Stress: Portrait Of A Killer (How it Hurts Our Physical and Mental Health)

It seldom happens that we go through an entire day without experiencing stress, especially after a long and difficult day at work, school, or getting things done at home.

In our modern industrialized world, it’s more difficult now than ever to avoid stress, and some experts say this is leading to many unforeseen health-related problems. In a society that values multi-tasking, an over consumption of commercial goods, and exponential increases in economic production, no wonder it always feels like our heads are spinning and no wonder life often seems so hectic and uncontrollable.

However, stress is a necessary component to the human experience.

Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, whom is featured in the great National Geographic documentary Stress: Portrait Of A Killer, explains how stress is an adaptive response of our nervous system. According to him, there are two main hormones involved in this stress response: epinephrine (also called “adrenaline”) and norepinephrine.

In our everyday lives, the biological process of stress is known as the “fight, flight, or freeze” response.

The fight, flight, or freeze” response takes place in our sympathetic nervous system. It’s our body’s response when we perceive a threat or feel we are in danger.

From an evolutionary perspective, this stress response was first adapted to increase an animal’s survival when confronted by a potential threat. It floods your body with chemicals so that you take action to avoid danger, whether it be running away (“flight”), attacking (“fight”), or hiding (“freeze”).

While this stress response helps us to survive, Sapolsky argues that humans tend to trigger this stress response psychologically, without any presence of a threatening stimulus.

This “artificial” stress response is constantly being activated, which becomes severely taxing on our body’s resources and energy. This is when stress can become excessive, unhealthy, and even deadly.

All animals have this “fight, flight, or freeze” response in one form or another – and therefore experience stress.

When Sapolsky was in his 20s, he traveled to East Africa to study wild baboons. He found that the same area in the brain that correlates with human stress also correlates with baboon stress. Sapolsky then spent the next 30 years observing these baboon communities – their behaviors, environment, and social structures, and kept track of their stress levels through blood samples and other physiological measures (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.)

One of the key findings made during Sapolsky’s research was the effect of social hierarchy on stress levels. Dominant male baboons were shown to have much lower levels of stress than subordinate baboons. Sapolsky observed the bigger, dominant males often teasing the weaker ones, pushing them around and not letting them have a fair share of food or mating privileges. In fact, the baboons that were most submissive to the dominant males revealed brain activity similar to the kind found in clinically depressed humans.

Sapolsky’s findings with baboons echoed an important study done on human stress called the Whitehall Study. Researchers decided to record the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and mortality rates of British civil servants between the ages of 20-64. They found that individuals employed closest to the bottom of the business hierarchy (such as messengers or doorkeepers) had a mortality rate that nearly tripled the rate of administrators and CEOs. Since everyone in Britain receives the same quality healthcare this study made important implications into the role of social hierarchy on stress and its effect on the risk of heart disease.

So how does this hierarchical structure contribute to different levels of stress? Researchers theorize that this could be due to a lack of control.

Our stress levels are directed related to how much “control” we feel we have over ourselves and our environment. The less control we have, the more we’re likely to feel stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed.

This is likely correlated with one’s locus of control. Those who have a more external “locus of control” perceive their surroundings and environment as having more influence over them.

Let’s dig further into the health implications of stress. Then we will go over ways we can minimize the stress in our lives and improve our overall mental health and well-being.

How Stress Influences Our Physical Health

One of the most common stress-related ailments is the stomach ulcer.

The association between “stress” and “ulcers” has been known for a long time now. It used to be the case where doctors would have to advise their patients on ways to relax and minimize stress in order to avoid these ulcers. This practice was commonplace until it was discovered that ulcers could also be linked to a certain kind of bacteria infection. Since then doctors have begun to neglect the importance of stress in ulcers and thus have resorted to drug prescriptions as a proper treatment.

However recent research has begun to shed light on the real causality between stress, ulcers, and other health implications. As it turns out, extreme levels of stress can tire the body and weaken our immune system.

When bacteria or a virus enters the body under these very stressful conditions, the body may not have the resources to take care of itself effectively. As a result, those who experience increased stress are also likely to get sick more often.

In general, stress makes the body weaker and not function at its most optimal level.

Stress has also been shown to influence us at a genetic level as well. A recent discovery in the field of biology has linked higher stress levels with shorter telomere lives.

Telomeres are a part of DNA that shortens our cell’s lifespan and its ability to reproduce new cells. Shorter telomeres have been linked with higher risks of life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer. This also relates back to the findings in Robert Sapolsky’s Whitehall Study that showed an increase in cardiovascular disease in individuals who experienced more stress.

