Stress and health

Stress is a fundamental part of life. Not only is stress usually part of what drives an organism to act, but it will often initiate a change in immediate behavior and possibly an ensuing cascade of behaviors. We often overlook the critical role stress plays in motivating our seemingly automatic and at times trivial behaviors and instead only recognize the power of stress when we become overwhelmed by it. Evolutionary psychologists stress the fact, pun intended, that stress is an acquired trait shaped by natural selection to aid the organism in navigating its environment so that it may have a better chance at propagating its genes. But, as the quote at the outset of this post explains, much of the stress we experience today is the result of a system developed in and for one environment, operating in a completely different environment. That is, we have a stress system that evolved relatively slow to aid our survival in our ancestral environments, not necessarily the environments we live in today. Many psychologists including one of the leading stress researchers, Robert Sapolsky, believe that this disconnect between the world our stress response evolved to handle and the world we live in today is in large part responsible for our struggle to manage stress, anxiety, and even depression.
The human stress response is an intricate set of chain reactions that act in concert to prepare the individual to confront a threat or stressor. The stress response starts in the brain, and in the amygdala specifically. The amygdala has been found to play a fundamental role in the stress response, as it is responsible for interpreting incoming information from different modalities. If a threat or stressor is detected during that information processing, the amygdala immediately alerts the hypothalamus which is a major signal processing hub. The hypothalamus is responsible for communicating with the rest of the body through the autonomic nervous system which in turn is responsible for controlling involuntary bodily functions. After the stress signal has been sent from the amygdala to the hypothalamus, it is then sent to the adrenal glands which begin to produce epinephrine. Epinephrine is a hormone that plays a critical role in engendering a number of physiological reactions. Heart rate increases, breathing rate increases, blood is drawn to muscles and senses are heightened. The individual is now prepared to respond to an immediate threat in the environment. In most cases, the parasympathetic nervous system would kick in after the threat had ended, but sometimes the stress response is continued and can even become chronic.
The chronic stress response is thought to be the portion of our stress response that has gone awry as a result of the differences between our past and current environments. In our ancestral environment, humans were probably confronted primarily with immediate threats, lions tigers, and bears etc. but in our current environment, we are often exposed to recurring stressors and even fall victim to thoughts about potential threats that have the ability to cause the same physiological stress response. This is where things get nasty because a system that was designed to mobilize us to deal with an immediate threat is being called on constantly. Because the stress response was designed to draw all the bodies resources to dealing with an immediate threat, many vital bodily functions are temporarily halted. And since we perceive that the threat has ended, the body will normally return to performing these vital functions. Unfortunately, when we are experiencing chronic stress, pour bodies vital processes are often suspended far longer than they should be and this is the crux of the problem. When the stress response becomes chronic, we become ill.
Psychologists have developed a number of techniques to help people combat their chronic stress. There are CBT’s that have been designed to help people acknowledge and relabel stressors in their lives in the hope that they might be able to better control their response to stress. Psychologists also focus on the person’s social environment and encourage people to rely on their social support networks to help them during periods of their lives that are particularly stressful. It has also been shown that lifestyle can have wide-ranging effects, both good and bad, on stress levels. For example, people who get some form of regular physical activity have been shown to be more resilient to stress and that their bodies are better able to regulate the physiological stress response. Mind-body techniques like mindful meditation have also been shown to be successful in reducing stress and anxiety. In short, research done over the last 20 years has made clear the detrimental effects of chronic stress and has spurred the creation of many different treatment programs.
Stress is natural, but chronic stress is anything but. As our understanding of stress has evolved, it has become increasingly clear that stress plays a critical role in all of our lives, but it has also become clear that a large proportion of us struggle with a form of stress that is relatively new and especially harmful. Chronic stress has been shown to harm both our immediate and long-term health in myriad ways. Because such a large proportion of the population struggles with chronic or prolonged stress at some point during their lives, and because the effects of chronic stress are so pronounced, it is crucial for psychologists, neurologists, and psychoneuroimmunologist to continue developing effective treatment programs.

References

Mcewen, Bruce S. “The Brain on Stress.” Perspectives on Psychological Science, vol. 8, no. 6, 2013, pp. 673–675., doi:10.1177/1745691613506907.

Rodrigues, Sarina M., et al. “The Influence of Stress Hormones on Fear Circuitry.” Annual Review of Neuroscience, vol. 32, no. 1, 2009, pp. 289–313., doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.051508.135620.

Sapolsky, Robert. “Taming Stress.” Scientific American, vol. 289, no. 3, 2003, pp. 86–95., doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0903-86.

Sapolsky, Robert M. Why zebras dont get ulcers: an updated guide to stress, stress-Related diseases, and coping. New York, W.H. Freeman, 2001.

1 comment

  1. Azaria Jayne Chayet Albeg

    Stress can be both detrimental and beneficial to our bodies. As mentioned, immediate stress responses may help us escape a dangerous situation. I did not know chronic stress was not considered a natural process. I knew chronic stress had detrimental effects, like trouble breathing, musculoskeletal disorders, hypertension, or heart attacks (APA, n.d.). I just did not realize our ancestors did not experience chronic stress like we do!

    In any case, I found your description of how stress effects the neurotransmitters in the brain intriguing. I learned in my PSYCH 100 class freshman year that the amygdala is the part of the brain where anger is released, so it was interesting to see that stress begins in the amygdala as well. I feel as if that makes sense because both of those emotional responses sometimes elicit behaviors that make you want to scream or get active.

    Mindfulness meditation is a great way to mitigate stress. Personally, I have used mindfulness techniques, like body scans, to alleviate my generalized anxiety. The point of mindfulness is to clear your mind, not exactly to reduce anxiety but reducing anxiety is definitely a great outcome to mindfulness as well.

    References:

    Stress effects on the body. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2017, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-body.aspx

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