Why it's never been more important to adopt mindful habits that can protect your brain
. The shrinking of the brain’s structures and the thinning of the cortex , classic signs of aging, also occur during times of prolonged stress.
One study measured the level of the stress hormone cortisol in the saliva of patients each year for five years. Those patients who showed progressive increases in cortisol levels were more likely to have shrinkage in the hippocampus—and to perform more poorly on memory tasks. In other words, just five years of increasing stress hormones created in the brain the same effects that aging causes.
The state of chronic stress—which had already been an issue in our sleep-deprived, always-on, multi-tasking society—has been heightened even further by political strife, thepandemic, and civil unrest. Stress now threatens to become an epidemic of its own. Front-line health care workers, of course, have endured unthinkable levels of stress in addition to the physical dangers they face each day.
Stay-at-home orders and curfews make us feel off-balance, but they have also made it more difficult to maintain the kinds of activities that counteract the effects of stress and stave off premature aging. Physical activity is an excellent way to combat stress, but it can be hard to maintain fitness routines with gyms closed and stay-at-home orders lasting for weeks. Good
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