WEBVTT - What Does Stress Really do to our Bodies? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.720 Guess what, mango, what's that? Well, you know, sometimes you'll 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.280 set your alarm clock really early, like if you've got 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.600 a flight or something like that, and then the next 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:10.399 morning you'll wake up right on time. Does happen to you, 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:12.760 I'll either do that or I'll wake up at like 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:14.880 two and then three and then four and then whenever 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:16.680 I have to wake up. But more often than not, 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.000 it's so weird because you'll wake up like a minute 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.560 before your alarm goes off. And I was reading this 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.880 study from the University of lu back and they got 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.759 some student volunteers to go to sleep, and they told 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.800 them before that that they'd wake them up at either 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.319 six in the morning or nine in the morning, and 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.640 then they lied and with everybody up at six o'clock. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.120 So I'm guessing a lot of people who were told 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.400 they'd wake up at six were like more awake at 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.400 that time, right, Yeah, that's exactly what happens. And the 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:43.400 kids who were told they'd be getting up at nine 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.680 were completely groggy and just out of it. But what's 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.880 interesting is that they were monitoring their bodies the entire time. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:51.680 And so for the sleepers who were told they to 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.480 be woken up early. Their stress hormones kicked in at 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.400 around four thirty in the morning. You could actually see 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.560 that their bodies were using stress to anticipate these early 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.560 mornings and prepare them for the early day. And so 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.600 today's episode is all about stress. What does it due 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.320 to our body and how can we use it for 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:10.480 good and what are the best ways to relieve it? 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:33.960 So let's dig in ai their podcast listeners, Welcome to 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.360 Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.520 joined by my good friend man guest shot Ticketer and 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.000 on the other side of the soundproof glass raking this 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.800 tiny zen garden. Oh it's so sweet, but he's breaking 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:49.040 pretty aggressively. Actually that's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.120 I think you need to go a little easier, Tristan, 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.680 but he is getting pretty zin with it and he's 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.880 he's raking the heck out of this thing. Yeah, I know, 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.400 I mean he does claim it helps them to relax. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.600 So I think we ought to support the man for 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:02.800 today's show. Especially, we should try to keep an open 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.560 mind to different approaches to dealing with stress, because there 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.920 really is no one correct way to cope with it. 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:10.160 For for example, I was reading about the study from 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.600 a team out of Australia, these neuroscientists from the University 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.120 of Queensland, and apparently they figured out that when grass 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.400 is cut, it actually inhibits our brain's release of stress 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.880 causing hormones. So it turns out there's a good reason 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.480 why people love the scent of fresh cut grass so much. 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.960 It can actually help you calm down. That's pretty interesting. 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.400 So that's our first tip pretty early in the day. 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.840 So if you're feeling stressed, just mow your lawn or 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.600 get an air freshener that smells like mode lawn. And 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:39.520 the truth is, there are a ton of other offbeat 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.000 examples that you know are there to relieve our stress. 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.080 But to start things off, why don't we talk about 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.480 what stress is and what kind of effects that can 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.760 have on our bodies? Alright? Well, since stress is something 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:51.959 that's always been a part of life, obviously don't have 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.880 a great origin story for this one, but the closest 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.520 thing might be the origin of the term. So I 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.200 didn't realize this, but prior to the word stressed didn't 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.560 mean like a mental or emotional strain. Until that point, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.480 it was just used to refer to the pressure applied 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.120 to an object, you know, not to a prison's well being. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.919 So what changed in nineteen forty six specifically that that 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.000 kind of gave it this new meaning. So there's this 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.240 Austrian physician named Hans Celier, and that's the year he 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.799 first coined the term stress while describing his latest experiments. So, 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:24.480 of course this comes back to a rat study, because 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.880 we love rats studies on this show. But uh Celia 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.880 had been monitoring the physical responses of rats that have 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.760 been injected with different hormones and also different like tissues, 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.360 and he found that the rats symptoms were identical regardless 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.520 of what they had been injected with. And what became 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.120 apparent was that the rats were responding to the trauma 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:47.120 of the experiments themselves. And and he called this trauma stress. 