Instant Genius - Healthy Start: How small behavioural changes help manage stress

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Whether it’s due to deadlines at work, an upcoming exam or a rocky personal relationship, we’ve no doubt all felt stress at some point in our lives. And while a certain amount of stress can help to motivate us and make us more productive, if things get too much, stress can have a significant effect on both our mental and physical health. In this episode, we speak to Despina Djama, a psychologist and stress researcher based at the University of Plymouth. She tells us what happens in our brains and bodies when we experience stress, explains how the reaction stems from our evolutionary fight or flight response and shares some tips and techniques we can all use to help us get through stressful times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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delivering digital precision with analogue warmth. So you can experience exceptional sound at home. Music just as the artist intended. Visit name audio.com. to learn more. Hello and welcome to Instant Genius, a bite-sized master class in podcast form. Every Monday and Friday you're here world-leading scientists and experts talking about the most fascinating ideas in science and technology today. I'm Jason Goodyear, commissioning editor at BBC Science Focus. Whether it's due to deadlines at work, an upcoming exam, or a rocky personal

relationship, we've no doubt all felt stress at some point in our lives. And while a certain amount of stress can help to motivate us and make us more productive, if things get too much, stress can have a significant effect on both our mental and physical health. In this episode, we speak to Despina Jama, a psychologist and stress researcher based at the University of Plymouth. She tells us what happens in our brains and bodies when we experience stress, explains how the reaction stems from our evolutionary fight or flight response, and shares some tips and techniques we can all use to help get us through those stressful times. Welcome to the podcast. Thanks very much for joining us.

Oh, thank you. It's really nice talking to you. So today we're talking about stress. Everyone will have experienced stress at some point in their lives. But what is actually going on in our bodies when we feel stressed? I mean, maybe we should start with the brain. Yeah, of course. So yeah, everybody feels stressed from time to time is a very, very common experience. There's a couple of parts of the brain that are really involved in this stress response. The first one is the amygdala, which is the part of your brain that will process fear.

So when something is perceived as a threat, then your amygdala will start getting activated to kind of like signal that alarm that something isn't right. And then your hypothalamus is also involved, which is another part of the brain. And that triggers really the stress response. And it tells your body to start getting ready. Some hormones are getting released and your nervous system is really. getting ready to do something. So which hormones are involved in this then?

Yeah, there's two main hormones involved in this stress response, one of which is adrenaline, which everybody has heard of. What this does is it starts increasing your heart rate, it's pumping blood into your muscles, and it kind of like gets the airways in your lungs open so that more oxygen is available. And what these things do, so your muscles are ready to react, so everybody's head of the fire.

for flight response, so you will either stay and try and minimize the threat or you will end up going away, moving away from the threat. And the second hormone is cortisol. This essentially makes sure that you have enough energy to either fight or flight. It will shut down systems that you don't really need to respond to the threat, such as digestion. You don't really need to be digesting food if you're trying to fight and flight. And also it regulates your immune system so that you have enough energy to deal with the threat. So how about the role of the nervous system? You often hear about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. What role do they play? Yeah. Really nice analogy that I read recently was if your body was a car, then your sympathetic

system would be the accelerator pedal, and your parasympathetic system would be the brake pedal. And so what the sympathetic system does, it's really responsible for that stress response. It does the things that we said before. It will increase your heart rate, get the blood into your muscles, and helps you get more oxygen into your lungs, so that you're ready to fight or flight. The parasympathic system isn't really much involved in this stress response. It's really there for non-threatened situations. So, you know, it will do things like lower your heart rate if you're ready to rest or go to sleep, for example, and it will start facilitating digestion when you're not in threatened situations. So are there different types of stress? Yes. It's not surprising that

stress comes in all different shapes and sizes, and everybody will have felt that from time to time. there is what we call acute stress or short-term stress and this is something stressful that happens relatively quickly and goes away quickly. So for example, if you are a university student and you have an upcoming exam, then maybe an hour before your exam you'll feel really nervous and tense. You know, your heart rate and your breathing will increase. But as soon as you sit down and actually start taking the exam, that response goes away and maybe you're starting to relax a little bit as you're getting into the exam. Another type of stress is more chronic stress. This is ongoing. It's not like acute stress. It's not an isolated event. It's something that you notice over a longer

