Holiday Overstimulation: How the Season Hijacks Your Dopamine—And What Your Brain Actually Needs

If December leaves you anxious, numb, restless, or overwhelmed, your brain is not malfunctioning. It’s responding to a season that pushes your dopamine system into overdrive. In this episode, I show you how holiday pressure, comparison posts, sugar and alcohol spikes, bright lights, noise, and overloaded schedules shift your nervous system from a state of regulation into survival mode.

Overstimulation isn’t just emotional. It’s neurological. When your reward pathways fire too rapidly, the prefrontal cortex can’t keep up, and your stress tolerance drops fast. That’s when small tasks feel big, social interactions drain you, and you lose the motivation and presence you normally rely on.

You will learn what this miswiring looks like on a brain map, why December triggers hyperarousal and shutdown, and how simple, intentional rhythms can bring your system back into balance. Slow dopamine, safe sensory input, daily rituals, and micro-moments of quiet are not luxuries this time of year — they are medicine for an overstimulated brain.

If you want to see your own brain’s stress patterns and learn how to restore regulation, visit drtrishleigh.com to get your Brain Map and begin rewiring for calm, clarity, and connection this season.

Send us a text

Support the show

Hi. I am Dr. Trish Leigh, a Cognitive Neuroscientist, and Sex Addiction Recovery Coach. I am on a mission to help people heal their brains from porn use.
My podcasts are designed to help you learn that:
🎯Porn Damages Your Brain,
🎯Porn Impairs Your Mental and Physical Health, and
🎯Porn Destroys Your Relationships.

Subscribe to this channel for 🧠 tips to:
✅Quit Porn for Good
✅Heal Your Brain from Porn
✅Get Motivated in Your Life
✅Repair Your Mental & Physical Health
✅Heal Erectile Dysfunction

If you need more help, I can work directly with you.
Check out the programs below.
https://drtrishleigh.com/

Donate to Porn Brain Prevention, the nonprofit to help teens avoid porn addiction below:
https://pornbrainprevention.org/

Let's Connect! Check out my Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/Drtrishleigh

#quitporn #pornaddiction #drtrishleigh #pornaddictionrecovery #pornbrainrewire #controlyourbrain #braintraining #trishleigh #nofap #pornkillslove #mindoverporn #monkmode #drleigh #pornaddict #pornaddictionsideeffects #addictedtoporn #cantstopmasturbating #recovery #recoveryjourney #addictionrecovery #recoverycoach #drtrishleigh #monkmode #addiction #pornbrainprevention #pornbrainprograms #releasetoquitporn #howtoquitporn