Is stress good for brain functioning? Here's what experts believe
Georgia (US), August 4: Despite feeling like an anvil is hovering over your head at work, a recent study from the Youth Development Institute at the University of Georgia suggests that the impending deadline may really be healthy for your brain.
According to the study, low to moderate amounts of stress can foster resilience in people and lower their risk of mental health issues including depression and antisocial behaviour. Low to moderate levels of stress can also assist people to manage difficult situations in the future.
Assaf Oshri, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences said, "If you're in an environment where you have some level of stress, you may develop coping mechanisms that will allow you to become a more efficient and effective worker and organize yourself in a way that will help you perform."
Stress from preparing for a major meeting at work, studying for an exam, or working longer hours to finish a deal can all help you grow as a person. For instance, a writer's style may change after being rejected by a publisher. Additionally, getting fired could make someone reevaluate their skills and decide whether to pursue new opportunities or stick with what they know best.
However, there is a fine line between healthy stress and excessive stress.
"It's like when you keep doing something hard and get a little callous on your skin," Oshri said. He added, "You trigger your skin to adapt to this pressure you are applying to it. But if you do too much, you're going to cut your skin."
A healthy amount of stress can protect against the negative effects of future adversity.
The National Institutes of Health-funded Human Connectome Project, a national initiative that attempts to shed light on how the human brain functions, provided the researchers with the data they needed.
A questionnaire that is commonly used in research to evaluate how hectic and stressful people find their life was used to collect data from more than 1,200 young adults who reported their perceived stress levels for the current study.
Participants of the research answered several questions like "in the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly? And in the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do?"
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Then participants' neurocognitive abilities were examined using tests that measured attention and ability to suppress automatic responses to visual stimuli; cognitive flexibility, or ability to switch between tasks; picture sequence memory, which involves remembering an increasingly long series of objects; working memory and processing speed.
In addition to other behavioural and emotional problems, the participants' responses to several measures of anxiety, attention issues, and aggression were compared to the researchers' findings.
According to the research, low to moderate levels of stress were psychologically advantageous and may even serve as a preventative measure for the onset of mental health symptoms.
"Most of us have some adverse experiences that actually make us stronger," Oshri said, adding, "There are specific experiences that can help you evolve or develop skills that will prepare you for the future."
But each person has a different level of tolerance for stress and adversity.
How well people handle challenges depends on a variety of factors, including age, genetic predispositions, and having a strong support system. Oshri warns that while a little stress might be beneficial for cognition, sustained excessive levels of stress can be extremely harmful to the body and brain.
"At a certain point, stress becomes toxic. Chronic stress, like the stress that comes from living in abject poverty or being abused, can have very bad health and psychological consequences. It affects everything from your immune system to emotional regulation, to brain functioning. Not all stress is good stress."
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-PTC News