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.280 So I'm assuming the stress that Selia witnessed was involuntary, 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.320 like you know, a faster heart rate or an increase 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.680 in blood pressure. I actually looked into this fight or 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:58.680 flight response a little bit, and you know, that's the 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:00.760 feeling that gets triggered in your body when the brain 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.640 recognizes some sort of outside threat. So basically it starts 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.520 when the hypothalamus sends signals to the pituitary glands and 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.240 the adrenal glands. What that does is it triggers the 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.000 production of adrenaline and these other stress hormones like cortisol 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.000 and epidephrin. And then a few things happen when all 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.400 these chemicals are swirling around in our blood stream. So 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.240 for starters are reflexes and senses are heightened so we 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.799 can better deal with that perceived threat. The cortisol also 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.720 pushes glucose out of our tissues and into our blood, 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.440 and that gives our bodies this extra boost of energy 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.560 that you might experience if you're really really stressed. Yeah, 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.760 so I'm always amazed by that sort of thing, like 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:40.880 like we think of stress is such a negative and yeah, 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.279 it's also this reaction that's supposed to help us deal 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.920 with these life threatening situations, like if our ancestors had 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.880 to like avoid running from a lion or something, that's 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.000 when stress kicks in and it's helpful. But obviously these 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.520 sharpened senses don't always help us deal with the more 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.440 benign things like trying to make a deadline or trying 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:00.599 to give a public speech. And you know, for for 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:04.400 someone like me, who is really used to avoiding public speaking. 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.880 That sort of stress can be debilitating, Like doesn't it 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.119 feel like overkill from the body to still be sending 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.680 out all these signals? Yeah, it does, and the response 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.400 to stress can be a problem when all that extra 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.880 focus and energy doesn't really have a natural outlet. Part 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.279 of that is because the stress hormones actually begin to 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.080 build up, and that not only keeps us on edge, 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.479 but it also provokes all kinds of unnecessary responses in 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.000 our bodies. For example, you know how stress can make 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.280 some people feel nauseous or stick to their stomach. Well, 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:34.880 that's because stress hormones push the blood away from the 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.520 gastro intestinal system and actually redirect it to the brain. 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:40.680 And that makes sense because it helps the brain better 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.479 respond to threats. But there are side effects, and that's 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.760 when this redirection agitates the microbes living in our gut, 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:49.200 and that of course makes you feel sick at your stomach. 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.720 So I definitely feel that loss of appetite from anxiety. 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.120 But what's weirder to me is that even though stress 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.320 can sap your desire to eat, it can also make 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.360 you gain weight at the same time. And I didn't 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.560 realize this before. But as stress hormones like cortisols circulate 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.520 through the body, they relay messages to our fat stores, 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.360 telling them to generate as much energy as possible, and 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.120 this call to action triggers the process called lippo license, 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.200 which is basically when fatty assets called lipids are broken 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.160 down and circulated through the body as a source of energy. Alright, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.359 so if the fat is being broken down, it seems 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:24.320 like that what calls us to lose weight rather than 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.600 gain it. So how does this work? Yeah, I mean 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.560 it should accept that these lipids also signal the brain 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.760 to release more stress hormones, which basically tells the body 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.440 to conserve its fat supplies. So it's kind of this 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.920 negative feedback loop like as one professor of neuroscience explained. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:44.280 He said, cortisol causes lippo license to release energy, but 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.839 stimulates the growth of fat cells replenishing it, which makes 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.120 it a double edged sword. And basically these mixed messages 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.279 are also a big reason why stress can lead to 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:57.120 obesity is as well as certain kinds of diabetes. Okay, 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.280 I mean it makes sense. I've actually never heard that before. 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:00.520 And when you were talking abou a weight gain. I 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.839 just assume you were talking about like stress eating or 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.520 other responses like that. Yeah, I mean that's interesting to 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.880 me too. I find a bizarre because you know, I 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.400 can't eat, but like other people tend to chow down 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.360 when they're stressed. And that's really because stress responses are 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.320 highly individualized to our genetic differences, So you know, people 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.600 can have widely different responses to the exact same stressor Yeah, 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.400 and it is probably worth mentioning that while we know 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.920 stress can make us feel sick, we aren't a hundred 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.720 percent sure of the physiological reasons behind that. But scientists 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:30.840 have made some headway on that over the past decade 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:32.800 or so. For instance, there was a study out of 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:34.680 U c l A. This was back in two thousand 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.320 and twelve, and it pointed towards the immune system as 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.040 a possible answer to this. So the researchers had a 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.320 group of a hundred and twenty two participants fill out 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.280 questionnaires and they were answering questions about their activities over 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.040 the last week or so, and including that was whether 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.840 each social encounter they had was positive or negative. And 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.600 