Irritation
When we get stressed, it's normal to get that irritation with others. Even small things arouse moments of anger. The problem is that there is an enzyme that, when provoked by stress, attacks molecules in the hippocampus, whose function is to control synapses in the brain, which causes a decrease in neural connections. This means that your memory is impaired, your understanding ability is also affected and even your social life is affected, as your brain will get tired more with social interactions, which will make you avoid them. So, a moment of irritation may seem like little, but if accumulated for a long time, it can have these bad effects for you.
Your brain can shrink in size
Chronic stress (and depression too) can decrease the size of the middle prefrontal cortex region of the brain. The consequence of this is that your cognition and your emotions will be affected. In other words, your ability to reason, to have self-control and to be able to deal with emotions will decrease, which is not a good thing.
Stress kills cells
The hippocampus is the region of the brain related to learning, memory and emotion. When we are in contact with new information, new neurons appear in this region of the brain. The problem is that, when going through stressful situations, these newly created neurons can be destroyed, this because of the effects of cortisol, which is a hormone released to decrease stress.
Written by Ricardo Sturk from Team Eu Sem Fronteiras.
