The Science of Stress

The Science of Stress

What causes stress reactivity and how can it be managed?

Consider these two statements:

  1. Stress is good for you: Stress motivates you and helps you stay alert and focused.
  2. Stress is the silent killer: Stress causes irritability, fatigue, sickness, and death.

Which of the above is true?

The answer depends not just on the stressors themselves but also on how we react to stress.

In this article, I summarize key points from a paper by Kiecolt-Glaser et al., published in the October 2020 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, which reviews factors affecting stress reactivity. I end by discussing effective coping and techniques for managing stress reactivity.

Good stress and bad stress

Let me begin with a question: What is the stress response?

The fight-or-flight (战斗还是逃跑) response is the body’s response to stress. Mediated by the sympathetic (交感神经) nervous system, the fight-or-flight response is associated with a series of complex physiological reactions, like increased breathing rate, higher blood pressure, reduced heart rate variability (变异性) (HRV), redirection of blood flow to skeletal muscles, elevated blood sugar, and changes in the levels of cortisol, epinephrine (肾上腺素), and other hormones.

An optimal stress response is one that occurs quickly, is proportional (成比例的) to the threat, and halts (停止) soon after the challenge has been met. To illustrate, a response to a knife-wielding maniac is adaptive only if it quickly prepares the body to fight or run away, and if it subsides soon after the threat is gone.

In contrast, when, say, a hurtful comment (言论) triggers long-lasting and intense (持久而强烈的) physiological or psychological reactions, the stress response is dysfunctional (功能失调) and maladaptive (适应不良的).

When this maladaptive stress response occurs regularly, it causes health conditions associated with chronic stress.

How? In part through increased inflammation. Chronic inflammation has been linked to numerous health conditions: Heart disease, diabetes, arthritis (关节炎), asthma (哮喘), chronic pain, depression, and metabolic syndrome (代谢综合征)—high abdominal (腹部的) obesity, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol (胆固醇).

See you tomorrow