they also have participants undertake a whole series of these 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.440 very stressful lab tests and before and after these tests, 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.280 the volunteers had their salive attested and what they were 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:05.480 looking for was, you know, indicators of inflammation called cytokinds, 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.239 and these are products of the immune system. So cyto 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:10.120 kinds are supposed to travel to the side of the 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.240 wound or you know, something like that so they can 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.360 help fight off infection. So the researchers were trying to 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.400 see if the stress would lead to a rise in 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.160 these cyto kinds, and amazingly it did. After the participants 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:25.440 engaged in negatively stressful activities things like arguments, their levels 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.240 of cyto kinds went way up, which is pretty wild 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.080 when you think about It's like our immune system is 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.400 responding to an emotional or maybe a mental wound in 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.760 the same way that it would a physical one. That's crazy. So, 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.320 I mean, are there any negative effects of this? Let like, 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.120 have scientists figured that part out? Well? There definitely are. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.560 I mean the reaction can lead to some pretty major 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.600 problems in the long term, including stuff like heart disease 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.120 and even cancer. You know, because why can we mentioned 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.040 These cyto kinds are looking for a wound to work on, 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:56.960 and when they don't find one. They just keep circulating 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.560 and inflame regions that really don't require their attention. Huh. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.480 So is there any way to prevent these unneeded side 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.280 of kinds from circulating? I mean, besides trying to avoid 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.000 any of these stressful situations we put ourselves in. Well, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.240 I mean, that's pretty much the only solution. And this 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:14.599 was actually the takeaway of the study. I've got a 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.480 quote here from the papers author Shelley Taylor. She says, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.160 the message is that the flauntsom and jetsam of life 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.760 predict changes in your underlying biology in ways that cumulatively 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.680 could have a bad effect on health. What this tells 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.479 me is that people should be investing in socially supportive 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.680 relationships and they should not court relationships that lead to 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.920 a great deal of conflict. So don't hang out with 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.960 enemies all the time, don't hang out with bad people. See, 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.080 it's such sound advice we're providing. I also know from 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.880 my own experience, I'm not always the best at evaluating 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.800 my own stress levels. So it's actually something I looked into. 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.160 And did you come across this, uh, the scientist named 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.760 Stephen Cole in your research? I don't think so. It 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.920 doesn't bring a bell. So Cole was basically bothered by 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.560 our inability to measure our own stress. So he wondered, like, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.160 what if our brains automatic stress assessment doesn't translate to 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.920 a conscious awareness of it? So are there actually subconscious 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.200 signs that we're feeling stressed? Like things we might not 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.280 even notice in ourselves. So that's exactly what Colin is. 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.760 Fellow researchers wanted to find out and and to do 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.679 it they enlisted a hundred forty three volunteers and had 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.559 them where these audio recorders for two days. And during 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.280 that time the recorders would switch on automatically every couple 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.040 of minutes, and they actually gathered over twenty thousand audio clips. 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.439 And from there the researchers transcribed the recordings and started 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.480 picking apart the specific language, and in particularly they paid 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:38.319 attention to these things called function words, which are pronouns 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.959 and adjectives that I guess clarify meaning rather than providing 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.040 it themselves. So you think about the opposite that, which 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.040 is meaning words nouns and verbs. Those are words a 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:51.000 speaker might liberally choose versus like the so called function words, 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.480 which are produced without thinking. And the idea is that 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.240 maybe these function words could theoretically give you a glimpse 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.240 of what's going on subconsciously, so where the research is 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.319 able to link certain words to feelings of stress. Yeah, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.040 the study found that a volunteer's use of function words 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.640 was much more accurate prediction of gene expression than even 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.080 like an individual self report about his or her stress levels. So, 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.920 for example, participants who exhibited stressed out gene expressions talked 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.920 less overall, but when they did speak, they used more 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.400 intensifying adverbs such as like really, you're very or incredibly, 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.400 and they also used fewer third person plural pronouns such 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.360 as they are there. Alright, alright, I'm writing all these 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.640 down for later years. Well, I mean there's a reason like, like, 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:38.000 according to the researchers, uh, we use they are they're 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.760 less and and that's because people tend to focus inwards. 