Weekly Review: Stressed Brains Become Politically Radical, Light to Remove Stress, Mindfulness Protects Against Digital Work Stress
A round up of recently published research on the brain and behaviour
There is a lot of work on the brain and stress, it is important but one piece of research just out really caught my eye - that of stressed out brains and political radicalism. Umm worrying - but on the good news side there are also a bunch of new potential therapies for stress and depression that include novel things such as light.
But let’s start with that dramatic assertion that stressed-out brains become politically radical.
Politically Radicalised Brains
In the current political climate it is interesting to explore some of the roots of various forms of radicalism. A group of researchers from Hungary and France (Dezső Németh is the lead author) have just published a paper outlining their hypothesis on what they call Threat-based Neural Switch Theory.
So this is only a hypothesis at the moment but is based on solid evidence of how the brain works and various mechanisms in the brain, psychology and society.
The basis is that stress, and particularly threat, alters information processing in the brain. Something we have know - for almost forever. In fact when I first got into neuroscience and started learning of the mechanisms, one of my first ideas was to write a book on how politicians aim to hijack your brain’s threat and fear mechanisms.
Basically what this group of researchers say is that threat and stress shifts the brain’s processing form goal-directed, declarative processes towards simpler habits and statistical learning. Basically that means we prefer simpler, habitual, and intuitive, solutions, often supported by primitive instincts I should add, such as “us vs. them” principles. Yes, we become more primitive and hence also more radical.
Though these correlations have been noted previously and some work done on this and political brains, as I have reported on previously, this groups aims to research cause and effect - I can’t wait to see the results: the sooner the better!
The above also explains why those in more desperate situations are also more radical or as prosperity decreases so radicalisation seems to increase. However, another down side of stressed brain cells is new research into brain degeneration and stressed brains cells.
Stressed Brain Cells as the Root Cause of Neurodegenerative Disease
Stress is bad but also a natural response. I tend to say that stress in doses is not a bad thing (it can actually be a good thing as in sports development) but constant stress without downtime is what causes damage.
In new research published by Diane Haakonsen et al. of the University of California, Berkeley, they point to what may be a misunderstood process in neurodegenerative diseases. In many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s clumps of proteins build up and this cause dysfunction and brain cell death, or at least so it was thought.
Though this is what happens, it is not the accumulation of proteins into clumps that causes brain death - it is the stress response in the brain cells that remains switched on that cause the cell death. So basically the cell burns itself out - to test this the researchers delivered a drug to turn off stress responses in brain cells and this indeed stopped this cell death.
This is a big step forward in understanding a bunch of neurodegenerative diseases - of course those protein clumps trigger this process but understanding that cell death has another cause is very important.
Hopefully new treatments for some of these disease on the horizon.
From stressed brain cells to new treatment of stress brains which has used light.
Low Intensity Light Fights Chronic Stress
This research into what is known as photobimodulation you may find fascinating and exciting. What’s more it also focuses on the brain-gut axis.
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