Cortisol and Stress

I talked about my stress induced sickness sometime ago. And recently I just read about how stress can change ones brain literally. It seems that stressed-up people are not normal. OK, we all knew for a fact how our stressed-up spouse should not be called upon to sharpen that blunt kitchen knife. Or iron our favorite shirt. But how abnormal can stressed-up people be?

An article from Time magazine talks about stress and how it affects our body. It seems that stress causes a certain chemical (cortisol) imbalance in the bloodstream. And the higher the stress level, the higher is the amount of cortisol found in the blood. Our brain is equipped to handle a reasonable amount of stress. When the hippocampus part of the brain senses excessive cortisol level flooding into the cerebrum, it sends out signals to shut down that cortisol cascade. In other words, its our feedback control system to reduce stress. However, beyond a certain threshold level, damage-control should be the next course of action. Try a long-vacation, or a guilt-free trip to the masseur. One thing is for sure, constantly elevated cortisol levels can only mean one thing, bad mojo. Health related illnesses like accelerated aging (read: wrinkles), unresponsiveness, and withdrawal syndromes. So try to keep that stress level low. For me, some quick aerobic exercise like jogging helps.