The Brain and Stress

Stress and Learning.

When we feel stressed, our adrenal glands release what is called “cortisol,” which the human body responds with when it faces danger. With this cortisol coursing through the body, it triggers a string of physical reactions including depression of the immune system, tensing of the large muscles, blood-clotting, and increasing blood pressure. These kinds of responses can lead to some serious trouble! Chronically high cortisol levels can even lead to death of brain cells in the hippocampus, which is a region of the brain that is critical to memory formation.

What else can stress do? Well, chronic stress has been found to impair a student’s ability to sort out what’s important and what’s not; thinking and memory are affected under stress; and the brain’s short-term memory and ability to form long-term memories are inhibited.

There are other problems as well. Chronic stress makes students more vulnerable to illness. These students have lower levels of an important antibody used in fighting infection, which may explain a vicious academic cycle: more stress equals more sickness, which equals poor health and missed school, which equals lower test scores.

A stressful environment, whether at home or at school, is linked to student failure. Crowded conditions, poor student relationships, and even lighting can matter. School stress has even been linked to vision problems. This, in turn, impairs academic achievement and self-esteem. Typically, a stressed child will constrict breathing and change how she/he focuses to adapt to the stress. This pattern will hurt learning because, under stress, the eyes become more attentive to peripheral areas as a natural way to spot predators first. This makes it nearly impossible to track across a page of print, staying focused on small areas of print.

So what about watching television, or sitting on the computer? Well, this may also be stressful on the eyes. It's tough on all ages, but for a different reasin when students are young. Their eyeballs are very soft and can get distorted by the continual near focusing, which is harder on the eyes than the more relaxed, distant vision. Many children spend up to five hours a day watching television, playing video games, or using a computer. As a result, adolescents and teenagers now need glasses years earlier than they used to.

So now you know. High levels of stress can have quite an adverse impact on student learning. What can we do about it? Well, this is a topic I will write about in a couple of sessions. Next time I will cover threats and learning, and will finish up this topic with what it all means and some practical suggestions for parents and educators alike. Have a nice night!