The Pros and Cons of Ranting and Stress in General

The Pros and Cons of Ranting and Stress in General

   February 02, 2016       Anonymous

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I rant more often than many of my peers, which might not seem like a good thing. I might seem mentally unstable, but there is evidence that ranting may actually help let off steam when one is very stressed out. However, ranting should be limited to when felt as necessary or significantly helpful, as going overboard can increase your stress level as needed to empower your ranting. Short-term stress can be helpful, but in long-term, it

For one thing, chronic stress can shrink your brain size over time, as supported by TED-Ed video “How can chronic stress affect your brain?” 

In regards to your brain, stress can:

• increase activity in amygdala, creating positive feedback loop (which will be consistently alluded to during post): more stressed out you are, less control you have over stress, leading to more stress, and so it goes.
• disable a pivotal stress-controlling interaction between brain and adrenal glands (this connection is called hypothalamus pituitary adrenal [HPA] axis) by releasing cortisol: a chemical that is designed for instant action, which can interfere with many neural functions and brain structures, such as:
• It reduce size of your hippocampus, brain structure associated with storing short-term memory into long-term memory, as well as creating creation of new cells, causing memory loss. Since hippocampus is also involved in stress control and learning, being stressed due to pressure of academic endeavors or expectations set by your parents who yell at you for getting B can reduce your ability to meet these goals (makes sense, right?) AND its involvement in control of HPA axis means even less control and further anxiety.
• Cortisol can also cause your brain to shrink in size by contributing to loss of neural synaptic connections and shrinking of prefrontal cortex, which regulates concentration, desicions, judgment, and socialization. (This is another benefit to socialization, discussed in previous post.)
• Due to all of this brain damage, it can also lead to other serious mental conditions like depression and Alzheimer's disease, former to which I can relate; I have felt partially depressed every day since 6th grade, which, as you may remember, was my anti-social year.
• In fact, level of cortisol receptors developed along with and correlated to level of stress and other hormones, can even result in epigenetic changes, affecting which genes are expressed without mutations, which are inheritable.

Stress can also affect your body by:

• increased activity of chemicals such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (never called nor-adrenaline) in bloodstream results in:
• Epinephrine raises blood pressure, over time causing hypertension.
• Cortisol can alter function of inner lining of blood vessels, a prerequisite to atherosclerosis and buildup of cholesterol plaque.
• This combination increases chances of cardiac arrest and strokes.
• the brain turning on autonomic nervous system (ANS) to communicate with enteric/intestinal nervous system, which can disturb natural cyclical contractions of digestive system and therefore cause irritable bowel syndrome and increase acid sensitivity (which causes heartburn)
• possibly changing composition of natural digestive bacteria
• Cortisol can increase your appetite, as your fight-or-flight response includes burning more calories to fight or flee "danger" and gain more energy through energy-dense foods (junk food is usually craved).
• The fat made by this is stored as belly fat, which releases immune system chemicals called cytokines that can raise risk of chronic conditions (heart disease, insulin resistance/diabetes). These immune responders initially try to heal but in time will reduce immune capabilities.
• As far as appearance goes, stress can also cause acne and hair loss, as exemplified by my "first cousin once removed" (uncle).

So, back to my rant on ranting (or at least it was supposed to be)... TIP: Calm down; if you have mental capacity to achieve your goal, put it forth in installments. Do not try to do everything at once, as this will ruin your life. Also, positive emotions can decrease concentration of stress hormones --- it may be cliche to feel positive, but it is always a decent idea. Common remedies are exercise and meditation.

Therefore, I recommend ranting only when extremely stressed in order to:

• ward off mental anxiety and relieve minor grievances
• calm down and release a burst of stress hormones --- eustress hormones, to be precise
• make you think about issues that truly provoke you
• and simply to give you something to laugh about when you rant in front of your friends.

When done at right time, ranting can relieve stress and be a great humor device.

How stress affects your brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuyPuH9ojCE&index=2&list=PLJicmE8fK0Ei7nZRhCz2zjNgt-NYPUk1a

How stress affects your body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU&index=41&list=PLJicmE8fK0Ei7nZRhCz2zjNgt-NYPUk1a