heart disease. This connection highlights the importance of addressing stress for cardiovascular health.
Paradoxically, there is a tendency to think that we need a drug to lower inflammation, to control cholesterol – also a consequence of stress – but we don’t go to the root of the problem. How we live, with what approach we face life, and the resulting stress from this: that is the main cause of health problems.
—What do you think is the most dangerous, or alarming, aspect of the physiological impact of stress?
—That its effect is cumulative, both in the brain and in the body. And that a way to reverse it has not yet been found. When symptoms appear, the tendency is to say: “It’s just stress.” That’s when I say: “No. It’s not just stress, it’s quality of life.”
—In your conferences, you talk about the economic cost of stress at the corporate level. How does the individual stress of employees affect the productivity of a company?
—Stress “hijacks” executive function. This slows down in the prefrontal cortex, making thinking difficult. There is research showing that brains shrink when they are stressed. In practice, the employee lowers their performance or disconnects from their work, going into an automatic mode.
According to studies, in many countries only 30% of people are really present at their work, and presence decreases progressively as the work week advances. Not by their own will, but because they can’t: their brains can’t. Argentina is not an exception, and is high on the list of countries with the most stress, according to recent studies. In other words that, generally speaking, people have to work very hard to continue doing what they do and that the reward is not good.
My proposal is: if instead of having people so disconnected working, we had people present, focused, productive and happy: would companies be more profitable? It’s a somewhat rhetorical question, because I’m sure the answer is yes.
—That’s where access bars come in… could you talk a little about that?
—Yes. It’s a non-invasive energy therapy that, through gentle touches on 32 specific points on the head, seeks to release mental blocks, stress, and limiting beliefs.
I started studying it out of pure curiosity. I had no expectations or pretensions; as a scientist, I wanted to understand the real effect of the method. The results surprised me.
—What did you discover?
—The first research – conducted with people with anxiety and depression – registered an 84.2% change in anxiety after a 90-minute session (I emphasize, anxiety is a difficult trait to change). In 80% of the cases, we found that the brain pattern – the communication between regions – became more coherent after a session. In another large study on people with stress, 76% reported significant changes. And, in another case involving people with post-traumatic stress disorder, the differences were also relevant. People say they think better, that they are more present. Aspects that have been dragging on for a long time, such as insecurity, for example, disappear.
—After just one session?
—In many cases, yes, in others it may take a few more. But there are always immediate partial positive effects. It’s hard to believe, I know.
—How is it explained? What happens in the brain?
—My interpretation of what happens is that by activating these points on the head, a kind of neurological reset is achieved, facilitating greater awareness, relaxation, and mental clarity. The central nervous system calms down. It’s not “the solution,” but it is an innovative way for people to function better, using a non-pharmaceutical method. It’s not putting a machine on your head without knowing what happens. It’s simple and natural.
—What would you suggest to someone who starts to perceive themselves as stressed?
—That they become more aware of the things that work for them and those that don’t. If every time you have dinner with someone you feel worse or every time you talk to your dad you argue… notice it. Don’t keep going on autopilot. Think about how you can change that pattern that makes you feel bad. Conflict doesn’t have to exist, but we get used to its presence and predispose ourselves to it. I would tell them to navigate towards what works and change what doesn’t.
—To close: if you had to summarize your learnings in a message to send to the masses, what would it be?
—That we could thrive – instead of survive – if instead of doing things that cost us and drain us, we did things that honor us.
