Underrated Signals of Allostatic Overload Specific to High-Performers

Achieving stability through change = biophysics process known as Allostasis. As Perfectionists we love to achieve! And we've acclimated to the chronic mild stress we encounter daily.

So when our capacity is a mismatch with the resources required and Allostatic Load starts to pile up, we tend to dismiss the SIGNALS from our internal SYSTEMS. Mistaking them for perfectionistic "symptoms" or deficits within ourselves.

That ends now. Discover the signals of Allostatic Overload specific to driven, high-performing, perfectionists and why high allostatic load shows up for us, is criminally misunderstood.

Your Person Account™ is a proprietary one-to-one model of allostasis, allostatic load and allostatic overload. This puts interdisciplinary biophysics system science in tangible, fiduciary terms. Your Person Account™ is an invention made by Perfectionist Solutions™ founder Courtney Love Gavin and is protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws.

In this Episode You’ll Learn:

• What caffeine, people pleasing + Top Ramen have in common
• 16+ surprising signs of Allostatic Overload unique to Type-A perfectionists, overachievers and high-performers
• How ruminating, overthinking + perfectionist patterns are SIGNALS—not problems to solve

Resources Mentioned In Episode 253:

• Recharge your Person Account Book your Perfect Start 1:1 session now
• Magic Skill for Control of Emotions [Neuroscience Series #1] Perfectionism Rewired Ep. 248
• How Perfectionist Brain *Actually* Works [Neuroscience Series #2] Perfectionism Rewired Ep. 249
• Can't Stop Ruminating? Here's Why [Neuroscience Series #3] Perfectionism Rewired Ep. 250
• Neuroplasticity [Neuroscience Series #4] Perfectionism Rewired Ep. 251
• #1 Thing Stops Perfectionists From Growth [Neuroscience Series #5] Perfectionism Rewired Ep. 252

TIMESTAMPS:

02:09-Why Perfectionists Need More Fuel for Our Brains

04:10-MYTH: You Have to Stop Being a Perfectionist

06:24-Clues You’re on the Path to Chronic Stress

09:32-Burn Out is Not the Price of Ambition

10:25-Case Study: How Stacey Cleared the Smog

12:43-I Ruminate Over Decisions bc I Need to Make the Right Decision

14:05-Why You’re Choosing Instant Relief (and Paying Later)

16:11-A Healthy Person Account™ = Liberation

Citations/Sources:

1. Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
2. Barrett, L. F., Quigley, K. S., & Hamilton, P. (2016). An active inference theory of allostasis and interoception in depression. *Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences*, *371*(1708), 20160011. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0011
3. Bobba-Alves, N., Juster, R.-P., & Picard, M. (2022). The energetic cost of allostasis and allostatic load. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 146, 105951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105951
4. Dwyer, P. (2022). The Neurodiversity Approach(es): What Are They and What Do They Mean for Researchers? Human Development, 66(2), 73–92. https://doi.org/10.1159/000523723
5. Ganzel, B. L., & Morris, P. A. (2011). Allostasis and the developing human brain: Explicit consideration of implicit models. Development and Psychopathology, 23(4), 955–974. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579411000447‌
6. Guidi, J., Lucente, M., Sonino, N., & Fava, Giovanni A. (2020). Allostatic Load and Its Impact on Health: A Systematic Review. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 90(1), 11–27. https://doi.org/10.1159/000510696
7. Kleckner, I. R., Zhang, J., Touroutoglou, A., Chanes, L., Xia, C., Simmons, W. K., Quigley, K. S., Dickerson, B. C., & Feldman Barrett, L. (2017). Evidence for a large-scale brain system supporting allostasis and interoception in humans. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(5). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0069
8. Knezevic, E., Katarina Nenic, Milanovic, V., & Knezevic, N. N. (2023). The Role of Cortisol in Chronic Stress, Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Psychological Disorders. Cells, 12(23), 2726–2726. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12232726‌
9. McEwen, B. S., & Gianaros, P. J. (2011). Stress- and Allostasis-Induced Brain Plasticity. Annual Review of Medicine, 62(1), 431–445. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-med-052209-100430