Beware of the cognitive magic pill. We used to describe these as snake oil in the last century, and in modern times they are peddled with just as much veracity. If you go on to any social platform and scroll a while, you will see them, usually because they pull at you. They offer an alluring solution to a range of your problems, all easily solved with some magic pill. A solution that requires your engagement, your subscription, or your attention.
A recent example is cortisol. The recent fad is to blame all of your common human problems on cortisol, which has been rebranded as the "stress hormone." This is the perfect example of a cognitive magic trick. It sounds technical enough to win some credibility. You have heard this a few times before by now, so you are not immediately suspicious, and your brain easily accepts that stress causes all these problems. So you naturally, and cognitively, are willing to make the giant leap that cortisol is the cause of all your stress and therefore the cause of all your problems.
This, of course, is not reality. True, cortisol is produced by your adrenal glands, and true it is a steroid. However, to call it the stress hormone is a stretch. That might be a label we would assign to adrenaline, but even that would be incorrect. Cortisol is an important chemical. It is tied to your daily rhythm. It is probably what makes you feel awake, as it is at the highest levels when you first get out of bed. It is what makes you feel energetic and is needed to regulate your blood pressure, keep inflammation and immune activity under control, and use stored fat as energy. Yes, it helps you prepare to deal with stress, but not because it is some adverse chemical that, if we were to get rid of it, we would become stress-free.
You remember the shake weights from a few years ago? A thing you could hold in your hand and it would move aggressively, and you had to hold on to it. Doing this would cause you to tense your muscles and, therefore, was considered a new form of exercise that would magically turn you into a fit, healthy, gorgeous supermodel. We all knew this was ridiculous, but if you were up late at night feeling discouraged about your weight and you came across a post about this. You might buy it because it was offering a solution to several of the problems you were experiencing. If you kept watching, you might actually believe the science behind it, and sure enough, arriving on your doorstep in that Amazon package is your new pair of shake weights.
It is important to understand this attempt by people to use our desire for "things to make sense" as a tool to encourage us to pay attention. All too often, we find ourselves falling for this trick as it masquerades in many costumes. What you call silly, another will buy immediately. What you think is outrageous, your neighbor is receiving that package right now on their doorstep. So, next time you hear about some new "magic bullet" for life’s challenges, maybe take a beat. Instead of jumping on the latest trend, consider what’s really going on with your own body and mind. It’s less about finding a quick fix and more about understanding the nuanced dance of how we tick. Sometimes, the most powerful insights come from simply paying attention to ourselves, rather than chasing after the next big thing someone’s trying to sell us.