Dr. Carol Shively from Wake Forest University found that stress also changes the way fat is distributed throughout the body. Stress seems to allocate fatty resources to areas of our body they are not needed.

Researchers theorize that increased stress in today’s world may also play a contributing role in the global obesity epidemic, which is one of the biggest public health problems right now.

Overall, stress is not just something that lives in your mind – it’s having a huge effect on your body as well.

How Stress Influences Our Mental Health

One of the most obvious results of stress is how it affects our mental health and well-being.

On a neurological level, stress has been shown to work in contrast with the dopamine receptors in the brain, which are associated with pleasure.

Too much stress hurts our basic ability to enjoy life and have fun, including small and simple pleasures.

Stress makes positive emotions weaker and negative emotions stronger – combined, too much stress can really hurt your overall ability to be happy.

Stress also hurts our brains ability to function on a cognitive level, especially when it comes to paying attention or learning new things.

Researchers have found that the neural networks in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for learning and memory, reveal much less “receptor binding” under conditions of stress than without.

Our brains find it harder to learn new things and build new connections under extremely stressful conditions.

If you’re up all night studying for an exam, or worrying about a business meeting, or ruminating about an upcoming date, you’re not only making yourself more stressed out – but also hurting your ability to perform at your best.

No one enjoys being stressed out. But when we begin to factor in how stress affects our ability to focus, stay motivated, and be productive, then this brings into question whether Type-A personalities – those who are workaholics and always multi-tasking – are really benefiting by their work tendencies or if they are only causing more harm onto themselves in the long-term.

So whether it is our mental health and happiness, or our focus and learning abilities, stress is a major danger to our overall mental health.

Overall, a stressful existence is not the most optimal way to live life. But what can we do about it?

Healthy Solutions For Better Managing Stress

While reading this you have probably recognized areas of your own life where you could better learn to manage stress.

Maybe it is at the workplace, a relationship with a loved one, or dealing with an obnoxious roommate.

One important step to better manage stress is to identify the main causes of it.

The biggest contributor to stress are situations where you feel a “lack of control.” One solution proposed by Robert Sapolsky in Stress: Portrait of a Killer is to discover areas of your life where you actually have some degree of power.

Focus on hobbies and activities that give you a sense of power and control:

• Decorating your office or bedroom in a way that fits your personality.
• Pursuing creative interests like playing a musical instrument, dancing, painting, or writing.
• Set personal goals and “passion projects” – goals you can pursue on your free-time, outside of work.
• Scheduling time in your day to do things you enjoy, even if it’s just reading books or playing video games.
• Spending more time with people you like who bring out the best in you.

Having free time to spend doing things you enjoy and pursuing personal goals is important. They give you a “sense of control” over your life, even when other areas seem to be chaotic.

Recognize your “comfort zone” in life – it’s not always a bad thing. In fact, it’s an important place to go whenever you are feeling too stressed out and overwhelmed, and need some time to relax and recharge.

Of course, certain situations are very stressful, but you don’t have any viable options to just walk away from them or avoid them. Common examples of this include the hardships of being a parent, or the stress that comes when having a terminal illness, or living with a disability.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, a biology research at the University of California, suggests that meeting and interacting with similarly situated individuals is one of the best ways to manage stress in a situation like this.

When we reach out to people who are in similar situations as us, we get to talk about our problems with people who can relate to us and make us feel less alone in dealing with these problems.

For example, a single mother can join a club or organization for other single mothers to discuss their problems and share their perspectives. By doing this Blackburn argues that stress gets minimized and becomes much more manageable.

Having someone to listen to us and just say “I feel you” is important for mental health and managing stress.

Kindness is also an interesting way to combat stress. Studies have shown that acts of kindness and generosity promote greater mental health and well-being, as well as physical health and longevity.

I’ve written before about the many benefits of a “giving mindset.” It helps you to be more grateful with what you have, and feel good about yourself by making a positive impact on someone else’s life.

Put “one kind act” on your daily to-do list, even if it’s something small like giving a compliment or holding the door for someone. It’ll make a noticeable difference in your well-being.

And of course, kindness also includes being kind to yourself and practicing self-compassion and self-forgiveness, which has also been shown to improve both physical and mental health by combatting stress and negative thinking.

Stress is a part of life, so it’s essential we learn and practice better ways of managing it and releasing it. What’s one change you could make in your life to better manage stress?

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