What Stress Does to the Brain • Hacker News Board

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#81

Post by mistermann » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

graeme wrote: post #63

want2know wrote: post #40

Some time ago I had a long period of intense stress. It is amazing how much it changes your mind and body. Muscles contract causing all kinds of insuline problems, your hormones become a mess, and all this is raising stress levels more because you don't know what is going on in your body. And then an anxiety disorder is right around the corner. And when everything is ok again your brain produces stress hormones when…

>I think this is the most difficult part to get back to normal: The brain brings you in stress mode for no obvious reason. Then you have to reason about it so the stress goes away and you will slowly reset your brain. But I doubt the paths in the brain will ever go away. It will be like a overgrown path in the end but it is still there. I had this. Try square breathing every time you have a stress trigger. It was alm…

> I would say I did this for 2-4mweeks

Every time you had a trigger you did this, and symptoms lifted after 2-4 weeks?

https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#82

Post by billman » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

coldcode wrote: post #55

want2know wrote: post #40

Some time ago I had a long period of intense stress. It is amazing how much it changes your mind and body. Muscles contract causing all kinds of insuline problems, your hormones become a mess, and all this is raising stress levels more because you don't know what is going on in your body. And then an anxiety disorder is right around the corner. And when everything is ok again your brain produces stress hormones when…

I am in such a period and have been for months. Stupid company demands we ship something no matter what, even though there is insufficient time to do all the work, and they keep adding more on top of it. I work 7 days a week, no vacations, hardly even a weekend day off much less a vacation. I even lost my temper at work and yelled a lot, something I never do. This is no way to do proper work either. At least what lit…

You been working hard. I give you permission to leave early today. Spend some time doing the things you love.

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#83

Post by jaymzcampbell » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

coldcode wrote: post #55

want2know wrote: post #40

Some time ago I had a long period of intense stress. It is amazing how much it changes your mind and body. Muscles contract causing all kinds of insuline problems, your hormones become a mess, and all this is raising stress levels more because you don't know what is going on in your body. And then an anxiety disorder is right around the corner. And when everything is ok again your brain produces stress hormones when…

I am in such a period and have been for months. Stupid company demands we ship something no matter what, even though there is insufficient time to do all the work, and they keep adding more on top of it. I work 7 days a week, no vacations, hardly even a weekend day off much less a vacation. I even lost my temper at work and yelled a lot, something I never do. This is no way to do proper work either. At least what lit…

What helped me a ton to disconnect from some of this sort of stress is building up a bit of a savings buffer. Once I had a few months of savings around I suddenly started to give much less of a shit about day to day work as I could, if I really wanted, just walk away. I am "lucky" in that I have no real dependants and my partner and I have decided against kids so there's none of that to consider.

Ever since I entered my thirties I've been increasingly "selfish" when it comes to my time. No job is worth it.

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#84

Post by potta_coffee » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 2:51 PM UTC

coldcode wrote: post #55

want2know wrote: post #40

Some time ago I had a long period of intense stress. It is amazing how much it changes your mind and body. Muscles contract causing all kinds of insuline problems, your hormones become a mess, and all this is raising stress levels more because you don't know what is going on in your body. And then an anxiety disorder is right around the corner. And when everything is ok again your brain produces stress hormones when…

I am in such a period and have been for months. Stupid company demands we ship something no matter what, even though there is insufficient time to do all the work, and they keep adding more on top of it. I work 7 days a week, no vacations, hardly even a weekend day off much less a vacation. I even lost my temper at work and yelled a lot, something I never do. This is no way to do proper work either. At least what lit…

I am in the same boat, except we just launched our broken website. CEO and Marketing people: "I think it's ready!" Me: "It's not ready, we need more time." They're eating crow now, the entire "release" has been complete shitshow and suddenly everyone is very nice. I'm taking the day off.

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#85

Post by hutzlibu » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:03 PM UTC

jaymzcampbell wrote: post #83

coldcode wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in such a period and have been for months. Stupid company demands we ship something no matter what, even though there is insufficient time to do all the work, and they keep adding more on top of it. I work 7 days a week, no vacations, hardly even a weekend day off much less a vacation. I even lost my temper at work and yelled a lot, something I never do. This is no way to do proper work either. At least what lit…

What helped me a ton to disconnect from some of this sort of stress is building up a bit of a savings buffer. Once I had a few months of savings around I suddenly started to give much less of a shit about day to day work as I could, if I really wanted, just walk away. I am "lucky" in that I have no real dependants and my partner and I have decided against kids so there's none of that to consider. Ever since I entered…

Since I am a unplanned father for some months now, I would advise you to reconsider the baby thing. It totally changed all my plans and rhythm, but we never regretted aborting the abortion ...

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#86

Post by NeedMoreTea » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:04 PM UTC

mythrwy wrote: post #76

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find my stress reactions are still coloured by a long past sustained period of stress, about twenty years ago. That's despite a life fairly free of it in the intervening period, and no remaining symptoms of that time. With hindsight I should have walked away long before I started questioning my situation.

Approaching age 50, there are a lot more "I should have walked away sooners" than "I should have stuck with thats" in the rear view mirror. But I can't say it's generally good advice to walk away frequently because I'm not sure what the outcome of so much walking away would have been.

That's very true. From my mid 50s perspective there's been a couple of big, "I really should have stuck with thats", but mainly "life's too short to put up with that garbage". Which of course makes it really hard to generalise into advice.

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#87

Post by want2know » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:06 PM UTC

grep_name wrote: post #67

want2know wrote: post #40

Some time ago I had a long period of intense stress. It is amazing how much it changes your mind and body. Muscles contract causing all kinds of insuline problems, your hormones become a mess, and all this is raising stress levels more because you don't know what is going on in your body. And then an anxiety disorder is right around the corner. And when everything is ok again your brain produces stress hormones when…

Could you share any resources that helped you get past this? This is basically what my life is like all the time

I have a comment in this thread about stress that might help you.

About anxiety: talk to a psychologist and keep doing things you like.

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#88

Post by La-ang » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

Am I the only one relating this to PUBG, and that moment when you're low on health, with a torn police vest, 30 bullets left in AKM, no compensator, no meds and a whole squad taking the stairs up to come rip you apart?

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#89

Post by draw_down » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:16 PM UTC

dr_dshiv wrote: post #64

There are some important dimensions of stress that often get lumped together in a way that can be misleading. First, there is good and bad stress -- eustress and distress. Second, there is acute and chronic stress. This study addresses acute distress -- like a car accident. As they say, it is hard to produce this in a lab study (for ethical reasons, one supposes).

Nobody is fretting about “the good kind” of stress, doesn’t really seem like a useful distinction here

Re: What Stress Does to the Brain

#90

Post by seesaw » Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 3:17 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #68

wodenokoto wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to add another load on your mind, but the long-term issue here is that - assuming this is a crunch that ends - you will still be heavily affected for a long time during normal, non-stress periods. It takes a long pause from stress for you mind and body to stop over-producing stress hormones. I hope you situation changes for the better soon, and when it does, remember to be mindfull of yourself and accept that eve…

Not OP, but thanks for this advice. I left a similar situation, and relaxation and re-normalization has been slow to arrive.

I was stressed out for almost five years, due to work and personal tragedies. I was sad and lost my personality. What helped me get back was exercise and meditation. Exercise made me relaxed, and meditation improved my sleep. It was hard, since being depressed means you have no interest to exercise or meditate either.