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:42.920 And of course there's still much more research to do 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.080 on all of this, but if these initial findings hold up, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.480 you could actually be a new way for doctors or 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.760 even like your phones or your watches or your alexis 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.400 to spot if you're stressed out and all that by 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.920 just listening to the words you use. That is pretty 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.680 incredible and also a little bit weird to think about, 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.320 but yeah, very interesting, and it reminds me there are 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.280 actually a few other symptoms of stress that I wanted 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.680 to talk about, and one of these is is whether 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.080 or not it can really make your hair turn gray. Well, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.600 as someone whose hair has all turned gray since I've 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.800 had kids, I'm very interested in who to blame for this. 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.839 But before we dig in, let's take a quick break. 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:35.400 You're listening to part Time Genius and we're talking about 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.480 all the different ways stress can affect our bodies, and Mango, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.200 I've got bad news for you. There's one thing stress 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.400 doesn't do, and that's turn your hair gray. So I'm 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.800 definitely a little confused by this because I look at 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.360 Obama and George Bush and how their hair turned color 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.439 like pretty soon after they got into office, and for 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:56.600 some reason, our current president's hair has stayed the exact 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.440 same color. But are are you saying stress makes no 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.400 contribute usian to these like Bonnie Rate streaks in my hair? 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:05.280 You know, I've always wanted to tell you how much 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:07.080 you reminded me of Bonnie Rate, So I'm glad you 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.800 finally brought it up. But you know, despite what many 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.400 people think, there's actually no clear scientific link between stress 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.000 and going gray. And it turns out it's actually a 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.920 person's genes more than anything else, that determine when their 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.600 hair turns gray. So why is the when like my 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.040 kids started talking a lot and bossing me around, that's 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.640 where my hair went gray. I think it's just getting older, man. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.040 I mean, it's the same thing for the presidents that 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.360 you talk about, or or or most of our presidents. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.000 And you know, while we don't know the exact genetic 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.960 reason why most people go gray as they age, we 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.160 do know that it ultimately comes down to these millenno sites, 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.920 which are these pigments cells that give hair its color. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.679 So when you're younger, the cells work to fight off 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:52.040 damaging compounds like hydrogen peroxide, and these would otherwise cause 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.880 oxidation if they were allowed to build up on the scalp. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.560 But as we get older, our genes have a harder 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.520 and harder time keeping that oxidation at bed, and so, 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.720 according to one theory, as the hydrogen peroxide accumulates over time, 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.880 our melano sites start to die off. So you know, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.160 once our follicles begin to run low, on their only 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.600 source of pigment, they start producing colorless or or gray 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.319 hair instead. So I mean, I'm going to accept that answer, 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.400 but but I also feel like, you know, these old 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.640 wives tales have been going on for long enough that 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:24.200 there has to be some validity, right, Like, is there 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.840 any truth to any of it? Well, there actually is 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.480 one thing that kind of redeems their tail, and and 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.840 that's because cellular strain that's brought on by oxidation. It 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.640 is actually known as oxidative stress. And that's different from 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.920 the kind of emotional stress that we've been talking about, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.160 though it's still somewhat connected. So this comes from Mary 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.520 Seilberg of the Global Dermatology Institute, And as she says, 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.560 a very strong chronic stress is known to increase oxidative stress, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.720 and there are studies that document correlations between extreme emotional 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:58.360 stress and increased cellular oxydatings. I got out you didn't 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.920 let me finish your mango. So this is not to 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.120 say that we gray every time that we fight with 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.720 our children or spouses. That was what she said at 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:10.080 the end of it. Well, well, family and work stress 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.920 might not turn our hair gray. There is one thing 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.280 that does lead to hair loss, because oddly enough, losing 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.400 your hair is a coping mechanism when we're going through 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:22.160 exceptionally hard times. So I do have my kids to blame. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.000 This is good to know. Well, for first, it helps 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.520 to know the life cycle of our hair includes three phases. 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.320 I'm going to talk through that, the last of which 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.600 is this resting period called the telligent phase. And hairs 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.160 in this stage are no longer connected to a blood supply, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.240 which which means they're no longer growing either. Now, usually 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.280 about eight percent of our hair is in this dormant 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.480 stage at any given time, and this is all completely natural, right, Like, 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:49.360 hairs in this telligent phase they put for around three 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.320 months or so and then they guy of just fall 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.280 out gradually as we go about our lives. Alright, So 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.360 then how does stress figure into this? Well, when people 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.120 go through something that's emotionally draining, like illness, or or 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.800 like the loss of a loved one, or even something 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.400 positive but still taxing, something like childbirth, are our bodies 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.520 will sometimes prompt much of our hair to enter this 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.000 telligent phase prematurely, and it's actually the body's way of 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.160 conserving energy to be used elsewhere during like a period 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.120 of extended stress. All right, So let me get this straight. 