Stress affects all of us in different ways. We can have physical, psychological, emotional, or behavioral reactions to stress. However, the long-term effects of stress on the body are sometimes most damaging. It all begins in the brain. Our brains are hard-wired to detect possible threats. When we perceive a threat or a problem the cerebral cortex, responsible for thinking in our brain, activates the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis is made up of the three parts that control our responses to stress; the hypothalamus (in the brain), the pituitary (in the brain), and the … [Read more...]