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5 Surprising Ways That Stress Affects Your Brain: More in Theories

Stress can have significant negative effects on the brain and mental health according to recent research. Chronic stress can increase the risk of developing mental illnesses by causing disruptions to the balance of neurons and myelin in the brain. It can also lead to lasting changes in brain structure through imbalances in gray and white matter. Additionally, stress has been shown to kill new brain cells in the hippocampus and cause shrinkage to areas of the brain involved in emotion regulation and memory. Different types of stress impact memory and brain volume in various ways, with chronic everyday stress posing particular risks to brain health over time.

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135 views5 pages

5 Surprising Ways That Stress Affects Your Brain: More in Theories

Stress can have significant negative effects on the brain and mental health according to recent research. Chronic stress can increase the risk of developing mental illnesses by causing disruptions to the balance of neurons and myelin in the brain. It can also lead to lasting changes in brain structure through imbalances in gray and white matter. Additionally, stress has been shown to kill new brain cells in the hippocampus and cause shrinkage to areas of the brain involved in emotion regulation and memory. Different types of stress impact memory and brain volume in various ways, with chronic everyday stress posing particular risks to brain health over time.

Uploaded by

MuhdAisar96
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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5 Surprising Ways That Stress Affects Your

Brain
By 

Kendra Cherry 

 Medically reviewed by 

Carly Snyder, MD 

Updated on March 20, 2020

Print 

More in Theories
  Cognitive Psychology
 Behavioral Psychology
 Developmental Psychology
 Personality Psychology
 Social Psychology
 Biological Psychology
 Psychosocial Psychology

Stress is a familiar and common part of daily life. Stress happens each and every day and
comes in a wide variety of forms. It might be the stress of trying to juggle family, work, and
school commitments. It might involve issues like health, money, and relationships.

In each instance where we face a potential threat, our minds and bodies go into action,
mobilizing to either deal with the issues (fight) or avoid the problem (flight).

You have probably heard all about how bad stress is for your mind and body. It can lead to
physical symptoms such as headaches and chest pain. It can produce mood problems such as
anxiety or sadness. It can even lead to behavioral problems such as outbursts of anger or
overeating.

What you might not know is that stress can also have a serious impact on your brain. In the
face of stress, your brain goes through a series of reactions – some good and some bad—
designed to mobilize and protect itself from potential threats. Sometimes stress can help
sharpen the mind and improve the ability to remember details about what is happening.
Stress can have negative effects on the body and brain. Research has found that stress can
produce a wide range of negative effects on the brain ranging from contributing to mental
illness to actually shrinking the volume of the brain.
Let’s take a closer look at five of the most surprising ways that stress affects your brain.

Chronic Stress Increases Mental


Illness

Jamie Grill / Getty Images

In a study published in Molecular Psychiatry, researchers found that chronic stress results in


long-term changes in the brain. These changes, they suggest, might help explain why those
who experience chronic stress are also more prone to mood and anxiety disorders later on in
life.
Stress might play a role in the development of mental disorders such as depression and
various emotional disorders.
Researchers from the University of California—Berkeley performed a series of experiments
looking at the impact of chronic stress on the brain. They discovered that such stress creates
more myelin-producing cells, but fewer neurons than normal.
The result of this disruption is an excess of myelin in certain areas of the brain, which
interferes with the timing and balance of communication. The researchers found that stress
can also have negative effects on the brain's hippocampus.
If you or a loved one are struggling with a mental disorder, contact the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for
information on support and treatment facilities in your area.
For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.
 10 Things You Don't Know About Stress

Stress Changes the Brain's Structure

Arian Camilleri / Radius Images / Getty Images

The results of experiments by researchers from the University of California—Berkeley


revealed that chronic stress can lead to long-term changes in the structure and function of the
brain.

The brain is made up of neurons and support cells, known as "gray matter" responsible for
higher-order thinking such as decision-making and problem-solving. But the brain also
contains what is known as "white matter," which is made up of all the axons that connect
with other regions of the brain to communicate information.
White matter is so named due to the fatty, white sheath known as myelin that surrounds
the axons that speed up the electrical signals used to communicate information throughout the
brain.
The overproduction of myelin that the researchers observed due to the presence of chronic
stress doesn't just result in a short-term change in the balance between white and gray matter
—it can also lead to lasting changes in the brain's structure.

