BRAIN HEALTH AND STRESS

Stress, especially chronic stress, significantly impacts brain health by altering brain structure, chemistry, and function, leading to issues like poor memory, anxiety, irritability, and difficulty concentrating, as high cortisol levels damage the hippocampus (memory) and overactivate the amygdala (fear center). While acute stress offers focus, long-term stress impairs higher cognitive functions, making the brain more reactive and vulnerable, affecting mood, learning, and increasing risks for neurodegenerative disorders and mental health conditions like depression and PTSD, but healthy habits like exercise and good sleep can help mitigate these effects.  

How Stress Rewires Your Brain

Amygdala (Fear Center): Becomes larger and more reactive, increasing sensitivity to threats. 

Hippocampus (Memory & Learning): High cortisol levels can shrink it and weaken neural connections, impairing memory and the ability to control the stress response. 

Prefrontal Cortex (Higher Thought): Activity decreases, weakening complex thinking, decision-making, and emotional regulation.

Effects on Brain Function & Health

Cognitive Issues: “Brain fog,” forgetfulness, poor concentration, and impaired decision-making. 

Emotional Changes: Anxiety, irritability, depression, mood swings, and difficulty regulating emotions.

Increased Risk for Disorders: Linked to anxiety, PTSD, depression, and potentially Alzheimer’s. 

Impaired Waste Clearance: Poor sleep from stress disrupts the glymphatic system, allowing neurotoxins to build up in the brain.

Managing Stress for Better Brain Health

Physical Activity: Exercise helps stabilize stress hormones (like cortisol) and can reverse some negative brain changes.

Good Sleep: Crucial for the brain’s waste-clearing system (glymphatic system). 

Mindfulness & Social Connection: Activities like meditation and spending time with others reduce stress levels.

Research On Connections

“Try to relax, it may lower your Alzheimer’s risk” Source: Fisher Center On Alzheimer’s

BIOLOGICAL AGING AND STRESS

Stress accounts for between 60% and 80% of visits to primary care doctors. Chronic stress has been linked to accelerated biological aging, increased chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. You are more likely to have arthritis flare-ups or experience joint pain when you’re feeling stressed since the body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline as part of the stress response, which can cause muscle tightening and increased pain sensitivity

Research On Connections

“Chronic stress has been linked to accelerated biological aging” Source: National Library Of Medicine

“Chronic stress has been linked to increased chronic inflammation” Source: WellAndGood.com

“Chronic stress has been linked to oxidative stress” Source: National Library Of Medicine

“You are more likely to have arthritis flare-ups or experience joint pain when you’re feeling stressed” Source: WebMD

Stress can temporarily change our biological age, but the process reverses when the stressor is resolved, according to a new study Source: Medical News Today

“People exposed to chronic stress age rapidly. The telomeres in their cells of all types shorten faster. Inflammation is another important feature of stress that, along with aging, accounts for the phenomenon of inflammaging. Oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms related to stress. Oxidative stress is caused by the over-production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can damage various tissues” Source: National Institutes Of Health

“Stress affects older adults more and negatively impacts the body’s ability to effectively respond to certain kinds of inflammation that lead to age-related conditions” Source: National Council On Aging

RECOMMENDED HEALTHY AGING PROTOCOL

“I Feel Stressed”: Answer = Never