Stress and neural networks: why it’s better not to be nervous
During my life I came across dozens of publications and books dedicated to overcoming stress and emotional reactivity. Usually in such materials a lot of attention is paid to getting rid of nervous tension, while the harm done to the body during stress is hardly described.
Even Carnegie at one time tried, from a medical point of view, to describe the harm that the body receives from excessive experiences, but he did not go further than his brief description. In the book “How to stop being nervous and start living,” the author refers to the results of studies that showed that nervous people more often than others die from strokes, heart attacks and suffer from stomach ulcers. Pretty convincing, but information is still not enough.
Armed with a translator of incomprehensible medical terms and having plunged into the medical section of Scientific American for a week, I got acquainted with the results of many interesting studies on this topic, which I share with you.
The first truly effective studies on the effects of stress on brain activity were conducted only at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. Scientists have found that if the mouse is locked in a cramped house, the stress it suffers affects its health in the most direct way - pressure jumps by 5-10%, heartbeat accelerates, which eventually leads to serious illness or even death. Indeed, blood pressure and a sharp acceleration of blood circulation can cause a heart attack, but then how to deal with a stroke? How does stress affect brain cells?
')
Everything is a little more complicated here. It is well known that neurons communicate with each other through the so-called synapses, the places of contact between the two cells, transmitting to each other nerve impulses, the amplitude of which can vary, including under the influence of stress. This is especially true for the hippocampus, the brain area involved in the mechanisms of formation of emotions, memory consolidation. When stress occurs, the impulses can be so strong that under their influence abnormal changes occur in the neurons and synapses of the hippocampus. Dendritic spines, small processes that form synoptic connections between neurons, simply die off. This leads to the emergence of holes in the neural networks, which prevents the transmission of pulses. As a result, the surviving neural networks resemble Moscow traffic jams during rush hour — all the necessary impulses simply cannot make their way through them, as a result of which some of the information is lost.
The findings of Christopher Rex, a famous scientist who studies the effects of stress on the body, are disappointing - regular outbursts of negative emotions literally stupidly human. The fact is that the normal operation of the hippocampus is a necessary condition for the assimilation and memorization of information. And even a few short-term experiences can damage the neurons and synapses in this area of the brain so much that they will have to be restored for weeks or even months.
And the opposite effect. In 2009, scientists published a sensational discovery - in the brain of mice that were injected with antidepressants, neurons are not only well preserved, but also grow into whole neural beams, which increases learning ability, improves memory. In addition, at the same time, a group of scientists led by Christopher Rex found out that specific neuropeptides, corticotropin-releasing hormones (CRH), which act on the CRFR1 receptor, are responsible for damage to dendritic spines.
By blocking this effect during the experiment, the scientists were able to confirm that they were right - even after 5 hours of stress, the neurons of the mice were normal, there were no signs of cognitive disorders. However, it’s too early to think about winning over stress - the researchers are confident that in a living organism the neuropeptide CRH also affects other receptors that have yet to be determined.
What to do?
While scientists are wondering how to rid the brain of the harmful effects of stress, I recommend that you refrain from excessive emotional experience. This can be helped by the book “How to stop worrying and start living” by Dale Carnegie and Psychology of Emotions by Carroll Isard. They once really helped me, but my scientific understanding of the extent of the effects of experiences on the brain, described above, still had a great influence on my attitude to stress.
Update: Another study on the effect of constant irritation
After reading the comments, I remembered another interesting study, clearly showing that stress - to strife is different, and not all stimuli are worth responding to.
Mice were placed in a small cramped house. At the same time, their blood pressure rose by 5-10%, the heartbeat accelerated. Some "patients" even died from prolonged stress.
However, if the mouse is planted on a metal grid, placing the same house next to it, but with an open entrance, and running an electric current along this grid, the mouse will run away into the house and feel comfortable even after a day’s stay there.
This again tells us that any stress is relative and can always be much worse. In any case, obviously you should not be nervous because of traffic jams, tardiness, disgruntled colleagues and other things that really will not affect our life if we don’t want to.
Update 2. Nerve cells recover rather quickly, especially at a young age. So worrying about past stresses is not worth it, this will only create another one.
Fortunately, nerve cells at a young age can recover much faster than they die. All neurons of the olfactory centers of the brain are completely replaced every 40 days, new nerve cells are constantly formed in the cerebellum and hippocampus.
This happens primarily due to proper nutrition and avoidance of stress. By the way, the recovery of the nerve cells itself helps to cope with future stresses . So this is a circular connection: the less you are nervous, the less you are nervous.
In addition, scientists at many universities are now working on the creation of drugs that promote the accelerated recovery of neurons. For example, scientists from the Massachusetts University of Technology are working in this direction. And, judging by the publication, quite successfully.
