The influence of stress on the brain

We all were once irritated or worried about something. It used to happen that they could not fall asleep for a long time thinking about a thought. Every person is familiar with experiencing stress.

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But stress is not always a negative experience. He can be an assistant. For example, when we need to speak publicly in front of a large audience, or if an athlete has competition, then stress mobilizes our forces.

But when a person experiences stress for a long time, he can subject the whole organism to negative changes. In this article, I would like to draw attention to how long-lasting stress affects our brain.

• Chronic stress, or as it is also called distress, which happens with constant overloads or prolonged conflicts at work or in the family affects the size, structure and functioning of the brain.
• Stress is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system. This interaction between the endocrine glands and the adrenal glands. When our brain determines a stressful situation, it signals the body to activate and synthesizes such a hormone as cortisol.

Cortisol leads our body into a state of high combat readiness, according to the plan of nature, our ability to act is increased, but not to think. An example of this is panic, when a person can find himself in another place in a short time and do not remember how he got there. Actions in a state of affect also fall into this category.

Long-term exposure to cortisol harms the human brain in a way that stimulates the development of connections in the brain’s tonsils at the center of fear. As a consequence, increased anxiety – or a trifling situation starts to be perceived as dangerous.

Along with the prolonged increase in the level of cortisol, neural connections in the hippocampus (parts of the brain responsible for learning, memory and control of emotions and their behavior) are destroyed. A person becomes unbalanced , easily influenced by emotions, one can say “weak-willed,” and, of course, memory suffers. The man talked on the phone, put down the phone and can not remember what he was talking about.

The hippocampus also regulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, so when it weakens, hormonal control is also impaired. As a result – vegeto –  vascular dystonia or panic attacks , that is, on an equal place a person releases hormones of the corticosteroid group.

Moreover, an elevated level of cortisol causes the destruction of synoptic connections between neurons and leads to a decrease in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Than it threatens? The fact is that the prefrontal part of the cerebral cortex is responsible for concentration, decision-making, reasoning and social interaction.

And another important study: cortisol increases the sensitivity of the pleasure center to dopamine. And he, in turn, is responsible for the formation of the conditioned reflex. You have done something, the brain has allocated dopamine, and you feel pleasure. Dopamine, as it were, “tells” us “you’re done, next time you’ll do the same.”

It’s good when such reinforcement goes after the completion of work, gaining a useful skill. But in conditions of imbalance, this can lead to various kinds of dependencies. That is, against a background of long-term stress, a person becomes faster dependent on any psychologically active substances, people, things.

There is a version that prolonged stress can lead to Alzheimer’s disease .

There is another interesting, but not very pleasant observation. At the ends of the chromosomes there are telomeres: this is the defense, which is shortened with age. When telomeres end, the cells cease to divide and die. That is, telomeres directly affect aging and longevity. And, it turns out, stress helps to shorten telomeres. The conclusion suggests itself. Stress contributes to aging of the body. Want to quickly grow old – stress more often.

Well, seriously, 98% of stressful situations are solved in the future.
And if you look back to the past, then confirm it.
Awareness of this fact enables us to calmly accept the situation and find a way out of it.