> When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our “fight or flight” response. When that happens, we stop thinking rationally and start looking for the quickest way to relieve the stress/anxiety/fear.
It’s typically the right amygdala responsible for this. Authors often write “amygdala” in an ambiguous fashion. You have two amygdala (amygdalae is the plural term) which have differing-but-related responsibilities.
Good article — taking the micro-steps towards the longer-term habits is wise.
I raise this as given the extent of research performed on my brain, the fMRI was not discussed with me whatsoever, nor was it mentioned in the pre-operative justifying factors. I raise this in relation to this submission; I hadn't given it any thought before.
I'm not a specialist by any means, although I am a patient of an fMRI. One thing I will note is that in the eventual, resultant paperwork from the broad array of tests I had, the fMRI was not noted whatsoever, neither was it discussed with me by any of the numerous neurologists or surgeons involved in my case. I was quite curious as to why it was performed at all, but presumably it was some formality to check a box.
Progressive epilepsy that only got worse and untreatable. The most powerful of drugs wouldn’t work. I had an experimental surgery; more of my brain was removed than usual.
Last year I had the entirety of my left hippocampus and amygdala removed (yes, seriously). And yet I still work in a highly cognitive area of software engineering as a senior engineer. Has my short term memory gone to hell? Wait, what was this post about again? I joke.
Many, many years ago when I was in college studying computer science I spent an extraordinary amount of time studying holistic learning techniques to help aid in my exams. The next year I was in a coma. Shortly thereafter, I swung back fighting, making sure the universe knew it didn’t have the upper hand. I won.
So there’s several things here. There are people like yourself, battling this kind of thing. Don’t feel like you’re alone. Secondly there are approaches to help improve things, whether it be holistic learning, repetition, or both. And finally, tell the universe to go screw itself, otherwise you’re giving it permission to win.
> This is not a bad route to go if you enjoy/feel comfortable doing the work and don't care about air quality, smart thermostat integration, etc
You're insinuating that doing the work yourself means you'll have poor air quality, poor thermostat integration etc. That's not true at all. If you've gone to the trouble to do a DIY install then you're now already experienced enough to install a heat-recovery ventilator to get fresh air into your home via an independent system. I installed my own ecobee thermostat with my heat pump and electric furnace and it works with HomeKit so is integrated with my entire ecosystem.
It’s typically the right amygdala responsible for this. Authors often write “amygdala” in an ambiguous fashion. You have two amygdala (amygdalae is the plural term) which have differing-but-related responsibilities.
Good article — taking the micro-steps towards the longer-term habits is wise.