5 myths about stress

Post-science experts debunk myths about the nature of stress and ways to deal with it

Post-science debunks scientific myths and explains common misconceptions. We asked our experts to comment on popular myths about the factors of stress and counteraction to it.

A person's response to stress is determined by his genes

Svetlana Borinskaya, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Genome Analysis Laboratory of the N. I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

This is partly true.

Genetic features contribute to how a person reacts to stress, but do not determine this reaction completely. The reaction to stress also depends on what exactly caused this stress (the reaction to terrorist attacks is stronger than to disasters that arose without malicious intent comparable in scale), on the duration of exposure (acute or chronic stress), on the acquired ability to cope with stress. The genetic component can be divided into two parts. One, actually genetic, is determined by the characteristics of the genes received from the parents that control the work of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. Carriers of some gene variants react more strongly to stress or return to normal more slowly after the reaction and, as a result, are more likely to get stress-related disorders. For some of these genes, the influence of parenting conditions is shown. In people who had a happy childhood, and in those who grew up in unfavorable conditions, the same gene variants may manifest in different ways.

The second component is determined by the life history, especially the stresses experienced in childhood. Mammals have special systems that adjust the intensity of gene activity to specific environmental conditions. As a result of the work of these systems, special chemical labels (methyl groups) appear in the DNA sections that regulate the switching on and off of genes, which affect how active the gene will be. Experiments on mice and rats have shown that stress experienced in childhood changes the work of stress response genes for life. Similar data were obtained for humans, but not as a result of experiments, but when studying the DNA of children who grew up in favorable and unfavorable conditions. Interestingly, if the rat mother took good care of stressed baby rats (carefully combed and licked them), then the number of methyl tags on their DNA returned to normal, and when they grew up, their reaction to stress did not differ from the reaction of baby rats who grew up in "prosperous" families.

Changes in the work of genes as a result of lifetime chemical modification of individual sections of DNA or other influences are studied by a branch of science called epigenetics. Epigenetic processes are what links the reaction of the genetic apparatus to environmental influences, including the response of genes to maternal love, neglect and other conditions of upbringing. And these conditions, in turn, although they do not completely determine, but they make a significant contribution to how a person will react to stress. Therefore, even when we talk about culture and upbringing, phenomena that are far from genetics, it is not possible to completely discount genes. It is the work of genes that allows us to fix in the form of neural connections what life and parents teach children.

Stress is caused only by negative emotions

Maria Padun, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Post-Traumatic Stress Psychology of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, practicing psychologist, psychotherapist:

That's not true.

Stress is a reaction of the body, which indicates that the body is coming out of a state of homeostasis, that is, equilibrium.

But getting out of a state of equilibrium is necessary for life, for a person to develop. Therefore, stress can be a state of falling in love, and performing in front of a large audience, that is, things that are quite comparable to a good life. Thus, stress is necessary for life, and it is basically associated with any situations in which we worry.

As for negative emotions, there is a concept of "distress" for this case, the so-called bad stress, when the negative emotional states experienced are either very intense or chronic. It differs from ordinary stress in that a person gets into an external situation that constantly throws him off balance, and experiences negative emotions constantly, and not from time to time. For example, he is bullied at work, or he has constant conflicts in the family with his spouse, or he does not like his job and every day he has to force himself to leave the house for a long time in the morning. Also, distress can occur due to high-intensity stress, that is, when negative emotions are too strong. For example, when a loved one is lost, or when something very frightening happens, or when a person is facing a serious threat. Distress can really have a bad effect on mental and somatic health, and such stress necessarily requires some kind of intervention, a request for help, and so on.

Food helps relieve stress

Vyacheslav Dubynin, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, specialist in the field of brain physiology:

It's true.

We need to start with the fact that stress is not always negative emotions, but it can also be caused by positive emotions. From the point of view of the body and the work of internal organs, euphoria is also stress. Therefore, it is possible, unfortunately, to die of joy. This myth concerns the stress that appears against the background of negative emotions. If a person has such stress, anything that causes positive emotions can help him. And food is the most reliable source of positivity. A piece of meat or chocolate will never deceive you. You may not like the concert, you may quarrel with your best friend, but a piece of good food at the right moment guarantees positive emotions.

At the level of nerve cells, food contributes to the release of mediators of positive emotions. As soon as pleasant taste sensations appear in the oral area, and something begins to fall into the stomach, endorphins and dopamine begin to be secreted in the brain. As a result, there is a positive emotional state that blocks negative experiences. This mechanism works according to innately set principles, since food is a source of energy and building materials, without which we cannot exist. Therefore, evolutionary processes have formed such a configuration of the brain that provides the process of nutrition, forcing us to eat every day through hunger. Moreover, the newborn eats at the expense of innate reflexes, but in the future he learns to find food very quickly, and the training goes against the background of positive emotions caused by the absorption of food.

