No one can escape stress, but sometimes it takes a physical and emotional toll that translates to disease and other health effects. The good news is that there are new approaches to treating it.
Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, can have effects on the brain.
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Oral contraceptives modify the menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they also reach the brain, particularly the regions important for regulating emotions.
The stress of experiencing high levels of community violence harms entire families.
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Chronic stress from living with systemic racism and gun violence can lead to increased symptoms of PTSD and depression as well as elevated cortisol levels.
Immunosenescence, or immune aging, can lead to less effective responses to vaccines and greater vulnerability to invading pathogens.
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The science of stress explains why parenting during the pandemic feels so hard. Here are strategies from psychologists for taking back control when you dread yet another challenging day ahead.
Lifestyle medicine targets the root of chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Experts explain why everyone should embrace these free prescriptions for good health.
A lone cyclist rides past the University of Toronto campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on June 10, 2020.
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University students had high rates of mental health issues before the pandemic. The additional stressors of COVID-19 and social isolation will make them even more vulnerable over the winter.
For African-American women, experiencing racism can contribute to a variety of health issues.
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Itchy skin? More aches and pains? Unusual rash? Headaches? Pimples? If you’ve been experiencing unusual physical symptoms recently, the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic may be the reason.
A brisk 30-minute walk three times a week is enough to prevent stress-induced depression.
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Physical activity can help people manage the stress of COVID-19, but closures and distancing have made it even harder to exercise. These researchers are developing a free toolkit to help us all cope.
Stress about the coronavirus pandemic can actually increase your risk of infection, but exercise can alleviate the immune system’s stress response. Above, a lone jogger in Ottawa, on March 17, 2020.
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April Thames, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The recent death of Elijah Cummings at age 68 underscores a disturbing statistic: black men die, on average, five years younger than white men. A study shows racism’s effects on gene activity.
Bears in Asia are trapped in bile farms, where they are kept in small cages for decades.
New suicide data indicates that years of record bloodshed in Mexico have traumatized residents in places where the violence is most concentrated.
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Ciudad Juárez, on the US-Mexico border, has suffered high levels of deadly violence for over a decade. New suicide data reveals the severe mental health impacts of living with chronic violence.
Childhood adversity doesn’t just affect our choices – according to new research, it also weakens the body’s fundamental ability to stay healthy in old age.
People who are chronically stressed are more than twice as likely to have a heart attack than those who aren’t.
Tim Gouw
Professor of Breast Cancer Research, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and School of Biomedical Sciences,, Queensland University of Technology