The secret to coping with stress - how to protect your brain and body, and feel calmer now | Prof Carmine Pariante

Growing up, many of us were taught to just stay calm and carry on - as if stress was all in the mind, with no real effect on the body. But chronic stress can change your brain, raise your risk of heart disease, and even shorten your life. 

In this episode, we ask: what happens when a stress response built to last minutes never switches off?

Today, Professor Carmine Pariante, one of the world's leading researchers on stress, helps us understand what’s happening in your body during a stressful moment and why chronic stress disrupts sleep, appetite, and energy levels. Carmine also explains how worried you should be about cortisol, and whether "cortisol face" and "cortisol belly" are backed by evidence.

By the end, you’ll understand why stress can be so powerful, when it becomes harmful, and have some evidence-based ways to manage it.

Next time you reach for wine, your phone, or something sweet after a hard day, ask yourself: is this helping you cope, or helping you avoid how you feel?

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Timecodes

00:00 Intro

01:10 Should you be aiming for zero stress?