Can we talk about stress for a second?

The kind of stress that makes you nauseous and just want to sleep for about ten years? Stress can be crippling and massive hurdle to overcome. As most students enter finals, I thought it the most appropriate time to talk about stress and how to manage it.

Let me be clear from the start, this is just as much a lesson for myself as it is for anyone else. I am still learning every day how to better manage stress and my reactions to it. But here’s the thing—stress is incredibly unhealthy!

Duh right? You knew that. I thought I did too, but there is so much more to it than what I was aware of.

Stress is actually defined as “the brain’s response to any demand.” So, not all stress is bad. Chronic, prolonged, or stress that we don’t deal with is what can be harmful. Stress creates a chain reaction according to Harvard Medical School. “When someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, an area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. This area of the brain functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of the body through the nervous system so that the person has the energy to fight or flee.”

Translation: this creates a buildup of cortisol in the brain and body. Cortisol is great for your “reactions” but can hinder the function of the part of your brain that deals with little memories and emotion regulation. That time you were already running super late and were incredibly frazzled scrambling to get out the door and forgot at least 237 important items you needed for the day? That was the cortisol blocking your brain function. Thanks a lot cortisol.

Don’t even get me started on the effects stress has on your body. You’ve most likely heard of the problems that stress can cause for your heart and blood pressure. Overexposure to stress speeds up the aging process as well.

“Interventions,” or activities can combat stress’ wear-and-tear on the brain and are effective regardless of age. Interventions including activities like exercising regularly, socializing and finding purpose in life enable plasticity. So, we have to strive—especially in high stress phases of life—to find interventions. Little ways to recoup and save our minds and bodies. Easier said than done, but far more important than I ever realized.