Nutrition

The Science of Stress Transcript

Speakers: Narrator, Mother, Kathy Matt, Physical Trainer, Alisa

(Alarm clock ringing)

NARRATOR: Six a.m. and the stress of everyday life kicks in.

(Baby cooing)

MOTHER: Hello there. Good morning.

NARRATOR: Family, home, work –

MOTHER: How was your sleep?

NARRATOR: Over and over again. This kind of stress actually gives us energy to get through the day.

(Phone ringing)

But doing it day after day can take a toll on our bodies. What is stress? Where does it come from and how do we make it go away? Actually, the answer is not all in our heads, but in our bodies as well.

To find out what all of that stress is doing to our body, let’s head down to the neuroendocrinology lab at Arizona State University. Kathy Matt and her team of researchers are proving what most of us intuitively know, that stress is not just in our minds.

KATHY MATT: Stress, good or bad, it’s not just psychological. It’s physiological as well.

(Car engines humming by)

NARRATOR: So that rush hour delay this morning actually shows up as a chemical in the blood stream.

KATHY MATT: In these samples, we are measuring cortisol, which is a stress hormone.

NARRATOR: When our body detects stress, it releases two hormones, adrenaline to help our body react quickly and with more force and cortisol. This gives us the fuel we need for that quick physical boost. That’s great when you’re being chased by a lion, but when a baby –

(Baby crying)

– is crying, you don’t need a physical boost. Unfortunately, the body can’t tell the difference between the two types of stress.

KATHY MATT: But in a psychological stress, you’re not utilizing fuel. You’re not depleting fuel sources and yet you are increasing this cortisol.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: Put this over your head.

NARRATOR: The effects of physical stress on the body are easy to gauge.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: I’m going to take you up two and a half percent okay?

NARRATOR: As the speed of the treadmill goes up –

PHYSICAL TRAINER: How does this feel? All right. Here we go.

NARRATOR: So does the heart rate and breathing. Right now, the adrenaline and cortisol are kicking it into high gear.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: Here we go, all you got.

NARRATOR: And while heart rate and oxygen levels show this woman is releasing a lot of stress hormones, she’s also using every bit of energy they create.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: Good job. Way to go.

NARRATOR: So she passes the first hurdle. Her body deals with physical stress pretty well, but what about mental stress?

EXAMINER: It’s vital that you perform at your highest capable level for each of the tests.

NARRATOR: With the pressure on –

EXAMINER: Come on Alisa, as fast as you can.

NARRATOR: The heart races.

(Beeping)

ALISA: Yellow, green, red.

NARRATOR: Blood pressure soars.

ALISA: Red. Okay. God, I hate eights. I can’t do the eights times tables.

NARRATOR: Again, those stress hormones are kicking in.

ALISA: Eight is 24.

(Beeping)

Is –

NARRATOR: Under chronic psychological stress, the body releases cortisol continuously, but doesn’t burn the extra fuel and that leads to all sorts of problems.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: And I want you to put your fingers straight down.

NARRATOR: This machine checks bone density. Excess cortisol breaks down bone and can lead to osteoporosis. Other studies show that chronic stress can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and neurological diseases.

PHYSICAL TRAINER: Here’s your bone density so you’re really right on again this norm.

NARRATOR: This woman shows no long-term effects from psychological stress yet, but that doesn’t mean she can just ignore it.

(Cheering)

Putting the body through the stress of exercise trains it to better handle psychological stress. And remember, not all stress is bad.

(Baby crying)

Every now and then, we need a good dose of those hormones to help us get to the end of the day.

[End of Audio]

From “The Science of Stress," 2012. Adapted with permission from Wiley.