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Perhaps this part of body feels the heat of stress first. Then all your physical symptoms follow. Ever feel so stressed out that you seem to skip the obvious things, be less attentive and forget things like wedding anniversary, certain time commitment etc.
Research shows that stressful situations over which a person feels he or she has no control activate an enzyme in the brain called protein kinase C (PKC). This enzyme affects the prefrontal cortex, a higher brain region that regulates thought, behavior and emotion using operations often referred to as “working memory”. High PKC impair your ability to concentrate, leading to distractibility, impaired judgment, impulsivity and thought disorder.
PKC may also be a factor in the problems faced by people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia whose psychotic episodes can be triggered by stressful situations.
The nervous system which coordinates the brain functions gets seriously damaged under stress. We have two nervous systems, sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).
Sympathetic (SNS) system triggers the danger bells in the body to take action and when the action is taken Parasympathetic nervous system relaxes the body. Trouble is some stress hormones released by SNS don’t know when to quit pulling even after the stress causing event has gone. They remain active in the brain for quite a long time injuring and killing cells in hippocampus, the area of your brain needed for memory and learning. Because of this effect of SNS, it often requires conscious effort to initiate the relaxation effects of mind to reduce the killing effect of stress hormones.
The deep relaxation methods like meditation or hypnosis helps a lot. But simple relaxation methods like listening to soothing and slow music, spending enjoyable time with family, a funny soap on television also relaxes the mind.