Chronic Stress Can Damage Brain Structure And Connectivity

This analysis persists of key points, about The article “Stress and the brain by Janet Elder”. The author forged an excellent informative piece to educate the reader on the effects of stress on the brain. The author states that “Stress can be both good and bad. It is part of life, and your brain and body respond to it”. The author clarifies that, "Whether stress is harmful or helpful depends on the amount of stress, how severe it is, and how long it lasts".

“The ‘stress hormone’ cortisol is believed to create a domino effect that hard-wires pathways between the hippocampus and amygdala in a way that might create a vicious cycle by creating a brain that becomes predisposed to be in a constant state of fight-or-flight” (Bergland, 2014).

The video “Stress Portrait of a Killer” was enlightening. The correlation between each individual’s placement in the hierarchy and their level of stress was not surprising. In fact, it made a great deal of sense. When one is on the lower end of the spectrum, it is a reasonable to anticipate higher levels of stress than when one is at the higher end. The latter, has more control over what is happening in their lives which in turn eliminates that stress. What I found most interesting, is that stress lowers the body’s immunity. I had no idea that the brain cuts non-essential systems like the immune system when stress is present. I found this fact fascinating and rather concerning. For as long as I can remember, I have been very susceptible to

People are increasingly facing more stress since the Human-Being society became developed and complicated, by ignoring the physical influence to our body, Human’s health suffered considerably from stress. Many people was suggested to solve the stress problem by using psychological approaches, however, the research in recent decades has identified a significant awareness gap between the benefits of physical activities and stress relief. The following paper is aiming at exploring how stress affects physical health and how to relieve stress physically.

The depression diseasing our society today is mostly caused by stress related activities. Because our society demands so much out of us we struggle to handle all the stress it throws out us. STanford researchers found people who had depression had smaller hippocampuses; the part of the brain that controls long term memory and emotions. The researchers also found that this smaller hippocampus was caused by a deterioration of it over time, not in one sudden moment. THe deterioration is caused by, you guessed it, stress. However, it’s a double edged sword, because as stress causes the deterioration, it also prevents the healing process by preventing neurons from growing around the

Memory is the internal representation of an event or experience and is a constructive process that organizes and shapes information. Memory allows people to learn from personal experiences and learn to adapt and respond to the changing environment. Memory plays a critical role in learning processes. Memory allows for information storage and retrieval of information previously learned. Memory and learning are interdependent in that memory exists because of previous learning, and learning needs memory to create connections and build upon learned knowledge. Research confirms that acute stress affects memory. The techniques used to learn material affects the strength of memory against the effects of stress. Researchers Amy M. Smith, Victoria A.

The brain develops in such a way that it leaves itself vulnerable to these negative influences. The prenatal brain develops an overabundance of neurons, some of which are then carefully eliminated before age 4 (5). In a process similar to this, the amount of synapses between neurons is built up during early childhood and then pruned back for the next 30 years of life (5). These two processes are both disturbed by elevated levels of stress hormones (5). The two centers of the brain with the most postnatal changes, including the growth of new neurons after birth, are the hippocampus, which is part of the limbic system, and the cerebellar vermis (6). The hippocampus is in charge of creating and retrieving memories, working together with the other parts of the limbic system, such as the amygdala, which records the emotions for each memory. The vermis controls the production and release of two of the catecholamine neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine (6). Both the vermis and the limbic system have higher concentrations of receptors for the stress hormone cortisol than anywhere else in the brain (6). Due to this fact, these still-developing areas are the most vulnerable to the damage done by elevated levels of stress hormones.

Another interesting finding in research, is that of reduced hippocampal volume in depressed patients (Roy & Campbell, 2013).. There are various models accounting for this such as the neurotoxicity hypothesis which states that the reduction in volume occurs because of prolonged stress and hormone levels. The vulnerability hypothesis states that individuals with a familial risk of depression have a significantly smaller hippocampus than controls (Chan et al., 2016). The Chan et al. (2016) study examined individuals with depression and healthy controls. The participants with depression had reduced hippocampal volume when compared to the control group. The researchers posit reduced hippocampal volume as a possible neural marker of depression and the potential for this to be viewed as a vulnerability marker for future depressive episodes (Assareh et al., 2015). It can be theorized that Toni and her family may have reduced volume of the

The aim of this study is to assess the effects of post-traumatic stress on brain functioning, in particular executive functioning and information processing of children and adolescents. This study also aims to evaluate prazosin as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents. Specifically, the study focuses on the treatment of sleep disturbances such as insomnia, nightmares and altered sleep schedules. The hypotheses of this study is that the subjects with PTSD will perform weaker in the tasks given compared to healthy subjects, and that prazosin will improve their sleep cycles and overall conditions.

Damage done from trauma on the neurological functioning of the brain can be widespread, but can be found to interfere with functioning of the hippocampus and the limbic system to a greater extent. Randall (2011) explained that when a large amount of stress is continually placed on the brain from ongoing trauma, cortisol, a fight or flight response chemical, can fail to stop firing when the stressor that ignited the cortisol is no longer present. This excess of cortisol impairs the brains ability to function properly (Randall, 2011). Andersen, Tomada, Vincow, Valente, Polcari, Teicher (2008) found that women who had experienced sexual abuse during childhood actually had a difference in the volume of their hippocampus (as cited in Pechtel and Pizzagalli, 2011). The region which controls memory and emotional regulation was found to be smaller in the women who had been sexually abused in early childhood in comparison to

Another research shows that by doing cognitive reappraisal or reinterpreting the meaning of an emotional stimulus, would increase the activity of prefrontal cortex. Person with greater activation of the prefrontal cortex is very important in resilience because it enables the person to recover faster from a negative emotion such as sadness, anger, and fear. Activation of PFC also helps to facilitate rational planning and behavior (Acton, 2012).

The article claims that many psychological disorders, especially depression, can be caused by inflammation in the brain.

Per Broderick and Blewitt (2015), the hypothalamus and the limbic system (hippocampus, amygdala, septum, and cingulate cortex), all play a role in the regulation of emotion and stress response. As with other aspects of human development; genetics, nutrition, and exposure to teratogens can affect the development of these parts of the brain and emotional development. Per Glover (2013), maternal exposure to stress, such as anxiety and depression, daily hassles, bereavement, life events, bad relationships, and exposure to acute disasters can double the child’s risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems. While she cites the risk increasing from 6% to 12%, she asserts that this increase is of clinical

interruption of life plans, changes in body and self-esteem, amendment in social role and lifestyle.

A substantial amount of Canadians experience stress in their lives. In fact, nearly one-quarter of the population over the age of 15 are stressed on a daily basis (Statistics Canada, 2013). Stress can be defined as a mental and emotional state of tension, in which one perceives the environment around them to be strenuous and overwhelming. Although some stress is necessary for survival, it can adversely affect both the physical and mental health. Its detrimental effects include but are not limited to: lack of confidence, concentration, motivation, decision making and increased heartrate, sweating, tension, as well as other physical and psychological problems such as headaches and insomnia (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2015). These health complications strongly emphasize the need for further research in ways to cope with, and reduce stress. Henceforth, the purpose of this paper is to use established research to better understand stress, then propose my own study that would investigate another stress-reduction method.