In today's fast-paced world, we experience pressure from all sides almost anywhere and at any time. Stress can cause feelings of mental distress, a sluggish complexion, a heavy heart, and even unbearable pain.
Excessive stress, if left unrelieved for a long time, can seriously affect human health, primarily manifesting as mental, digestive, and endocrine symptoms. It's important to proactively identify and eliminate the source of stress, and seek medical attention promptly if any physical discomfort occurs.
- Mental Symptoms:
Excessive stress, when unrelieved, can cause depression, irritability, and other symptoms. It can also lead to poor sleep quality, insomnia, or waking easily in the slightest movement, which can cause memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
- Digestive Symptoms:
Excessive stress can cause gastrointestinal dysfunction, including diarrhea and constipation. Some people also experience loss of appetite or overeating.
- Endocrine Symptoms:
Excessive stress can cause endocrine disorders, such as menstrual irregularities and even dysmenorrhea in women, and hair loss in men. Excessive mental stress, if not relieved promptly, can also lead to gynecological conditions such as adnexitis and uterine fibroids, and men's health problems such as sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease may develop. Long-term excessive stress can easily disrupt the patient's autonomic nervous system, leading to sympathetic nervous system activation and increased adrenaline secretion, resulting in symptoms such as palpitations, shortness of breath, and elevated blood pressure. In severe cases, this can lead to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart disease. For those experiencing excessive mental stress, it's important to learn to self-regulate. Do more things you enjoy, spend time with friends and enjoy things that bring you joy, and relax outdoors to alleviate stress.
How to Understand Stress and Protect Your Brain from a Neuroscience Perspective
- Understand the Brain's Stress Response Mechanism
When stress strikes, the brain triggers a complex series of physiological reactions. First, the hypothalamus in the brain senses the stress signal, then sends the "fight or flight" signal to the body through the nervous and endocrine systems. During this process, the brain releases a large number of neurotransmitters and hormones to help the body cope with stress. However, if stress persists for too long, these physiological reactions can damage the brain and body, much like a machine running overloaded for an extended period of time, its parts gradually wear out and its function declines.
- Understand the Brain's Emotion Regulation Areas
The brain contains several areas related to emotion regulation, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and cingulate gyrus. These areas work together to maintain emotional stability. When we learn to regulate the activity of these areas, we can better cope with stress and maintain a positive emotional state. Like a skilled "emotional tuner," we can precisely adjust the brain's "emotional notes" to maintain a pleasant melody.
- Understand the Brain's Self-Repair Capacity
The brain possesses a certain degree of self-repair ability, allowing it to adapt and cope with stress through neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change its structure and function. Through learning and training, we can enhance the brain's ability to withstand and recover from stress. It's like the brain possesses a "self-repair toolbox" that can quickly "repair" damaged neural networks in the face of stress, maintaining normal brain function.