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.680 Not only do you have to get through a tough time, 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:22.640 but when you finally get to the end of it 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:24.720 a few months later, all your hair falls out. I mean, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.440 it kind of feels like a raw deal. But you know, 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.280 we've been concentrating on the negative here, which is a 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.280 little uncharacteristic for us. But the truth is not all 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.080 of stress's effects on the body are bad ones. They're 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:40.960 actually upsides to emotional or mental pressure. And you know, 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.880 for one thing, experiencing stress better prepares us to handle 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.360 it in the future, and the reason for that really 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.640 comes down to mental conditioning. You know, whenever we encounter 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.520 a stressful situation, our prefrontal cortex takes notice of this. 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.480 And remember this is the part of the brain that 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.960 handles executive functions that help us cope with different threats. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.400 So the next time we're faced with a mild stress 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.600 or that we've handled before, the prefrontal cortex is able 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.560 to overrule those warnings and and that makes the stress 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.680 much easier to bear than it was the last time. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.639 I'm actually glad you're pointing out how stress can make 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:14.920 is more resilient because One of the things I found 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.120 out this week is that having a well rounded view 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.120 of stress can actually help you live longer. So why 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.640 is that? This is According to a study from when 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.080 researchers asked about thirty adults in the US about their 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:30.560 opinions on stress, and the participants were asked to report 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.000 how much stress they had experienced in the past year 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.080 and whether or not they believed that stress was negatively 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:40.000 impacting their health. Then, eight years later, the researchers determined 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.560 that high levels of stress had increased the risk of 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:46.760 dying by but only in the people who had said 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.520 stress was making them less healthy. So what about the 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.399 people who reported high stress levels but didn't think it 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.080 was hurting them. I mean, that's the craziest part. Not 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.320 only were those people less likely to die prematurely, they 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:02.320 actually had the lowest risk of death of all the participants, 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.879 including those who'd reported low stress levels. So it really 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.720 seems like stress itself isn't the problem. It's kind of 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:10.639 how we think about it or deal with it that 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.320 makes or breaks is Well, that sounds right, and of 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.680 course there's a little caveat there. I mean, simply being 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.880 exposed to stressful situation doesn't equip us to handle them 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.399 better next time. I mean, if you get really stressed 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.480 before presentation and then you crack under pressure, it's not 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.399 like you're gonna feel stress free then next time you 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.960 have to give a presentation. And on the other hand, 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.040 like if you overcome those anxious feelings and give a 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.439 solid performance despite all that stress, then of course the 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.560 next time you'll feel a whole lot less stress going 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.320 up again. I mean, there's definitely no quick fix for stress. 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.600 But like we've been saying, maybe that's not such a 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.680 bad thing. I mean, I think about the people from 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.240 the study who reported high stress levels but didn't actually 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.480 consider your problem, and I'd wager what they were experiencing 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.840 is something called you stress or healthy stress. And this 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.080 was another term coined by that scientists we talked about earlier, 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.200 Hans Celier, and it refers to the range of us 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.760 where people actually feel motivated or more productive. It was 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.080 just fascinating to think about it. It makes sense. But 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.879 but what separates this good stress from the bad stress? Again, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.159 it really comes down to perception. So like if if 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:15.359 you think about like an employee who's been given a 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.840 reasonable amount of work and a realistic deadline, then it's 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.560 likely that person will feel engaged but not overwhelmed, you know, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.040 like the goal seems achievable, so they know that any 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.840 stress they feel is temporary or you know, surmountable, and 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.639 that usually results in motivation and focus rather than I 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.280 guess what would be discouraging feelings, you know, when when 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.959 you feel like it's just too much to cope with. Well, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.399 that does make sense. And obviously not all stress is 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:42.800 going to be healthy stress, I mean, sooner or later 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.800 we have to deal with the bad kind. And well, 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.080 you mentioned how working through distress can make you more 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.040 resilient in the long run. Sometimes you just want relief 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.720 from it, you know, absolutely, So let's check out a 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.760 few offbeat ways to cope with stress. But before we do, 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:13.120 let's take another quick break. Okay, well, so why don't 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:16.240