Stress: The Science of Chilling Out
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Why does everyone feel stressed and what does the science say about its impact on the body?
Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and this is Science Versus, the show that pits facts against feeling frazzled.
Today on the show, stress. It's everywhere. We're all feeling it. It's like we're swimming in stress.
Does life just like stress anybody else out? I feel like every fing five minutes there is something going on and they'll have to put out a fire. I like want to throw in the towel. Like I just am like,
that's it. We're hearing more and more that stress isn't just bad for our mental health, but if we experience too much of it, it can screw with our whole body.
talking about sleep disruptions, headaches and muscle tension, digestive issues, low energy and fatigue.
No living organism was created to sustain these levels of chronic stress for an extended period of time.
But don't stress because online People say they have the solution, the thing to chill us out. So one thing that's blowing up right now are these devices that can stimulate a very specific place on our body. Holy crap. Hmm.
Nice honestly.
Oh yeah. They're not selling vibrators, although maybe that could work. This is a Vegas nerve stimulator. It is all over the internet, and it is just the latest in a long line of these tips and tricks that people say can relieve our stress. They're telling us to buy a cold plunge tank, to use a sauna, or even sign up for a breathing class.
Inhale. This time we're gonna let out a sigh. Mm-hmm.
So today we are gonna inhale the science of stress and exhale a podcast. We're gonna find out how bad is stress really? What is it doing to our bodies? And what are the science-approved ways to de-stress and regulate our nervous system? When it comes to stress, a lot of us are ready to throw in the towel. But then there's science.
Yeah.
Science versus stress is coming up just after the break.
Welcome back. Today on the show we are looking into the science on stress. I am super excited to get to know the science here. And the only person who could tell it to us is the incredibly stressed out. Senior produce uh. Merrill Horn.
Yep. Um I could definitely use some science on stress, so I was excited to dive into.
I was joking. I was joking. How are your stress levels right now?
Th they're like terrible like everybody's. So yeah. I definitely wanted to know like what actually works and how how bad is this really? 'Cause I had heard that it's like, you know, on top of just feeling like crap, it's also gonna destroy my body to be stressed out. So I wanted to see like what is the evidence there.
Yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Cause the the the word on the street is definitely every time we feel stressed, every time your heart rate elevates just a little. You gotta regulate, chill yourself out, go jump in some cold body of water.
Mm-hmm.
Ферс кіне із да тру із ол. stress really that bad for us.
So yeah, I I started diving in and right away I came across some stuff that was pretty surprising. And so like there was a study done by this guy.
My name is Mark Seary. I'm a professor in the psychology department at the University of Buffalo.
And so let me tell you about what Mark did. Yeah. Um so he wanted to see how living through like really stressful life events affects our mental health. Like how much does being exposed to hard stuff take a toll on us mentally?
Great.
And you know, lucky for him, he had access to this really amazing data set to help answer this. So They asked about 2,000 people about all these really stressful things that had happened to them over their lives.
Serious illness or injury to oneself or a loved one, exposure to combat, being divorced yourself, your parents being divorced, death of a loved one.
Pretty terrible things.
It terrible, absolutely, yes. Major negative life events.
And then they gave people a checklist. So it had 37 of these things and people could check off what's happened to them. And then they also asked them about their mental health. Um, things like life satisfaction, symptoms of depression and anxiety. And then they looked to see whose mental health was worse.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why does everyone feel stressed and what does the science say about its impact on the body?
0:00–6:51
2
Is chronic stress truly harmful or can it be beneficial in small doses?
6:51–14:31
3
How does the “adversity‑resilience” study show that some stress builds mental toughness?
14:31–21:22
4
What role do the vagus nerves play in calming the body after a stress response?
21:22–28:07
5
Can simple breathing techniques naturally stimulate the vagus nerve and lower stress?
28:07–35:41
6
Do commercial vagus‑nerve stimulators actually work for stress relief?
35:41–37:48