period of time. And things that can cause this chronic stress can be things like strained personal or work relationships. You can be living in a really noisy or crowded environment. You might be working long hours and things like that. So it's stress that doesn't really have a clear end. We've been talking about stress in a harmful side of it, but stress can be also quite a little bit motivating so it can actually get you to do things when you really need to. So if you have an upcoming deadline, for example, it might prevent you from procrastinating and gets you to actually start working on the task at hand because, you know, it's important. But generally, it can also be a signal that you need to change something. So if I am experiencing stress because I have a lot of

demands at work, then that might be an alarm that I need to maybe reprioritize my tasks or get a little bit more organized so I can meet that demand. The other interesting, what I find interesting thing about stress is that things that are quite positive, things in our lives, can also make us feel stressed. So, for example, you might be starting a new job or your first day at university, you might be getting promoted and things like that, which are, I think by definition, those things are all positive, but that can also make us feel a little bit stressed. So I don't want to be too negative about this, but what are some long-term health effects that can occur if we are suffering from chronic stress?

Yeah, sure. That's a really good question. We were mentioning before about that stress response that, you know, we've evolved that response so that we can respond to really threatening situations. And that response is meant to turn on for a little bit and then turn off so that your body can like go back into its normal and balanced state. But if that stress response is, you know, if it's activated over a long, period of time, that can be a problem. We know that stress can increase the risk of problems

like heart disease or hypertension, and you can also put your immune function at risk, for example. We know that there's also a relationship between mental health and health behaviors. So this means that if you are mentally unwell, if you're feeling down, then you're probably not going to make the healthier choices. So, you know, I think we've always. experience when we're feeling a little bit stressed, we might be more likely to eat chocolate, for example, we might be craving sweets, so we're maybe more likely to snack. If you are already a smoker, maybe you smoke a little bit more, more frequently when you're stressed, or other people might drink alcohol more frequently. And these things are all things that,

you know, are linked to health. We know that these things are bad for us, and we might be more likely to do them when we're stressed. So let's have a look at some possible ways of dealing with stress then. So one common method is something known as relaxation techniques. So how do these work? Yeah, relaxation is, I think, something everybody's heard of and maybe has done at some point in their lives. Maybe it's in the form of just taking five minutes to try and relax, maybe taking some deep breaths. It's quite nice to do if something unexpected happens. Remember those short-term or acute stresses that we said before. And it's quite a good and nice exercise to do in the moment when you need to. So maybe sitting down for a couple of minutes and taking some deep breaths to

kind of like relax. There's something called muscle relaxation too. This is when you start kind of like tensing your muscles slowly and then you're letting go of that tension. You're easing that tension. And this is to learn to basically relax when you need. to. It's quite, I was saying it's quite good to do it in the moment when you need to, but it's also a nice habit to form because you're really, if you're getting into the habit of doing it, then when you are feeling stressed, then your mind goes to, I need to relax now and maybe you're engaging in that relaxation exercise by default, which can be quite good. How about things like meditation? I mean, this is quite popular now. Can this help us?

Yeah, meditation. Yeah, like you're saying, it's really popular. It's been around for years. and I think a lot of people will have tried it at some point. We know from studies and evidence that it can help to release stress and make people feel less anxious. This can be something like a guided meditation where you have an audio which guides you through a place where it's quite enjoyable or relaxing, so you're mentally kind of like traveling to a relaxing place,

like a forest walk or a walk on the beach, which can be quite nice and you're really immersing yourself into that environment. It's quite a nice way of refocusing your attention to the present as well. So taking a few minutes to kind of like ground yourself in what is going on right now. So you could be thinking about things that you can hear, maybe things that you can see around you or how your feet are feeling touching the ground and things like that. And this can really help when those stressful thoughts are really prominent

because it can direct your attention to what is going on right now in your body instead of those stressful thoughts. And it's something that takes a little bit of practice, but some people find it really, really useful. Is that linked to mindfulness? Yes, it's very, very close to mindfulness. In fact, situating yourself in the moment is part of mindfulness meditation, I think. So yeah, again, you're really trying to be more aware of the moment rather than those stressful thoughts.

