Stress and the Brain

As parents, we try to protect our children from physical harm and making poor decisions. But what happens when what is harming our child is something invisible and intangible?

We want our children to be happy, but each generation seems to be exposed to greater amounts of stress at a younger and younger age. Things like fewer carefree recess periods at school, more cyberbullying, and the increased need to keep up with the Joneses are just a few things creating more stress in our children.

The child and adolescent brain goes through significant changes during development, first growing larger and then being “pruned back” to fine tune and streamline things, similar to how we allow rose bushes to grow and then we thin them out to keep the most desired and beneficial parts of the plant.

During this period of brain maturation, stress can lead to more psychological and physiological vulnerabilities, leading to neurobehavioral changes. Development is a crucial time that can affect the direction the brain will go, similar to how we can easily influence the direction a tree leans while growing, as opposed to changing the direction of a tree once it is fully grown.

When exposed to significant or long-term stress, the adolescent brain shows growth in areas that play roles in things like anxiety and depression, and shrinkage in other areas. Along with the structural volumetric changes going on in the brain, chemical/hormonal changes are occurring in the brain as well. Stress has been shown to increase hormonal responses, which children are more sensitive to compared to adults. This can lead to changes in blood sugar, weight, sleep pattern, etc., which can further weaken the defenses against stress.

The long-term effects of these changes are that it predisposes the child to develop depression, anxiety disorders and even psychotic symptoms as they grow older, and it can also eventually lead to immune system compromise. Stress is unavoidable, of course, and some children get exposed to stress that many of us can only imagine: separation from parents, witnessing violence and death, abuse, severe poverty and intractable medical issues. To learn more about helping your child manage stress grab the Generation Stress Issue. It provides an age- appropriate guide from pre-k to college for families.

To learn more about the developing brain grab the Complex Mind Issue of MASK The Magazine

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