DALLAS: As a nation, we’re all feeling a little anxious right now. In the uncertain days following the Brexit vote, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, warned that “economic post-traumatic stress” might sweep Britain.
Sweaty palms, racing heart and queasy feelings in times of crisis are a primitive, natural reaction known as the stress response and, in small doses, a healthy thing. They give us the get-up-and-go to fight an impending challenge – we did, after all, evolve to fight or flee predators in the wild.
But when stress never relents, such as an overwhelming job or financial pressures, it can lead to a catalogue of health problems, from obesity and acne to heart disease. Last month, Australian research found high stress levels can cause cancer cells to spread six times faster.
Now, a burgeoning field of medical study known as psychoneuroendoimmunology (PNEI) is exploring the links between what goes on in our nervous systems and the development of illness. Here, then, is exactly how stress affects us:
When your body senses danger, it triggers a stress response that starts in your brain’s hypothalamus gland, which sends signals to the adrenals (two glands that sit on top of the kidneys) to release stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin. These raise blood pressure and give your body a hit of glucose to help you outrun the immediate danger.
“Cortisol and other stress hormones are important because they prime our bodies to react to threat,” says Dr Valeria Mondelli, senior lecturer in psychological medicine at King’s College London. “But when our cortisol is too high for too long, it can lead to physical and mental health problems in many areas of our bodies.”