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Visit focal powered by name.com for more information. So how about exercise? We all know we should be doing more exercise. Well, speaking for myself anyway. Yeah, I'm guilty of that too, I have to admit. Yeah, I think things like exercise and having a healthy and balanced diet are really, really important. And at the end of the day, physical health and mental health both fall under the umbrella of health, and so looking after the one will help with the other. So in the example of exercise,

it's quite a nice way of taking time out of our busy lives, doing something that's good for us, that's healthy, especially if exercise it's something that you really enjoy, and that can really improve your well-being. Another positive of exercising is that it can make you feel like you've achieved something. So it can make you feel more confident, it can make you feel that you have higher self-efficacy, and that gives you a little bit more kind of like belief in yourself that you can cope with stress. So exercise is really, really good idea. So you mentioned diet there. So say if I was to draw a cartoon of someone who was stressed, they'd have messy hair, lightning coming out of their heads, you know, maybe be drinking a strong

coffee or be surrounded by snacks. Yeah. So what role does diet play? Yeah, that's a really good question. think, yeah, like we said, following a balanced diet is good for your mental health because it is part of health too. But yeah, when we are stressed, it really affects how we eat. So like you're saying, you might be having more cups of coffee because you're really trying to stay alert and not let the stress get to you. But paying attention to your diet, especially during stressful times, is really, really important because when we are stressed, like we said before, we might tend to choose more unhealthy foods rather than healthy ones. So it's really important to be aware of this and mindful of it

in times when we're really stressed. So we've talked about exercise and the benefits of that. There's also quite a lot of research on how getting out in nature can help us. So in Japan, they have this notion of forest bathing. Yeah, forest bathing is very, very nice. It's almost like a mindfulness exercise. So the idea is that while you're out in nature, you're not only passively taking in nature, you're really actively trying to be mindful and pay attention to what is going on around you. So you might be paying attention to the sounds of nature. Maybe it's kind of like leaves in the wind or birds or something like that. It could be paying attention to what you can see, maybe the green of the leaves, maybe the ground or maybe there's some

sunlight coming through the trees, for example. And really, it's a really nice way of immersing yourself into nature. And we know that being out in nature is good for us. There's studies that show that taking time out of kind of like staring at computer screens for most of the day, which I'm guilty of as well, that's not very good for you. And actually being out in nature is better for your well-being. And this is likely because, you know, most of us live in urban environments and they can be quite loud and busy, and that takes a lot of our attention and mental resources. And so being out in nature

can restore those resources that you've lost while you've been living in the urban environment. And so, yeah, it can make you feel a little bit more detached from the stress. So how about pets? Personally, I love dogs. Can having a pet help us cope with stress? Yes, I think we've got the dog as well. And one of our favorite things we like doing is taking them out for a walk, especially on a nice day, taking them out in a forest, for example,

because then you are you're pairing, being out in nature, spending time with your pet that you love, for example, and also you're incorporating exercise there as well. So you're doing three things that are really, really good for you

and that can help you really concentrate on doing things you enjoy. rather than ruminating on stressful thoughts. So that's a great idea. So sticking with nature, how about having houseplants? Can these have an effect? You know, sort of bringing the outside indoors. I know that sounds a bit cheesy.

Yeah, I think that helps as well. In any way you try to immerse yourself in, you know, bringing nature in is a nice way of bringing yourself closer to nature, especially when maybe people don't have access to nature very easily. Maybe they don't have green spaces near them, for example. But it's a really good idea of bringing nature in. Yeah. Another thing I like to do is to burn fragrances.

