Credit: Daniel Horowitz for NPR
Ask somebody about stress, and you're likely to hear an outpouring about all the bad things that cause it — and the bad things that result. But if you ask a biologist, you'll hear that stress can be good.
In fact, it's essential.
For example, the adrenal glands of all animals have evolved to pump out stress hormones in unexpected situations – the hormones spur action and increase fuel to the brain, helping the animal react to danger appropriately. Those hormones also flow to memory centers in the brain, to help the critter remember those notable moments and places.
"If it turns out to be dangerous and if the animal actually turns out to survive danger, than it will be aware of this as a potentially dangerous place," explains Bruce McEwen, head of the neuroendocrinology laboratory at The Rockefeller University. "In that sense, stress is good."
McEwen, who wrote The End of Stress As We Know It, says often people find ways to tolerate that stress. But it can also be overwhelming, "and then, we have something that's been called toxic stress," he says.
The stress system gone awry can literally make you sick.
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