The Negative Effects of Chronic Stress on the Body and Brain
Updated: February, 2021
By: Eve Coberly, M.S., M.A.
Reviewed: Zack Butterfield, CMHC, BCN
In Part I, we learned that a person’s HPA axis a.k.a. their “danger brain” is one of the oldest yet most important parts of their body. This is because the danger brain is the body’s main system that helps a person successfully ward off stress and danger. Although a person’s stress response system works like a champ in the short term, if the sense of danger or stress seems to never leave the person, then those same helpful stress chemicals like cortisol can eventually end up becoming toxic to the body.
Part II of The Autonomic Nervous System & Mental Health article series below explores more deeply what happens to the body when it gets stuck in stress, and the impact of this on both the body and brain.
Glucocorticoid Resistance: The Body Ignores Cortisol
Recall in Part I that cortisol is the body’s main “go-to” hormone when a person feels like they are in stress or danger. The main functions of cortisol are to: 1) release sugar into the bloodstream for energy, 2) suppress inflammation, 3) turn down various body systems to help conserve more energy (i.e., turning down the digestive and reproductive systems), and 4) turn up alertness and motivation so a
person can overcome stress effectively (Doc Snipes 2021; Doc Snipes 2020; Rotenburg & MaGrath, 2016).
However, if a person feels like they can never get out or escape from stress or danger, then their danger brain is unable to “turn off” cortisol in the body appropriately. Ultimately, having cortisol constantly run through the body for days, weeks, months, and even years, can be very damaging. Ultimately, what’s happening in the body when cortisol is constantly pumping can be liken to a house heater staying at ninety-five degrees all year long. Although this temperature might work great on just a couple of winter days, having it stay this hot every day, all day, would not only make the house feel uncomfortably warm most of the time, but it would become dangerously hot many days eventually causing extreme damage to the heater, the house, and the people living inside of it.
Just like the house heater analogy, when a person’s danger brain can’t turn off their stress hormone cortisol, then their body will eventually stop responding to cortisol properly; what is identified in the scientific world as glucocorticoid resistance (GCR) (Snipes, 2019; Sarapultsev et al., 2020; Dr. Eric Berg DC, 2016).
Glucocorticoid Resistance & Its Impact On Mental & Physical Health
Although it might sound good at first that a person’s body can ignore their own stress hormones, in reality this is highly problematic. This is because cortisol is not just involved in helping regulate a person’s stress response, but it is also involved in other important body functions too. For example, cortisol is known to either directly or indirectly effect the following body functions: inflammation response, immune function, blood pressure, sex hormone production, the gut-brain connection (i.e, the production of neurotransmitters), sleep patterns, and mood, just to name a few (Snipes, 2019; Doc Snipes 2020; Torrezan et al., 2019; Beaupere et al., 2021; Teelucksingh et al., 2012; Perrin et al., 2019)
Ultimately, GCR means that not only has a person’s stress response system become highly dysregulated, but because cortisol is involved in other body systems like the
immune or digestive system, then these body systems can become dysregulated too. Unfortunately, the ongoing dysregulation of all of these various body systems can eventually lead a person to develop a number of physical and mental health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal diseases (i.e., IBS), skin problems, sleep issues, muscle weakness, fatigue, sexual dysfunction, depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, neurodegenerative diseases (i.e., dementia), and even cancer (Snipes, 2019; Torrezan et al., 2019; Sarapultsev et al., 2020; Alzheimer’s Society, 2017; Dr. Eric Berg DC, 2016).
Some may think that they can easily turn off their danger brain by simply “thinking” away their stress (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020). Although it is true that humans can learn stress tolerance skills to help reduce stress levels (something we will discuss in article III), it’s important to remember that stress is not usually first detected through the thinking part of the brain, but rather it is first processed through the unconscious/automatic parts like the danger brain. Given this fact, in tandem with all the stressors that a person might encounter in their everyday life (i.e., poor sleep, relational problems, job stress etc.), almost every human is susceptible to having ongoing cortisol production; thus, putting many people at risk for having a dysregulated stress response system, and its associated problematic health conditions (Snipes, 2019).
Although the health problems associated with chronic stress may seem overwhelming, and some even impossible to overcome, the good news is that there are specific actions a person can take to help get their stress response system back into a state of balance so their body can begin to rest, digest, and heal; something we will now explore in Part III of this this Autonomic Nervous System & Mental Health article series.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO PART III
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