By Terry Small

Stress Makes You Stupid

What is it that you do every week that literally makes you stupid.

You get stressed! When you stress, you release cortisol into your brain. This diminishes your brain power during the period of stress. Too much of this is bad for your brain, say researchers.

We all know that stress can make you anxious, uncomfortable, depressed, and tired. However, recent neurological studies reveal that too much stress can change the very structure and functioning of your cells. Bottom line: stress can cause brain damage.

Some short term stress can actually be good for you. It may help you outrun a bear or improve athletic performance. But long-term stress that is so common today can wear your brain down. Stress hormones can erode important neuronal connections which can lead to forgetfulness. Recent research has demonstrated that stress can actually shrink the hippocampus (the memory center of your brain). The loss actually looks a lot like stroke damage.

And one more thing — stress creates free radicals that kill brain cells. This is one more reason to eat a prune a day. Remember how good antioxidants are for your brain.

 “Great!” you say, “Now I’m stressed about my stress!”

A Sure Fire Stress Buster

Here is an idea that may help keep your stress at a healthy level. Cut someone else some “slack.” Many of us in our hurried, harried world are too quick to criticize, and find fault with others.

 Like most thinking patterns, this is born of habits of mind. Pay attention to your habits. Pay attention to your thinking. This is called meta-cognition (thinking about your thinking). I was stunned to read recently that 50 per cent of the population never engages in meta-cognition. Is it any wonder we’re stressed? If you are constantly critical of co-workers, your spouse, the kids, bad drivers, and strangers — guess what — you teach yourself to be critical of you. Stress is the result.

I think most of us ask too much. Of others and ourselves. Most people I know up close need a break. The funny thing is, when you give someone a break, someone else gets a break — You! The best way to lower your own stress is to lower someone else’s. When you make a positive and sustained effort to praise more and criticize less, you have developed one the most powerful and healthy habits of mind. This is good for your brain.

Make Your Brain Happy On Command!

How would you like to make yourself happier anytime, anywhere, on command?

You can! Any drama student knows that body language and facial expression depicting any human emotion can be faked. The brain’s emotional response to this change is not in the control of the person experiencing it. Your cortex can consciously modify your face and body language, but the accompanying emotional response is subconscious. 

There is strong scientific evidence from the University of California that people can change mood by changing their facial expression, posture, and movement to reflect a different emotion than the one that they are currently experiencing. For example, if you feel down you can act as if you were happy and the brain seems to follow! The patterns of nerve action and muscle that create an outward expression of happiness trigger neurological changes that make your brain happier in reality. A fake smile on your face has been shown to increase heart rate, finger temperature, and stimulate the part of the left frontal cortex associated with spontaneous joy.

We usually think of our emotions as things that “happen” to us. Look at the way we talk: overcome by joy, paralyzed by fear, thrown into a state of misery. Brain research tells us that we have much more control that we think (even if you are a bad actor). So, if you want to feel better, the answer has been staring you in the face your whole life.

Terry Small is a master presenter and learning skills specialist. He has presented his ideas to over 160,000 people. Terry’s clients include Save On Foods, Bayer, Safeway, BC Lottery Corp., Envision Financial, the RCMP and many others. He was a featured speaker at the BC Retailer’s Conference. His knowledge, warmth, humour and dynamic presentation style have made him a much sought-after speaker at workshops and conferences. Terry has been on CTV, BCTV, CKNW and Global and he has been featured in every major newspaper in Canada. Terry is listed in Nationwide Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Businesses.