By Katherine Gillespie, founder Growforte.(external link)

In short bursts, stress sharpens performance. Danger arises when there’s no release from that stress.

Imagine a suspension bridge. It moves and stretches under the force of the weather and the weight of traffic. Then it settles. Then it moves and stretches again. That stretch-relax cycle is normal. It’s how the bridge was engineered to respond.

But if that bridge was kept under constant tension, with no reprieve nor maintenance, eventually something would ‘give’.

The issue wouldn’t be the load itself. It would be the sustained load without recovery.

The same principle applies to the human system.

In aviation – and life – stress is inevitable. We experience high workload, time pressure, complexity, and responsibility. They’re part of the human operating environment. And ideally, we move and stretch to cope with those stressors.

And brief periods of pressure improve our performance. The brain activates its threat-detection systems, adrenaline rises, brain chemistry changes, attention narrows, and reaction speed increases. Short bursts of stress can sharpen working memory, boost motivation, and increase energy availability – all of which support fast, effective action.

Like the suspension bridge, the risks emerge when there’s no opportunity to recover, when the stress response stays switched on for too long.

What sustained load does to the brain

When stress remains elevated over time, the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision-making, behaviour, and emotion regulation – becomes less efficient.

That shows up as poorer:

• judgement
• risk assessment
• impulse control
• working memory
• communication
• decision-making.

Sustained chronic stress increases negative ‘emotional reactivity’ which, in practical terms, can look like:

• reduced tolerance for even small changes to a routine
• poorer situational awareness
• slower information processing
• increased irritability
• increased probability of errors
• an almost unconscious shift in tolerance of risk (either it becomes harder to make decisions, or we accept risks we normally would not accept).

A loss of sleep makes this worse. Even moderately restricted sleep impairs attention, decision-making, and risk evaluation.

Without adequate recovery, the human system does not adapt. It simply accumulates strain, with emotional and physical consequences.

The myth of perfect balance

We often hear about ‘work-life balance’ as if it’s a static beam, perfectly balanced on a fulcrum, with equal weight on both ends.

But we rarely live life in such perfect balance. We make plans and then life shifts.

There are sudden roster changes to deal with, unexpected operational delays, training demands, audits, fleet transitions, check cycles – and family pressures.

Resilience during such periods is not the ability to freeze the level beam in place.

It’s about managing the beam when it see-saws, as it inevitably will.

Let’s do for ourselves what we do for our aircraft

In aviation we understand structural limits. We calculate load. We inspect for component fatigue. We build in safety margins, such as fuel reserves and alternate aerodromes. And we do not allow our aircraft to operate continuously at structural limits.

Yet many of you reading this will operate personally at maximum capacity – your structural limit – day after day after day.

When our personal safety margins disappear, our tolerance shrinks, our cognitive bandwidth diminishes, and fatigue from constant decision-making leads to burnout and anxiety.

So what are the safety margins we can incorporate into our daily life that help protect our physical and psychological safety?

Here are some of the most important.

• Protect sleep as non-negotiable.
• Avoid back-to-back high-stakes decisions.
• Allow decompression time after high workload periods.
• Limit unnecessary digital interruption.
• Say 'no' when capacity is already stretched.

A shift from enduring to managing

Aviation culture has traditionally valued endurance – pushing through and getting the job done – but endurance has limits.

We’ve all had periods where we’ve just kept enduring, running at full capacity with no spare time, no mental space for considered thinking, and no tolerance for disruption. And when we operate like that for too long, we eventually hit the wall.

We can, however, expand our capacity to deal with stress. So, rather than just suppressing stress any way we can – by using alcohol, for instance – we can build our ability to do the following:

• stretch – tolerate stress without breaking
• recover – bounce back after a stressor
• adapt – adjust to new or ongoing stressors
• return to baseline – settle back into a stable, healthy state after the stress has passed.

Nothing catastrophic has to occur for safety margins to erode. Small, cumulative degradations are enough.

By building in daily recovery periods, we’re carrying out preventative maintenance on our human system. We’re creating slack, releasing tension, and protecting the structure of our metaphorical suspension bridge before strain accumulates.

In aviation, the load won’t disappear, but we do have a say in how we engineer our response to it.

Because when pressure rises – and it will – we don’t want to ‘give’. We want to ‘flex’ and keep performing at our best.

Practical tools for mental recovery

Strengthening our ability to handle stress doesn’t demand anything complicated. It simply requires regular, small, repeatable behaviours that help us recover and steady ourselves. This includes building in ‘circuit‑breakers’ throughout the day to stop load from accumulating.

Gentle breathing reset

Box breathing, with equal counts on every breath, gently activates the body's parasympathetic rest-and-digest system. Try this:

Inhale through your nose for four seconds. Hold for four. Exhale slowly through your mouth for four seconds. Hold for four.

Repeat for two minutes.

This balanced and slowed rhythm lowers heart rate and cortisol, signalling to your nervous system that you are safe.

A simple, quiet reset you can return to any time during a busy day.

Name the load

Research shows that labelling an emotional state reduces its intensity. Instead of reacting automatically, pause and say:

“I’m feeling fatigued”

“I’m working under pressure”

“I’m feeling frustrated”

“I’m getting overloaded”

“My body is tensing up”

“Anxiety is showing up”.

This helps the brain move out of threat mode and back into clarity and control.

Use micro-recovery windows

The brain works in natural performance cycles of around 90 minutes. After that, efficiency declines, but short resets every 60 to 90 minutes help prevent cumulative overload. You might:

• stand and move
• hydrate
• step outside
• change your visual field focus – eg, focus on a distant horizon or the clouds
• do two minutes of slow breathing cycles.

Catch up with a colleague

Isolation increases strain and connection reduces it, so crew and staff culture matters. Open debriefs, respectful challenging, and building a team culture where it’s safe to ask questions or admit mistakes all help distribute mental load across the team.

Connection switches off our threat system and helps us get back into a more relaxed state.

Strong and supportive relationships both at work and in life act as protective factors.