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What are the signs and symptoms of poorly managed stress? What happens when stress hormone levels are too high? What happens when stress hormone levels are too low? Can we restore memory that is impaired by stress hormones? How does stress affect the nervous system? What are the signs and symptoms of poorly managed stress? Excess stress can manifest itself in a variety of emotional, behavioral, and even physical symptoms, and the symptoms of stress vary enormously among different individuals. Common somatic (physical) symptoms often reported by those experiencing excess stress include sleep disturbances, muscle tension, muscle aches, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, and fatigue. Emotional and behavioral symptoms that can accompany excess stress include nervousness, anxiety, changes in eating habits including overeating, loss of enthusiasm or energy, and mood changes, like irritability and depression. Of course, none of these signs or symptoms means for certain that there is an elevated stress level since all of these symptoms can be caused by other medical and/or psychological conditions. What happens when stress hormone levels are too high? In one study, we gave participants a medication that temporarily made their stress hormone levels higher than normal. We then tested their memory and found that their memory was impaired. So when stress hormone levels are very high, learning and remembering can be difficult. What happens when stress hormone levels are too low? In a second study, we gave participants a medication that temporarily lowered their stress hormone levels and tested their memory. Their memory ability was again impaired! Can we restore memory that is impaired by stress hormones? We then gave the same participants a medication that brought their stress hormone levels back to normal. This restored their memory performance to their normal everyday memory functioning! Altogether, these results showed us that stress hormones are essential for normal memory function. They also showed us that too few or too many circulating stress hormones can impair memory performance. This led us to conclude that there is an inverted-U shape function that relates memory and stress in humans. The relation between stress and memory Stress hormones carry a message that tells other cells in our body what to do. The first receivers of these messages are stress hormone receptors. In addition, there are stress hormone receptors pretty much everywhere in our body, including the brain. Interestingly, the very brain areas that are responsible for our learning and memory functions have the greatest number of stress hormone receptors. We always have to keep in mind what our stress response system was initially designed for: to help to ensure our survival. The stress response system does this in several ways (i.e. making sure we have enough energy to fight or flee in the face of a threatening situation), but it also helps up to remember relevant details about these situations so that we can avoid them in the future or be better equipped to deal with them a second time. For instance, if we had taken a different route back from the mammoth hunt and ended up in saber tooth tiger territory (and managed to escape), we would need to remember the location of this territory and the methods we used to get away. We managed to do this through the action of stress hormones in brain areas critical for learning and memory. Beautifully said! In humans, three of the most important learning and memory regions are the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex. Each of these brain areas is highly specialized for specific types of memory processing. The hippocampus for instance is involved in spatial memory (i.e. where the saber tooth tiger attack took place), the amygdala is involved in emotional memory (i.e. the fear we felt at the time of the attack that resulted in the release of stress hormones), and the prefrontal cortex helps us to evaluate the situation in order to make decisions about how to act (i.e. pay attention to only the relevant details -tiger- and decide where to throw our spear). These brain areas are all interconnected and talk to each other through several relay systems. How does stress affect the nervous system? The nervous system is a network of nerves (neurons) that are interconnected with each other through a complex network. It is comprised of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which is a large network of nerves. The nervous system responds to external as well as internal stimuli. To give specific instructions to various parts of the body on how to react to a specific stimulus, the neurons use electrochemical signals. Stress stimulates the CNS and prepares it to meet stressful situations. During the preparation, the body goes through various physiological changes that are initiated to enable fight or flight. This is the function of the autonomic nervous system, which is comprised of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous systems. Both of these perform entirely opposite functions. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for stress responses, while the parasympathetic nervous system readies the body for rest and relaxation. When some event causes fear, dread or terror, the sympathetic nervous system senses the danger and increases the heart rate to send an extra supply of blood to different parts of the body. It also signals the adrenal glands near the kidneys to secrete adrenaline, the hormone that provides a boost to muscular energy. The nervous system is very different from other systems in the body. It not only supervises stress but also controls the body’s reactions afterwards. It reduces the level of hormones in the blood stream and signals the heart to revert back to its normal beat rate. Emotional stress produces similar physical changes by stimulating the nervous system to respond. Even though we know that adequate and relevant responses to stress are necessary, the state of the body during these conditions is not normal. The body comes into a stressed state almost instantly when it detects any kind of threat, but the body must necessarily revert back to its normal state after a certain period of time. Reverting back to the normal state is not possible when there is constant stress, which affects your overall health over time. Constant stress means that the sympathetic nervous system keeps you in a state of alert all the time and does not let the parasympathetic nervous system to come into play. This translates into a situation where the body cannot actually rest at all. If the body is not at rest, the body systems that are suspended during the stress response cannot be resumed effectively. Admittedly, it is impossible to avoid stress totally. Managing stress through relaxation, deep breathing, yoga and meditation sends signals to the central nervous system and helps the body to go back to its original relaxed state. What you can also do is to manage emotional stress by reevaluating your perception of life situations. Positive thinking is also an effective way of coping with stress and may greatly help you to adapt and manage stressors. |