Doctors and researchers have previously observed that people suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder also have brain abnormalities including imbalances in gray and white matter.
Psychologist Daniela Kaufer, the researcher behind these experiments, suggests that not all
stress impacts the brain and neural networks in the same way. Good stress, or the type of
stress that helps you perform well in the face of a challenge, helps to wire the brain in a
positive way, leading to stronger networks and greater resilience.

Chronic stress, on the other hand, can lead to an array of problems. "You’re creating a brain
that’s either resilient or very vulnerable to mental disease, based on the patterning of white
matter you get early in life," explained Kaufer.

Stress Kills Brain Cells

Alfred Pasieka / Science Photo Library / Getty Images

In a study conducted by researchers from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and
Science, researchers discovered that a single socially-stress event could kill new neurons in
the brain's hippocampus.

The hippocampus is one of the regions of the brain heavily associated with memory, emotion,
and learning. It is also one of the two areas of the brain where neurogenesis, or the formation
of new brain cells, occurs throughout life.
In experiments, the research team placed young rats in a cage with two older rats for a period
of 20 minutes. The young rat was then subjected to aggression from the more mature
residents of the cage. Later examination of the young rats found that they had cortisol levels
up to six times higher than that of rats who had not experienced a stressful social encounter.

Further examination revealed that while the young rats placed under stress had generated the
same number of new neurons as those who had not experienced the stress, there was a
marked reduction in the number of nerve cells a week later.

While stress does not appear to influence the formation of new neurons, it does impact
whether or not those cells survive.

So stress can kill brain cells, but is there anything that can be done to minimize the damaging
impact of stress?

"The next step is to understand how stress reduced this survival," explained lead author
Daniel Peterson, Ph.D. "We want to determine if anti-depressant medications might be able
to keep these vulnerable new neurons alive."

 The Science Behind How New Brain Cells Are Generated


4

Stress Shrinks the Brain

MedicalRF.com / Getty Images

Even among otherwise healthy people, stress can lead to shrinkage in areas of the brain
associated with the regulation of emotions, metabolism, and memory.

While people often associate negative outcomes to sudden, intense stress created by life-
altering events (such as a natural disaster, car accident, death of a loved one), researchers
actually suggest that it is the everyday stress that we all seem to face that, over time, can
contribute to a wide range of mental disorders.

In one study, researchers from Yale University looked at 100 healthy participants who
provided information about the stressful events in their lives. The researchers observed that
exposure to stress, even very recent stress, led smaller gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, a
region of the brain linked to such things as self-control and emotions.

Chronic, everyday stress appeared to have little impact on brain volume on its own but may
make people more vulnerable to brain shrinkage when they are faced with intense, traumatic
stressors.

“The accumulation of stressful life events may make it more challenging for these individuals
to deal with future stress, particularly if the next demanding event requires effortful control,
emotion regulation, or integrated social processing to overcome it,” explained the study’s
lead author, Emily Ansell.

Different kinds of stress affect the brain in different ways. Recent stressful events (job loss,
car accident) affect emotional awareness. Traumatic events (death of a loved one, serious
illness) have a greater impact on mood centers.
5

Stress Hurts Your Memory

Debbi Smirnoff / E+ / Getty Images

If you've ever tried to remember the details of a stressful event, you are probably aware that
sometimes stress can make events can be difficult to remember. Even relatively minor stress
can have an immediate impact on your memory, such as struggling to remember where your
car keys are or where you left your briefcase when you are late for work.

One 2012 study found that chronic stress has a negative impact on what is known as spatial
memory, or the ability to recall information the location of objects in the environment as well
as spatial orientation. A 2014 study revealed that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol
were connected to short-term memory declines in older rats.
The overall impact of stress on memory hinges on a number of variables, one of which is
timing. Numerous studies have demonstrated that when stress occurs immediately before
learning, memory can actually be enhanced by aiding in memory consolidation.

On the other hand, stress has been shown to impede memory retrieval. For example,
researchers have repeatedly shown that exposure to stress right before a memory retention
test leads to decreased performance in both human and animal subjects.

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