imapMyTeam Blog

Caution! Your Brain May Be Shrinking

This morning I read an interesting, and on some levels disturbing, study organized in 2012 at Yale University’s Department of Neurobiology.

Extensive testing and brain imaging conducted on 103 otherwise healthy individuals showed that exposure to stress can reduce gray matter in critical regions of the brain that regulate emotion and important physiological functions.

In discussing the results, the professor went on to say that the findings suggest these differences are apparent soon after stressful events occur and may serve as warning signals of future chronic diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes.

“The brain is dynamic and plastic and things can improve — but only if stress is dealt with in a healthy manner,” the professor said. “If not, the effects of stress can have a negative impact on both our physical and mental health.”

So experiencing stress makes it harder to deal with future stress! Sounds like a vicious cycle to me.

Don’t be too discouraged; because there are a few important things to keep in mind here:

1. This study focused on what we traditionally think of stressful events in our lives – death in the family, divorce, loss of job and the like. These events are universally stressful.

2. imapMyTeam defines stress as a reactive behavior triggered by an unmet need. That means for one; what causes me stress may not be stressful to you at all and two; you can learn to avoid that stress by making sure your needs are met. Three; imapMyTeam includes reports to develop your skill to respond to stress. You can learn to manage yourself out of that reactive behavior.

3. The Succeed under Pressure report (center pane drop down menu) helps you understand the type of pressure you likely experience and the stress it creates. It then follows that description with a prescriptive tip that will help reverse the negative effects of the stress reactive behavior.

Don’t stress out! imapMyTeam® is available to serve you well and can be used to help you keep your brain sharp. Make managing your stress a higher priority and your brain will reward you by functioning properly over the long run.
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"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." 
                                                                                                                         -William James