RAB source entry #1-Leslie

My research question is: How does stress affect our health physically and mentally? 

My research question is how stress affects our health physically and mentally. This topic interests me because I personally get stressed out from work and school. I feel like this in general makes it hard for me to be calm and stay under control because whenever I feel stressed out, I get very moody. I started to give an attitude to everyone around me. When I’m like this usually I don’t end up talking to anyone, not even to my siblings. I already know that stress is a serious problem that can happen to anyone. I know that there are ways to overcome these feelings of stress. I know that being like this or feeling like this is not a good thing and can affect not just your body physically but also mentally. Some points that I plan to explore and find out more about are how we can manage our stress. What are the signs/feelings/emotions we have when we are under stress? What are the methods of relieving stress? 

Source entry #1:

Part 1: MLA citation

Colino, Stacey. “How Stress Can Damage Your Brain and Body.” Washington Post, 8 Sept. 2022. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/04/26/inner-workings-stress-how-it-affects-your-brain-body/. 

Part 2: Summary

In the feature article “How Stress Can Damage Your Brain and Body,” by Stacey Colino, she writes that stress can cause many problems in our body and brain without us realizing it , and there are ways to manage the stress we feel. According to Colino , INSERT BULLET POINTS. mentions some research made by Wendy Suzuki a professor of neural science and psychology at NYU who said that in the brain, the action of cortisol levels to reduce inflammation in the body can turn against you if your levels are too high making your immune system become suppressed that come with a long-lasting illness and that come with the disorder of in which a person has difficult recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event, that can interfere and damage the brains region that is associated primarily with memory which is critical for long term memory function. Colino mentions in the gastrointestinal system that, stress can decrease the slow emptying of the gut which can make you feel nauseated, bloated, or constipated, (when a person has difficulty with bowel movements) said Cindy Yoshida a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia health system in Charlottesville. The writer concludes with a quote from Ahmed Tawakol, co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center and director of nuclear cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, “If you exercise regularly, get good quality sleep and take steps to reduce or manage your stress, you can reduce stress activity in the brain, systemic inflammation (occurs when the immune system is constantly defending the body) and your risk of developing a disease of the heart or blood vessels. 

Part 3: Reflection

I agree with the information the author presents in the article. There are many things stress can do to us. But I think that for me to fully understand this topic I need to research more about the different systems in our body and their different functions associated with it. This topic of stress is something that I feel sometimes. I felt stressed out last year with filling out the college application. I found it hard to understand what to write about for my college essay and did not understand why the application was asking so many personal questions. There was also this deadline for the college application which I knew was very close. Since I am a first-generation college student in my family, they also found it hard to understand what I needed to fill out the application. I felt stressed out that I had to ask for help at my school with the application and from other family members who knew somewhat about this process. Thanks to them I didn’t have much trouble with it but there were times when I started to become worried if I was ever able to get accepted because of all the rumors circling at my school from the other seniors. Some questions that I have about what the author is saying is are these impacts on the body of stress are life-threatening or not. How does our flight or fight response work? Are there other ways to manage stress besides exercising regularly?  

Part 4: Rhetorical analysis

The author of the featured article, ¨How Stress Can Damage Your Brain and Body,¨is Stacey Colino. What I know about Colino is that they are a writer in Chevy Chase, MD which is (a town and unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland.) specializing in Health and Psychology and a co-author of Emotional Inflammation: Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your equilibrium during anxious times.” The organization or newspaper magazine source “Washington Post” is a reliable source because the Washington Post’s credibility fared relatively well in 2022, with a survey revealing that 48 percent of respondents believed the publication to be very or somewhat credible. The primary audience I would say for this article are the educators who are interested in learning more about this topic as well as the general audience. This article is to inform but also to educate us on what stress can do to our health. The author uses logos in this article by using facts from other researchers and scientists who are well-known in that area of study. Pathos assures that stress is a common thing to have once in a while, and ethos provides useful information to help prove their point of how stress affects the different parts of our body and how we can learn to manage stress.  

Part 5: Notable Quotables

“Long-term increases in cortisol also can damage the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which is essential for focused attention and executive function (cognitive processes that allow you to plan, organize, solve problems, engage in flexible thinking and control your impulses.)” (Colino)  

“Stress leads to changes in the gut microbiome, affecting the diversity of the bacteria there, and it affects gut barrier function in ways that increase leakiness of the gut.” (Colino) 

“You can also dial down your reactivity to stress by doing deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, yoga or aerobic exercise, which will help calm your body’s response to it” (Rick Fried, dermatologist and clinical psychologist at Yardley clinical associates and Yardley clinical research associates in Pennsylvania.)