Highlights

  • According to Dr. Sapolsky, baboons are optimal for studying stress as it applies in Western societies since they spend a large swath of their time generating social stressors for one another.
  • Dr. Sapolsky goes on to describe how social rank and affiliations in baboons can influence levels of a stress hormone called cortisol, which causes brain damage with chronic exposure.
  • To induce damage, chronic stress can trigger the activation of genes for inflammatory proteins and drive premature brain aging.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, a family physician who hosts a renowned podcast, stress is a physiological response to any real or imaginary threat to your body or ego. For example, a real threat could be a lion running after you, while an imagined threat may encompass worrying about your husband coming home late from work. You may think he was having an affair, while in fact, he was buying you flowers.

The thing is that stress, especially when chronic, can damage the brain, inducing premature brain aging. In a podcast with Dr. Hyman, Stanford neurology professor Dr. Robert Sapolsky explains how any stress over prolonged periods can wreak havoc on the brain.

A Comparison Between Stressors in Baboons and Humans

Dr. Sapolsky explains how most animals like, say, a giraffe, will go through short periods of stress, such as when being chased by a predator. Once the aggressor has left the area, though, the animal will continue about its business with thoughts such as choosing which blade of grass to eat next. This scenario of short periods of stress (known as acute stress) is what our brain systems for managing stress were actually designed for from an evolutionary perspective.

At the same time, beginning about 10 million years ago, according to Sapolsky, primates evolved the cognitive capacity to socially manipulate, for example through bullying, and thus induce chronic socialization-related stress amongst each other. Baboons, which Dr. Sapolsky refers to as “jerks,” constantly engage in social manipulation within their hierarchical social structures to determine rank and order. This, he says, induces long-lasting, chronic stress.

Similarly, humans in Western society are bombarded with social stressors, not only from the people they interact with but also from social media and political news. Due to the similarities between stressors for people in Western societies and those amongst baboons, Dr. Sapolsky has spent a good chunk of his 30+-year career studying how stress affects the brains of baboons.

Acute vs. Chronic Stress and Their Effects on the Brain

In the podcast, Dr. Sapolsky relayed to Dr. Hyman how stress, whether acute or chronic, initiates higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood. For acute bouts of stress, cortisol improves cognition, enhances memory, and confers a tunneling effect where focusing abilities are enhanced. All the same, long-term cortisol elevations from chronic stress put neurons in a state of emergency, which depletes their energy levels and may render them less functional.

To illustrate the effects of chronic stress on the brain, Dr. Sapolsky provides an example where long-term stress has been shown to reduce the size of a brain region called the hippocampus. The hippocampus plays a crucial role in learning and memory. With that said, interestingly, hippocampal deterioration has been tied to age-related diseases associated with cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s.

Moreover, Dr. Robert Sapolsky says that chronic stress increases levels of proteins called transcription factors that activate genes for the production of inflammatory proteins. In this way, chronic stress has been tied to elevated levels of inflammation in the brain. What’s more, inflammation has been recognized as one of the hallmarks of aging—physiological characteristics associated with aging, the targeting of which may delay aging.

Alleviating the Effects of Chronic Stress with Psychotherapy and/or Supplementation

As for what we can do about alleviating chronic stress, Dr. Sapolsky talks about psychotherapy, where patients identify things they cannot control or predict in an effort to alleviate their worries. Essentially, according to Sapolsky, having a stress-induced real or imagined threat can make people feel like they have no control over whatever situation worries them and that they cannot predict outcomes of events unfolding in their lives.

In that regard, through successful psychotherapy, Dr. Sapolsky says that changes to DNA chemical modifications (related to an area of research called epigenetics) can occur, which alters gene activity to reduce inflammation. Lowered stress-induced inflammation may help alleviate any damage to the brain which may arise from chronic stress.

Dr. Hyman also gave some insightful information about a technique he uses at his practice. Along those lines, through the analysis of points of DNA that can have different mutations (small nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]), Dr. Hyman’s team has identified genetic compositions that make some more vulnerable to different types of neurological damage from chronic stress.

To remedy this, Dr. Hyman says that a SNP analysis can help his team recommend who should take which supplements, such as vitamin D, omega-3s, curcumin, and/or magnesium. In the interview, Dr. Sapolsky called Dr. Hyman’s approach a form of neuropsychopharmacology—a branch of science devoted to the action of drugs or supplements, their effects on the brain, and consequent influences on the mind and behavior. Given this information, doctors with access to genetic testing may be able to recommend certain drugs or supplements to allay neurological damage arising from chronic stress—a type of precision medicine that includes a supplement regimen based on your DNA.

Making a Plan to Intervene Against Chronic Stress

From studying baboons to social stressor overloads in humans, chronic stress likely plays a key role in brain inflammation and premature aging. Some research even suggests chronic stress is tied to an elevated risk for age-related cognitive dysfunction as seen in Alzheimer’s disease.

To alleviate chronic stress, one can see a professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, to pinpoint the source of the stress and identify psychological coping mechanisms. Furthermore, according to Dr. Mark Hyman, having a genetic analysis done may help uncover susceptibilities to certain age-related conditions related to chronic stress, for which he would then recommend certain supplements, such as omega-3s or curcumin. At the same time, while some research suggests that some supplements may help with stress-related brain fog and cognitive impairment, they do not appear to be any sort of cure for brain damage associated with chronic stress.

Another option for alleviating chronic stress may come from regular exercise, which has been tied to lowering cortisol levels. Furthermore, exercising has been linked to the release of natural pain relievers and mood boosters called endorphins in the brain, the effects of which may also help alleviate stress.