Your Brain Under Pressure is a mental health education series from psychiatrist Dr. Tracey Marks that explains what happens in your brain and body when stress, anxiety, uncertainty, emotional pressure, and social threat take over. If you’ve ever felt unsafe for no clear reason, reacted before you could think, predicted the worst, replayed conversations, frozen under pressure, snapped and regretted it, struggled to calm yourself with logic, or felt mentally drained by small decisions, this series helps you understand why. Dr. Marks breaks down the neuroscience of the high-alert brain, threat perception, the stress response, emotional flooding, fight-flight-freeze-fawn responses, nervous system regulation, rumination, people-pleasing, workplace stress, burnout, recovery, attention, focus, decision fatigue, and mental bandwidth. You’ll learn why criticism can feel so intense, why one email can hijack your whole day, why meetings can drain your brain, why rest can feel uncomfortable when you’re burned out, why easy tasks can feel impossible under stress, and why your brain keeps following old patterns even when you’re trying to change. Each episode translates brain science into clear, practical language so you can recognize your stress patterns, reduce self-blame, and begin teaching your brain the difference between stress and danger. This series is for anyone who wants to better understand anxiety, overthinking, emotional reactivity, nervous system activation, burnout, workplace stress, relationship stress, attention under pressure, and the science of resilience. Learn how to strengthen your mind, fortify your brain, and build resilience under pressure.
Curated by: Dr. Tracey Marks (16 videos)
Stop trying to willpower your way past mental fatigue. It’s much more effective to work with your brain’s natural strengths. This personalized assessment tool identifies how your brain handles stress and overload, providing tailored initial strategies to start clearing the load: https://drmarks.co/BrainQuiz-yt Stop struggling with mental fatigue even after you take time off. Learn to manage your brain’s natural energy limits. Taking a break does not always result in feeling refreshed if your mental load remains high. This video explores why exhaustion persists despite time away and provides a framework for preparing your responsibilities before you leave. By addressing your arrangements beforehand, you can actually disconnect and recover. Chapters 0:00 - When Work Stress Starts Affecting Sleep 0:40 - Sleep as an Early Sign of Strain 1:49 - What Is Sleep Reactivity? 2:12 - How Stress Disrupts Sleep 3:04 - Stress-Sensitive Sleep Patterns 3:50 - Why Comparing Yourself to Coworkers Can Mislead 4:34 - Stress, Worry, and Sleep 5:23 - What Changed When Sleep Problems Started 5:50 - Moving Work Review Earlier 6:20 - When Evening Work Becomes a Pattern 6:50 - When to Seek Help for Sleep 7:17 - CBT for Insomnia 7:39 - Don't Wait for Work Performance to Slip References Grant, R. S., Buchanan, B. E., & Shockley, K. M. (2025). I need a vacation: A meta-analysis of vacation and employee well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 110(7), 887–905. doi:10.1037/apl0001262 Wendsche, J., & Lohmann-Haislah, A. (2017). A meta-analysis on antecedents and outcomes of detachment from work. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2072. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02072 Sonnentag S, Fritz C. The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. J Occup Health Psychol. 2007 Jul;12(3):204-21. doi: 10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.204. PMID: 17638488. Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor.