Complaining

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Complaining actually hurts your brain.

[00:00:02]Neuroscience shows that complaining, judging, criticizing, it can actually change your brain for multiple reasons.

[00:00:08]I mean, the first is that it leads to stress, right? When you're complaining, you're also activating neuroplasticity.

[00:00:13]So, you're training negative thought patterns and you are training your brain to look for more things to complain about. So, you're kind of also entering into this cycle. But negative thoughts in general, they lead to this stress that actually can shrink your prefrontal cortex. And so now you are decreasing your ability to focus. You're decreasing your problem solving skills. You're decreasing your ability to regulate your emotions. Also, research shows that there's no form of venting or complaining that is positive unless you re-evaluate and kind of tell a new story at the end. Like you reappraise the situation. And if you just complain and then leave it at the complaint, you're actually only training your brain to look for more things to complain