How to reduce stress based on neuroscience?

Stress is an emergency mechanism that should be activated in matters of life and death.

In fact, according to Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky, one should experience stress once in their lifetime, 5 minutes before they die. But we can take measures to deal with it in the best possible way.

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Physical and psychological effects of stress

When the human being fled from a dangerous animal, the stress was the mechanism that activated the whole body to be able to escape from danger: corticosteroids are secreted, muscles tense, the heart pumps blood to the extremities to promote flight. Once safe, the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting rest and recovery.

The experience of stress should be short, because it wears you down, drains your energy and leads to exhaustion. Also change perception: when one is stressed his vision narrows. One sees only the problem and is not able to see and take into account anything else. That inability to see the big picture prevents you from seizing opportunities, making it impossible to find optimal solutions to the complex problem.

Stress makes one more egoic. When you are stressed, all your attention goes to yourself. Being so focused on your own person affects personal and professional relationships, it has a negative effect on listening and communication skills.

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Neuroscience of stress and resilience

In our brain there are areas responsible for managing the response to everything around us. Any stimulus (from the sound of the mobile to the email we read) passes through the limbic system, the system older than our “rational” brain. The limbic system is a system that we share with other mammals and that, together with the brain, is responsible for keeping us alive.

An area of ​​the limbic system, called the amygdala, evaluates the importance for us of any stimulus and evaluates if it could mean a possible danger or threat. It is responsible for activating the sympathetic nervous system in fractions of a second, ordering the release of corticosteroids that prepare the body to fight or flight (as I described to you at the beginning of this article).

However, not everyone reacts the same. There are people who manage to maintain mental clarity and give an adequate response in challenging circumstances. And there are those who can't think clearly, make a decision they later regret, or continue to dwell on what happened, insisting that "things should be different."

In other words, there are people who are more resilient in the face of stress (they tolerate it better and remain “operational”) and there are others who are more intensely affected by stress.

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What does resilience to stress depend on?

20% is genetics, 80% life experience (in this matter the experiences of childhood have a very high weight). The areas of the brain involved in stress management and emotional response (limbic system and prefrontal cortex) have a greater or lesser activation and connection depending on genetics and experience vital.

Dr. Richard Davidson's trials have shown that the resilient profile has greater activation of the prefrontal cortex left, greater number of connections between the left prefrontal cortex and the amygdala (in both directions) and the amygdala more calm.

That is, how one perceives things and how one reacts to them, depends on the activation of certain neuronal circuits.

How to reduce stress naturally?

To reduce stress naturally we must take into account that "predisposition" that we have at the individual level, embodied in the activation and connectivity of the left prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.

Basically, according to Davidson's essay, resilience to stress happens naturally if the amygdala is less explosive, the left prefrontal cortex is more active and there are good connections between both.

To see if a change in those areas is possible, Davidson and his team ran a trial, using the MBSR program (Stress Reduction with Mindfulness). For 8 weeks, the participants attended sessions of two and a half hours once a week and carried out the practices at home.

The MBSR program is made up of the formal and informal practices of Mindfulness and meditation together with a part theoretical-practical and individual and group exploration in relation to different experiences related to stress and resilience.

After 8 weeks, the significant shift towards activation of the Left Prefrontal Cortex (the result tripled 4 months after the program).

In 2016, a systematic review of several trials confirmed that the MBSR program contributes to activation of the prefrontal cortex, insula, hippocampus, and cingulate cortex (brain areas involved in learning and memory processes, emotional regulation and perspective taking). The amygdala shows less activation and a better functional connection with the left prefrontal cortex after 8 weeks of the program in people with stress, people with anxiety and healthy people. In addition, it was confirmed that the amygdala "calms down" more quickly after detecting an emotional stimulus as a result of participation in the program.