Oh, okay. I find that helps me to relax. Do we know anything about that? I would assume, I don't know any research into that, unfortunately, or anything like that. But I would assume that's part of doing something I enjoy. and looking after myself, which is really important. And because we are stressed, it doesn't mean that we can't do the things that we enjoy

and make a nice and enjoyable environment for us. And I think that plays into that self-care thing that we really need to do, especially when we're stressed. So, yeah, I think at the end of the day, when you are stressed, you need to try and do things that you find enjoyable. I think that's really important.

Another thing that I picked up during the pandemic when everyone was feeling stressed was journaling. I found that really helped me. Yeah, I think like you're saying, some people find journaling a really, really nice reflective tool. And this is when you might write down, using pen and paper or on your phone, for example. You might write down your thoughts and your feelings. It's a really nice way to relieve stress. It can make you a little bit more self-aware of the situation that's made you stress. for example, and that can make you understand the cause of it so that you can catch yourself

next time it's happening and try to deal with that stress a little bit easier. There's other forms of journaling like writing down positives or situations rather than trying focusing on the negatives. You can also write down things that you're grateful for and thankful for. That's really, really helpful. And it can also make it a little bit easier to organize your thoughts. So everybody knows when they're stressed, you know, they can be quite overwhelmed by the stressful thoughts. And so it's a nice way of organising your thoughts so you can feel a little bit less overwhelmed, hopefully.

Can talking therapy such as CBT help us with this? Yes, CBT is very widely prescribed, especially for depression and anxiety. But something like CBT is good in addressing negative thoughts that people may have, about themselves or specific situations that they found really challenging. And when people start thinking in such an unhelpful way and only focusing on the negatives of situations, then CBT can help people learn to challenge these unrealistic and unhelpful thoughts and hopefully try and replace them with some more accurate and realistic ones. So in psychology, there's a concept known as behavior change.

So what does that mean and how do we approach it? Yeah, behaviour change is an area in psychology where psychologists try to motivate people and give them the confidence to make changes. We all have goals and plans that we said for ourselves, for example, especially when it comes to New Year's resolutions. You know, maybe one of your goals is to go to the gym more often or follow a healthier diet. But that doesn't always happen. and people don't always follow through with their personal goals and plans, even though they know it's going to be good for them. And so what we try to do with behaviour change is try and motivate people.

And that could be in the case of stress as well. You know, we've just talked about some tips that can make people less stressed, like following a healthy diet, doing some relaxation exercises or physical activity. But some people still won't do those things. and it's really down to motivation. So if you wanted to motivate yourself a little bit more, there's a couple of tips I can give you. So a good starting point is thinking about why you want to get rid of stress.

And this can be a little bit obvious thinking about this, you know, but actually concentrate on things that would change in a positive way. For example, if I was less stressed, I would have more time and I would have more energy to do my hobbies or spend time with the people I love and do other things I enjoy. Thinking about this can be really motivating because hopefully it makes you want to get to that state so you can start working towards it. Another easy tip is thinking about strategies you've used in the past to overcome the stress.

You know, we said that stress is really common, but what's also really common is, that people deal with the stress in one way or another. And so thinking about how you've overcome that stress in the past is really useful. Think about the strategies you've used in the past. Maybe you have some personality strengths that you can use and see how you can use them again in the future. And this can really boost your confidence to tackle the problems and it can also make you feel a little bit more resilient.

The other thing is thinking about those good days. So when you're having a good day, you might be relatively stress-free. feeling a little bit happier, think about why that's the case, what's different with that day, and specifically think about what you are doing differently. And then by looking into that, by thinking about what you are doing differently specifically, that means that you can try and replicate that for other days too. So you can hopefully have those good days a little bit more frequently. So having said all this, if someone really isn't doing well, at what point should

they seek professional help. Yeah, I think as we all know, it's better to maintain your well-being rather than waiting for a crisis to happen and then react. And it's just like with any aspect of our health, it's better to prevent problems rather than try and cure them when they happen. But having said that, if you're finding that stress is really getting in the way of your well-being or you're not enjoying things as much anymore, you're not spending much time doing things you love, you're feeling stress quite often, then maybe that's a signal that you need professional help. Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Genius, brought to you from the team behind BBC Science Focus. That was psychologist and stress researcher Despina Jama.

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