Stress Has The Potential To Strengthen Your Brain! Study
Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : August 5, 2022Whenever you think of stress, you tend to associate it with negativity. But a little stress is good for your brain. You might be wondering how stress benefits your brain.
How does Stress Help You In A Healthy Way?
Scientists from the University of Georgia have made different studies and reported that moderate stress has the potential to strengthen your brain. It will build up your mental resilience and lowers the risk of mental health disorders. When operating on moderate stress your brain lowers the risk of depression and other psychological disorders. Positive stress also named ‘Eustress’ teaches your brain how to respond to stress in a healthy way.
Assaf Oshri, the lead study author has stated in a university release, that when you inhibit a little amount of stress your brain will catch up on coping mechanisms. This in turn will make you more organized and improve your efficiency. Eustress makes you more productive.
Imagine the time you were preparing for an exam or an Interview with your desired company. You would have felt stressed during this time. But this stress would have made you more productive. The stress would have made you study harder, research harder and give your 100% in your exams or Interviews. This form of stress will pave the way for your personal growth.
To further examine if stress truly prepares you for the future, a study was conducted by the Human Connectome Project. This project was funded by the National Institute of Health to focus on the functioning of the human brain. A questionnaire was given to 1200 adults. Each questionnaire had the potential to make the individual a little stressed. At the end of the study, the participant’s neurocognitive skills were examined by testing their attention span, the participant’s ability to suppress automatic responses when they are presented with visual stimuli, their cognitive flexibility when multitasking, and their memory, processing speed, and sequence memory.
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A comparison of the responses was made by the researchers to understand different emotions the participants felt like anxiety, aggression, attention, and emotional problems.
The study ended with the conclusion that low-moderate levels of stress can be psychologically beneficial and this will lower mental health symptoms also.
The fight or flight response you experience during stress helps in making your brain active, enables faster thinking, and is designed to protect you. When you are adapted to low levels of the stress hormone, it protects you from infections. Moderate stress will kick start your immune system and protect against illnesses.
Whenever your body senses danger, your brain starts reacting through the Hypothalamus. It will send signals to the adrenal glands and release an abundance of hormones. These hormones will prepare and strengthen you to face danger and increase your chances of survival.
The ability to tolerate stress will significantly vary depending on age, genetic predispositions, and several other factors.
It is crucial to identify how much stress you can tolerate. A high level of stress is detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. Stress becomes toxic after a certain level and hence it is essential to identify how much stress you can tolerate. When stress becomes toxic, it has psychological consequences and a negative impact on your immune system and brain functioning. Distress has the potential to cause insomnia, weight gain, and increased blood pressure.
Stress is a biological process and the key to tackling stress is identifying good stress from bad stress. Stress is not necessarily a bad thing. Stress varies from person to person. It is ideal to identify what causes you Eustress and what causes Distress. When stress is not chronic, it can be a positive addition to your life.
References:
👉Cleveland Clinic(2022)Stress and your health(Available Online):
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11874-stress
👉Webmd(2005-2022)Stress(Available Online):https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/what-is-stress
With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.