How Stress Can Affect Your Brain and Body

REST & QUIET BLOG

How Stress can Affect Your Brain and Body.

Stress isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it can be just what we need to get an extra burst of energy and focus. However, too much stress can begin to have negative effects on both your brain and your body… Today, we’re talking about those effects and what you should do when stressful feelings begin to overwhelm you.

What is stress?

Stress is our body’s initial response to a threat. External pressures from our day and life events can cause feelings of stress. A spike in our cortisol levels leads to feelings of overwhelm and mild anxiety. Here at Rest&Quiet, we want to help you to navigate through your pressures so that you can relax, breathe easy and be the best version of yourself. Take our natural stress relief with you wherever you are.

So, what makes us feel stressed?

Daily challenges and unexpected situations can lead to heightened feelings of stress in daily life. Examples of common stressors are:

Work
School/University
Relationships/marriage
Finances
Moving house
Changing jobs/promotion
The loss of a loved one

Do we need stress?

It may be hard to believe but yes, we do! Our body needs the stress hormone cortisol. The release of cortisol helps to give us our get up and go! It helps us to focus, learn and even remember new things. However, when people experience too much and become overwhelmed it becomes problematic.

How does long-term stress affect the brain?

Did you know that chronic stress can affect how the brain works? That’s right, high levels of cortisol can actually cause the brain to shrink in size. This has an impact on the ‘pre-frontal cortex’ of our brain which is responsible for regulating certain behaviours like our decision-making, concentration, and even social interaction. (Murgia, 2015). This shrinkage can also lead to fewer brain cells being formed in the ‘hippocampus’ – which plays a huge role in learning and memory. This means that chronic stress may make it harder for one to learn and remember things. These ongoing effects of stress on the brain can later develop into Depression and Alzheimer’s.

What are the impacts on the body?

Stress can cause an array of physical symptoms like:

Irritability
Fatigue
Rapid heart rate
Difficulty concentrating
Acne
Hair-loss

How you respond to stress is important.

There are many ways that you can help to minimise these feelings. Helpful coping strategies include:

Daily exercise – aim for 30 minutes per day
Quality sleep – you should aim for 8-9 hours per night
Relaxation techniques
Meditation
Yoga
Talking with a friend or family member about how you feel
Sound healing/therapy
Talking with a therapist about how to better manage your load

If you need mild stress relief – make it your mission to adapt these helpful coping strategies to your day.

What else can you do?

Reach for Rest&Quiet Calm Formula

Our calm drops were created to help calm the mind and relieve symptoms of stress and mild anxiety. Use day or night for the support of your emotional needs and general well-being. We all need to restore & manage our inner calm. When feelings of mild anxiety, restlessness, irritability, over-stimulation and fear begin to dominate our moment.

Don’t let stress get in the way of your day. Aim to take control of your stress before it takes control of you. We know it isn’t easy, but bit by bit, aim to reduce your load with these helpful tips.

How Stress Can Affect Your Brain and Your Body

REST & QUIET BLOG