There are people who really overeat from stress. But, as a rule, if a person controls his behavior, he looks for other sources of positive emotions to relieve stress caused by negative experiences. He can go to an exhibition, play sports or even play a computer game. Food relieves stress, but you should not use this way often, otherwise the consumption of extra calories threatens you with stress already about excess weight.

For residents of the metropolis, daily stress is inevitable

Olga Gulevich, Doctor of Psychology, Associate Professor of the HSE Psychology Department:

This is partly true.

This statement is only partially true. Stress is a condition that occurs when the human body is exposed to stimuli to which it is difficult for it to adapt. These stimuli can be very different – from loud noises to conflicts with others. In a big city, we encounter such incentives quite often. These are the environmental conditions in which we live (for example, polluted air and loud noise of cars), a large number of people we meet (for example, in crowded public transport or in a traffic jam), time limits and heavy physical exertion, problems that arise in the family and at work. All this can cause stress.

However, there are three limitations in this case. Firstly, many stressors are encountered by people living not only in large, but also in small settlements. These include, for example, working conditions that cause a person severe physical fatigue or a sense of unfairness of what is happening. Secondly, even in big cities, different people are in different conditions: someone gets on an old crowded train in the morning, and someone in a comfortable express train; someone is in traffic jams, and someone goes on a free road; someone comes to work as on a holiday, and someone dreams of leaving her forever and so on. This means that by choosing a way to travel, a life partner or a job, we can influence the level of stress.

And finally, thirdly, the influence of many stressors depends on our interpretation of what is happening, our attitude to it. Imagine that two people have to solve a difficult problem. One person thinks, "Here we go again! I don't know what to do. I will not be able to solve this problem, and I will be kicked out of work." In other words, he perceives her as a heavy burden that can cause serious trouble. Another person thinks differently: "How interesting! I do not know what to do with it, but I will definitely come up with it and succeed." He perceives this task as a challenge that he can answer. As a result, the first participant will experience stress sooner than the second. A simple conclusion follows from this: yes, a big city constantly gives us incentives that can cause stress, but we are able to increase or decrease their impact.

Stress cannot cause real harm to health

Natalia Kharlamenkova, Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Post-Traumatic Stress Psychology of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Personality Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

This is not quite true.

Stress can really mobilize the body's forces, contribute to increasing human activity. However, certain types of stress, especially caused by the influence of intense stressors, can negatively affect human health. For example, there is traumatic stress, which has various harmful psychological consequences. It is believed that traumatic stress is caused by the influence of high-intensity stressors, which are associated with a threat to both the life of the person himself and his loved ones. Traumatic stress leads to disruption of a person's habitual functioning. Such stress is dangerous not only by actual manifestations, but also by delayed ones. For example, with post-traumatic stress, a certain part of people who are more vulnerable to stress may have consequences in the form of a constant experience of this situation both six months after the traumatic event, and after several years and even decades.

If we are talking about the impact of such stress on a person's physical health, then the effects of stress can be expressed in different ways: the normal level of wakefulness is disrupted, sleep problems occur, somatic reactions appear, such as palpitations, breathing, etc. With such stress, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, various skin diseases and other consequences may also occur.

Of course, it is wrong to separate the psychological effects of stress and the consequences associated with the state of a person's physical health. The fact of a systematic human response to the situation has long been established. Thus, difficulties with the regulation of emotions can lead to increased wakefulness, difficulty falling asleep, intermittent sleep, and chronic early awakening. If a person does not get enough sleep, if he is constantly in a state of hyper-vigilance, that is, he constantly expects some kind of trouble, then he cannot recover, rest. And hence there are various diseases, primarily those in relation to which a person is most sensitive.

But it is wrong to think that there is only harmful stress, distress. There is also another level of stress – eustress. Hans Selye wrote about such manifestations of stress. This is a favorable stress, in which the forces of the body are mobilized and the person comes into tone. And this tone also performs a protective function. For example, when a person needs to avoid undesirable factors in some circumstances, or when he really needs a certain state of tone in order to solve a real problem.

That is, stress can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on a person's condition. It is important to note that this is also related to the human condition. The fact is that usually a person experiences various stresses and does not always recover quickly after them. Accumulated, cumulative stress is the result of experiencing many negative events, and therefore for one person a specific stressful event will not have obvious negative consequences, and for another it will be the last straw.

In general, the myth that stress does not harm human health has a right to exist, because by creating such a myth, people are thereby trying to convince themselves that there are no problems, to protect themselves from anxiety that arises when thinking about the negative consequences of a stressful situation: a person is inclined to deny the problem and, as it were, escape from their fears. In fact, this is an illusory salvation. The lack of knowledge that the effects of stress can be negative does not protect a person from these consequences, but, on the contrary, disarms him in coping with them. After all, as you know, denying the problem does not eliminate it at all, but, paradoxically, makes it even more difficult to solve. The courage to admit to yourself that after a difficult event, a person's life and health have changed for the worse, opens the way for him to turn to his own resources or to social support, to the help of other people.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  26.10.2016