When you lose a sense of control

Stress at senior levels isn’t just about workload.

It’s about control.

Research shows that cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone—is strongly influenced by our perceived sense of control at work.

High demands with autonomy feel very different, biologically, from high demands without it.

The least enjoyable times at work during my finance career were those in which I felt less autonomous.

The times when I felt I had little decision making authority, or my opinion was not sufficiently considered.

In such moments stress doesn’t necessarily show up as chaos - it's rather more silent and lonely.

You might feel it as:

• Decision fatigue

• Low mood or emotional flatness

• Poor sleep and slow recovery

• A quiet loss of clarity and resilience

  
  

In prolonged periods of pressure, restructuring, uncertainty, or general strain, the nervous system can stay stuck in overdrive. (Lots happens in the body during this prolonged overdrive, which justifies an article on its own - for another time). In the worst of cases, the body shuts down altogether. I was lucky to never have experienced this. What helped me most was being sufficiently in touch with my own biology and sensing when I was not in my ideal environment. This gave me the chance to act before full burnout developed.

There are ways to strengthen your resilience during those times when you can't just pack your bags and leave. At Blue Zone Solutions, I support leaders and professionals during these phases by working from the inside out. Through food-as-medicine strategies, metabolic and nervous system support, sleep optimization, and evidence-based biohacking tools, I can help you strengthen the biological foundations that mental clarity and emotional resilience depend on.

This isn’t just about “pushing through” though. Taking an anti-depressant or pain killer can also help you to push through (short term at least)...

This is about rebuilding capacity—especially when stress or low mood has been quietly accumulating. Because performance doesn’t break first. Biology does.

And when biology is supported, clarity, control, and confidence tend to follow.