How does stress affect our brain and sleep?

We have already gone over the importance of the brain and its significant effects on both our actions and our organs in the previous blogs. Also, we face various stressors every day and unfortunately, excessive stress could have a negative impact on our brain and sleep, which are extremely crucial for our performance. Being informed about the influences of stress would reduce stress levels while motivating you to improve your stress-management skills. So, in this blog, we’re gonna walk you through the impacts of stress on the brain and sleep.

Related: How to be more confident?

Stress

It is quite normal to experience stress (aka the “flight or fight'' response), in fact, stress is the body's natural reaction to life’s challenges, stressors, and frightening situations. We get stressed even when something new or unexpected happens, basically things that we are not prepared for.

Just like any other thing in the world, a little stress is beneficial and could have positive effects on our well-being because it improves productivity and effectiveness; however, stressing for too long or stressing too much is super dangerous for our mental and physical health.

Brain performance under stress 

• How it functions

The brain has control over almost everything in our body (e.g. thoughts, emotions, movement, sensation, vision, behaviour, etc.). One of the most important functions of the brain is to maintain a balance in brain chemicals and hormones. When facing challenges, a stress hormone called cortisol gets released to boost the productivity of the brain. Another fascinating thing that the brain is capable of is providing enough energy for the body to be prepared to perform sudden moves.

Clearly, we need to focus and concentrate on the stressor and ways in which we could deal with it in order to overcome challenges and manage stress. So, it is pretty difficult to form short-term and long-term memories that are unrelated to the stressor (Millar, 2020). However, according to Scott (2021), memory improves in cases where materials are directly related to the stressor, mostly because we are paying attention to what is going on in the present. Unfortunately, high levels of stress (cortisol production) don’t necessarily lead to good memory formation. 

• Illnesses caused by stress

If stress goes untreated for a long time, it could turn into a constant feeling which is absolutely detrimental (aka chronic stress). Considering that the brain is in control of everything, it is super vulnerable to damage as most of the chemicals and hormones have to affect the brain in order to make changes in the body. The production of cortisol over a long time could actually shrink the brain and reduce its size. Cortisol usually increases heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose/sugar (body’s primary source of energy), etc.

Now that we know the role of cortisol, we can guess the possible damages and illnesses that are caused by high cortisol in the body. These people have a higher risk of getting a heart attack, stroke, and overall decreases blood flow to the heart, weakening the heart muscles. Also, high blood sugar would ultimately cause obesity and diabetes which are even more dangerous since they can seriously affect the kidneys, nerves, and eyes. 

Sleep

• Importance of sleep 

Sleep is a vital and crucial component of our lives because it allows the body to repair, rest, and prepare for the next day. It increases concentration, productivity, athletic performance, and calorie regulation while decreasing the risks of obesity, heart diseases, inflammation, and depression. Although everyone in different age groups needs to sleep to be able to function, sleep patterns tend to change as we get older; mainly because of a hormone associated with growth which tends to make people sleepless. 

A significant relation between sleep and stress is called “the stress-sleep cycle” stress causes sleep deprivation, and in return, lack of sleep results in even more stress which in the end results in mental and physical health problems.

• How is it affected?

The brain chemicals and hormones that are released during stressful situations have a huge impact on the quality of sleep! Normally, because the body is preparing for the fight-or-flight response, therefore, the purpose of the chemicals is to reduce the amount and depth of sleep in order to improve consciousness while improving decision-making as well as problem-solving skills. 

If you ever had a nightmare about something that already happened in your life, you are not alone! There are plenty of things that can influence your dreams! For instance, action games, problems at school, conflicts with friends, etc. Dreams refer to the body’s attempt to cope and deal with everyday challenges; also, it is a way to relieve the pressure! So, experiencing stress, pressure, and anxiety increases the chances of having nightmares. 

• How can it be fixed?

Be realistic and don’t be afraid of facing your fears and stressors; because at the end of the day, you are the only person that could help yourself! Don’t worry, it is actually pretty easy to manage your stress if you use the proper strategies! 

One of the most significant strategies is to exercise regularly! Not only does exercising improve stress-management skills, but also, it boosts confidence, resilience, mental and physical health. According to Millar (2020), doing activities every day helps you develop resilience and be less vulnerable to stress. 

Related: How to be more confident? [link to the blog], Effects of confidence and resilience on wrestling matches/athletics [link to the blog]

How we perceive difficulties has a huge impact on our body’s response. Consequently, reframing challenges and looking at problems from different perspectives helps to deal with emotions and reduces stress. When we look at an issue from a different perspective, chances are we'll find several different ways in which we could deal with the stressor. 

Last but not least, always choose to make the best of your problems and be a positive thinker! Although the brain is extremely powerful, we can trick it to cope with stress and be positive. If we interpret problems as threatening or frightening, we will experience physical stress (e.g., increased heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) which could result in many serious health problems (Millar, 2020).

Conclusion

Well done! By now we know how to protect ourselves from the negative impacts of stress on the brain simply through using certain strategies for managing stress. Stay tuned for the upcoming blogs on stress management tools and strategies!