How Stress Changes Our Bodies and Brains

Our minds, bodies, and spirit are intrinsically connected. What affects one affects them all. When we experience stress, we see the implications throughout our whole being. As we’ve been looking into our adrenal system and stress, it’s essential to know not just how our bodies respond to stress, but how increased stress levels can affect both our bodies and our brains.

It’s important to note that not all stress is equal. Some stress is beneficial for our growth and development. Healthy stress levels can help us stay alert and motivated. Other stress, like weight lifting, helps our bodies grow stronger through tearing and rebuilding muscle tissue. However, too much stress can cause us to get sick as well as worsening specific symptoms and diseases.

No doubt you’ve experienced the effects of stress on your body before. Headaches, chest pains, stomachaches, anxiety, and trouble sleeping are all symptoms of unhealthy stress levels in our bodies. If not appropriately managed, ongoing stress can cause stomach ulcers, high blood pressure that puts you at risk for heart attack and circulation issues, muscle tension and pain, sleep deprivation, and problems with sexual function.

We only exacerbate the physical effects of stress if we do not manage stressors properly. Behaviors like smoking, excessive drinking, overeating, gambling, drug use, and risky sexual behavior add gasoline to the fire of stress in our bodies.

So how does stress change our brains? Prolonged stress can disrupt synapse regulation, causing us to be less social and avoid others. Not only that, but stress can kill brain cells and reduce the size of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for learning and memory. Inflammation is the inevitable by-product of these changes, and inflammation anywhere means dis-ease.