Do you know what really happens to you when you are stressed?

Scientific research on the brain using Functional Magnetic Imagery (MRI) show that the brain can be made to grow at any age.

“Human brain actually deteriorate and shrink around age of 26-27 and by the time we reach 40 the human brain atrophies shrinks at 5% per decade. Yet it is possible to lay down new brain cells and increase our brain until the day we die.” Professor Ronnie Newman, Research Scientist.

According to the professor, one of the most important thing is to keep stress level in check because stress has a strong detrimental effect on the brain.

How do our brain cells work?

The above figure is a depiction of a human brain cell which is known as Neurons. Our brain cells have finger like protrusions which is called dendritic spine. At the end of each dendritic spine is a receptor site. The hollow space between two dendritic spines is called a synapse.

The communication between the brain cells affects the way we learn, remember and how we experience the world around us. The communication between the brain cells occur when one dendritic spine releases a chemical and an electrical charge into the space (synapse) between two brain cells. These chemicals are picked up by the receptors from the other brain cell and travels down the dendritic spine to the center of that brain cell. This process continues in a similar manner with the other brain cells. This is how the communication with our brain occurs.

How our brain cells works under stress?

When we are under stress our body releases a particular hormone called Corticotrophin Releasing Hormone (CRH). When this hormone is released into the human brain cells as a result of stress, it causes the dendritic spines to retract and at times decompose. So space between our brain cells becomes so large that our brain cells cannot effectively communicate between each other.

At times when you are sitting an exam you blackout or cannot recall even though you have thoroughly studied for the exam. This is as a result of CRH release to our brain. Your dendritic spines has retracted and perhaps decomposed so you cannot pull up information. The good news, however, is that this is a short burst of stress and those dendritic spines get back to normal once the CRH is metabolized out of the brain. This is the reason why we recall what we learned when we leave the exam hall. All the information comes flooding back to you.

What do you think will happen to your brain cells if we keep on increasing our stress levels?

[to be cont...]

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