How stress sabotages your mental and physical health, and how to manage it

When confronted with physical or mental stress, the hypothalamus in our brain leaps into action. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a core feature in the physiological cascade of our stress response that kicks into overdrive, activating the adrenal glands to generate cortisol, the primary stress hormone.

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This intricate neuroendocrine system elicits the ‘fight or flight’ response. It prepares us to face or run away from the perceived threats, whether they’re a stalking predator, impending public speaking or work deadline. The cortisol activates our sympathetic autonomous (not under our conscious control) nervous system, and the body’s ‘fight or flight response’ increases our heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. At the same time, it switches off other functions such as digestion, reproduction and growth.

In the short run, these adaptations to stress help give us extra energy to overcome the stress. Stress, however, becomes unhealthy and detrimental when it extends in the long run and becomes chronic such as the psychological stress we experience from work, relations and economic issues.

Chronic stress is one of the reasons why we develop digestive problems because it impairs digestion function. Not just that, but a high-stress level also impairs procreation and promotes infertility due to its effect on increasing inflammation in the brain and impairing its ability to detect the fuel available and stored in the body, known as leptin resistance.

How is the Human Brain Affected by Stress?

Unlike any other species, the human brain has the extraordinary ability to think, reason and perceive the environment in sophisticated ways. These qualities contribute to the unique human response to stress. Our brain’s uniqueness comes from its ability to stress about potential future threats and memories of past adverse events due to our sophisticated cognitive skills. This anticipatory stress is unique to us and frequently leads to more chronic stress-related health problems than immediate, transient stressors. Thus, stress leaves an indelible mark on our memory.

Is Achieving Zero Stress Possible?

The simple answer is no. Some amount of stress is essential because cortisol plays a vital role in mobilizing energy in our body. So it is not the stress that is bad for us, but its level over a timeline. Not all stress levels are harmful to us. Low-stress levels may benefit us and boost our performance and personal growth. As the adage goes, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Acute stress is good for us as it can improve memory formation, a crucial survival mechanism to recall critical details about threats. As for the “optimal level” of stress, this also varies between individuals.

The Yerkes-Dodson law commonly represents this phenomenon, which states that performance improves with physiological or mental arousal (pressure), but only up to a point. Beyond that point, too much stress impairs performance. Where that point lies, differs for everyone and can depend on various factors.

Some people may thrive under what others would consider high-stress conditions, while others may find their optimal performance at much lower stress levels. This optimal stress level is often referred to as “eustress”.

However, the impact of stress extends beyond this immediate physiological response. In the long run, chronic stress can result in hypercortisolemia, a condition characterized by excess cortisol levels in the body. This sustained presence of high cortisol levels can disrupt various bodily systems, resulting in many health problems, such as impaired immune function, depression, anxiety, excessive fat accumulation, heart disease, and even memory impairment.

Research in this field has also observed that prolonged exposure to stress can shrink the size of the brain’s memory and learning centre, the hippocampus, which is notably sensitive to cortisol. This adverse impact can result in difficulties in memory consolidation, recall, diminishing our cognitive performance and the progression of stress-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Very often, it is not the stress that kills us outright, but it makes other things that kill us more effective at doing that, such as quickening the development of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart and neurodegenerative diseases.

Factors Affecting Stress Reactivity in Individuals

Individual stress reactivity varies and plays a critical role in these health outcomes. Each of us has a unique ‘stress profile’ determined by an intricate interplay of our genetics, environment and experience. Some individuals are more resilient to stress, while others might crumble under the same pressure. From extroversion to neuroticism, our personality traits influence how we perceive and handle stress.

Moreover, our position in social hierarchies can impact stress levels. Research conducted by leading scientists on this subject, such as Dr Sapolsky on baboons, revealed that lower-ranking individuals frequently exhibit higher levels of stress and associated health problems.

Fascinatingly, this aspect of social rank also translates into a human context, often through subjective socioeconomic status. Perceiving oneself lower in the social ranking, irrespective of economic standing, can exacerbate stress levels and contribute to poorer health outcomes.

The advent of social media compounds this effect by providing an information overload; perpetual, frequently distorted comparisons with others; amplifying feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, stress and correlated health risks.

Can Stress Be Passed Down Through Our Genes?

Another intriguing dimension of stress is its potential transgenerational effect. The study of heritable changes in gene activity not caused by alterations in the DNA sequence itself, known as epigenetics, suggests that parents’ stress experiences can leave marks in our DNA and influence a child’s stress responses. This notion means stress can potentially imprint itself across generations, perpetuating a cycle of heightened stress sensitivity.

How to Reduce the Effects of Stress

Here are some research-based tools for you to deal with stress:

1. Reframe Your Stressor – A psychological technique, cognitive reappraisal involves altering your interpretation of a stressful scenario to manage your emotional response. Deeming a challenge as an opportunity rather than a threat can help reduce cortisol levels.

2. Fostering Social Connections – High-quality relationships can buffer against stress. This relationship is reciprocal; reducing stress also improves the quality of our social connections.

3. Embracing Healthy Lifestyle Habits – Regular exercise, a wholesome diet, sufficient sleep, and mindful meditation with deep, diaphragmatic breathing are essential to mitigate the detrimental effect of stress. Exercise and diaphragmatic breathing, for example, notably help reduce excessive cortisol and promote well-being.

4. Strive for Consistency – Instead of trying to do everything daily, practice one tool at a time and develop small habits to make stress mitigation your default nature. No matter how insignificant, regular self-care activities can help equip you to handle stress better than infrequent, intense relaxation sessions.

Ultimately, managing stress is about discerning our unique individual profiles, the interplay of biology, personality and social factors, and adopting sustainable practices that work for us. By doing so, we can reclaim control from the pervasive power of stress, promoting a longer lifespan and improving its quality with health and happiness.