Posted on December 12, 2008 in Latest News
Stress can be due to physical or emotional problems. Stressful events may be temporary or continual. However, we see that people nowadays are under stress continually. Both long-term and short-term stress affects the brain by physically altering it. The negative effects of stress on brain are memory problems, psychiatric problems, and learning difficulty etc.
What Happens When You Are Stressed?
When you are stressed, the hypothalamus, a tiny region at the base of brain sends a warning signal to the body. The adrenal glands at the top of the kidney release adrenaline and cortisol hormones.
These hormones prepare your body for fight or flight response by increasing your heart rate, blood pressure, suppressing the digestive system, growth processes etc. Continual stress can lead to heart disease, digestive problems, depression and can affect the brain.
Effects of Stress on the Brain:
The following are the effects of stress on the brain:
- Effects of Short-term stress: In an experiment with laboratory mice, short-term stress reduced the number of fibers which carry signals among the neurons. Scientists opine that this is the reasons stress events make us forgetful
- Effects of Long-term stress: When long-term stress was applied on laboratory mice, their hippocampus (a region in brain which facilitates memory and learning process) shrunk by 3%. In a study, researchers found that people with high cortisol levels (cortisol is released due to stress) have 14% smaller hippocampus when compared to people with moderate and low cortisol levels
- Effects of stress on mental ability: Prenatal stress can change the way genes are going to be expressed in older life. Stress in early life can lead to learning problems, memory problems, psychiatric disorders and substance abuse in the future. Stressful adults tend be anxious, forgetful, and have learning problems
Scientists found out that stress physically alters the brain giving rise to many complications. Hence, people should find ways of managing stress by exercising regularly and getting sufficient sleep. Healthy friendships and counseling can also help you to manage stress and live a healthier life
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