Update 3. Publication on how to deal with anxiety.
Even Carnegie at one time tried, from a medical point of view, to describe the harm that the body receives from excessive experiences, but he did not go further than his brief description. In the book “How to stop being nervous and start living,” the author refers to the results of studies that showed that nervous people more often than others die from strokes, heart attacks and suffer from stomach ulcers. Pretty convincing, but information is still not enough.
Armed with a translator of incomprehensible medical terms and having plunged into the medical section of Scientific American for a week, I got acquainted with the results of many interesting studies on this topic, which I share with you.
The first truly effective studies on the effects of stress on brain activity were conducted only at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. Scientists have found that if the mouse is locked in a cramped house, the stress it suffers affects its health in the most direct way - pressure jumps by 5-10%, heartbeat accelerates, which eventually leads to serious illness or even death. Indeed, blood pressure and a sharp acceleration of blood circulation can cause a heart attack, but then how to deal with a stroke? How does stress affect brain cells?
')
Everything is a little more complicated here. It is well known that neurons communicate with each other through the so-called synapses, the places of contact between the two cells, transmitting to each other nerve impulses, the amplitude of which can vary, including under the influence of stress. This is especially true for the hippocampus, the brain area involved in the mechanisms of formation of emotions, memory consolidation. When stress occurs, the impulses can be so strong that under their influence abnormal changes occur in the neurons and synapses of the hippocampus. Dendritic spines, small processes that form synoptic connections between neurons, simply die off. This leads to the emergence of holes in the neural networks, which prevents the transmission of pulses. As a result, the surviving neural networks resemble Moscow traffic jams during rush hour — all the necessary impulses simply cannot make their way through them, as a result of which some of the information is lost.
The findings of Christopher Rex, a famous scientist who studies the effects of stress on the body, are disappointing - regular outbursts of negative emotions literally stupidly human. The fact is that the normal operation of the hippocampus is a necessary condition for the assimilation and memorization of information. And even a few short-term experiences can damage the neurons and synapses in this area of the brain so much that they will have to be restored for weeks or even months.
And the opposite effect. In 2009, scientists published a sensational discovery - in the brain of mice that were injected with antidepressants, neurons are not only well preserved, but also grow into whole neural beams, which increases learning ability, improves memory. In addition, at the same time, a group of scientists led by Christopher Rex found out that specific neuropeptides, corticotropin-releasing hormones (CRH), which act on the CRFR1 receptor, are responsible for damage to dendritic spines.
By blocking this effect during the experiment, the scientists were able to confirm that they were right - even after 5 hours of stress, the neurons of the mice were normal, there were no signs of cognitive disorders. However, it’s too early to think about winning over stress - the researchers are confident that in a living organism the neuropeptide CRH also affects other receptors that have yet to be determined.
What to do?
While scientists are wondering how to rid the brain of the harmful effects of stress, I recommend that you refrain from excessive emotional experience. This can be helped by the book “How to stop worrying and start living” by Dale Carnegie and Psychology of Emotions by Carroll Isard. They once really helped me, but my scientific understanding of the extent of the effects of experiences on the brain, described above, still had a great influence on my attitude to stress.
Update: Another study on the effect of constant irritation
After reading the comments, I remembered another interesting study, clearly showing that stress - to strife is different, and not all stimuli are worth responding to.
Mice were placed in a small cramped house. At the same time, their blood pressure rose by 5-10%, the heartbeat accelerated. Some "patients" even died from prolonged stress.
However, if the mouse is planted on a metal grid, placing the same house next to it, but with an open entrance, and running an electric current along this grid, the mouse will run away into the house and feel comfortable even after a day’s stay there.
This again tells us that any stress is relative and can always be much worse. In any case, obviously you should not be nervous because of traffic jams, tardiness, disgruntled colleagues and other things that really will not affect our life if we don’t want to.
Update 2. Nerve cells recover rather quickly, especially at a young age. So worrying about past stresses is not worth it, this will only create another one.
Fortunately, nerve cells at a young age can recover much faster than they die. All neurons of the olfactory centers of the brain are completely replaced every 40 days, new nerve cells are constantly formed in the cerebellum and hippocampus.
This happens primarily due to proper nutrition and avoidance of stress. By the way, the recovery of the nerve cells itself helps to cope with future stresses . So this is a circular connection: the less you are nervous, the less you are nervous.
In addition, scientists at many universities are now working on the creation of drugs that promote the accelerated recovery of neurons. For example, scientists from the Massachusetts University of Technology are working in this direction. And, judging by the publication, quite successfully.
Update 3. Publication on how to deal with anxiety.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/149874/
All Articles