Stress and anxiety are ubiquitous words. Everyone feels stressed out at some point in her life. Some people are anxious every day. Very few people would say they never feel stressed.
Anxiety has an effect on our brains and bodies. A little stress is good-it gives you focus and a boost of energy thanks to cortisol and other hormones. But long-term or generalized anxiety can affect your health in a big way. It can depress your immune system and have a negative effect on brain function.
The fight or flight response is the term for the stress or anxiety response that releases stress hormones. It is a response by your neuroendocrine system to a stressful event. A commonly-used example is being chased by a lion. If a lion is chasing you, your sympathetic nervous system kicks out stress hormones that make you more alert, faster, and more focused so you can escape. Once the threat is gone, your parasympathetic nervous system tells your brain and body it is okay to relax, because the danger is gone. The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems help maintain balance.
If you have chronic stress or generalized anxiety, your sympathetic nervous system perceives many things as threats that are not dangerous. Your neuroendocrine system keeps pumping out those hormones, but it starts to get tired. Constant stress or anxiety decreases your ability to learn, and can cause memory problems. Chronic release of cortisol, which is your body’s natural steroid, causes weight gain around the midsection. It decreases inflammation but at the same time, depresses your immune system. This makes you more vulnerable to infection.
Stress hormones help your body keep essential systems going, but they shut down functions not necessary to your survival. This can cause sexual dysfunction, and reproductive problems. Stress hormones make the blood-brain barrier more permeable, making it easier for toxins to cross the barrier into the brain.
So what can you do to prevent chronic stress and anxiety from making you sick and forgetful? Relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation have been shown to decrease stress. Exercise helps protect you from depression and high blood pressure. Contact with other humans and animals lowers blood pressure, improves mood, and relaxes your nervous system. That is the reason many hospitals have instituted therapy dog visits for their patients.
If these interventions don’t work, it is time to seek professional help. Anxiety disorders can be treated with talk therapy such as cognitive therapy and medications as well as the stress-reducing activities you can do yourself. The key is to be aware and work at reducing chronic stress to stay healthy and keep your brain functioning well.
Sources:
The Franklin Institute Resources for Science Learning; Stress on the Brain
http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/stress.html
National Institutes of Health Word on Health; Stress and Disease, New Perspectives
http://www.nih.gov/news/WordonHealth/oct2000/story01.htm
National Institute of Mental Health; Generalized Anxiety Disorder
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/generalized-anxiety-disorder/index.shtml