Fictitious thoughts generate chronic stress

• April 1, 2023

Stressed by events that still do not happen, but that we already "created" in our mind, could cause us a chronic stress , it states José Antonio Terrón , researcher at the Department of Pharmacology of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) National Polytechnic Institute (IPN)

Facts like: What will happen if I arrive late for an appointment, if I forget to call someone, pick up important material, etc. These are events that do not yet happen, but that could already be causing us stress , because we start to fly the imagination with negative ideas:

"Thinking this can cause fatigue, anxiety, stress, depression, learning problems, eating disorders or sleep, and even cardiovascular disorders, among other conditions," said the IPN expert.

Terrón, pointed out that many of the conditions that cause chronic stress they are the product of "mental films" in which we imagine situations of risk that cause an alteration of the biochemical response of the body.

The information, published in the newspaper The Journey, maintains that in a daily and natural way human beings have thousands of fictitious thoughts about things that can generate anguish and that do not come to be concreted, but the brain responds to our thoughts and raises the dose of adrenaline, raises the blood pressure , there is dilation of pupils, sweating and muscles of legs and arms are ready for attack or flight:

"Every day we face circumstances that can produce fear or anxiety, but if we continually have these thoughts, whether real or not, believe that at any moment the boss will come in and he can scold us, find himself in the subway with a person who does not like us, etc. All this feeds a constant condition of anxiety that the brain perceives as a high risk of real danger. "

The stress , as a physiological response, prepares our body to respond to emergency situations. The neurons They send messages to the body to provide it with energy and keep it in a state of alert, which affects neuronal circuits that use chemical substances such as serotonin , which can cause anxiety .

He explained that our thoughts have a physiological response that activates our alarm system. This causes the brain to demand an enormous amount of energy in situations, real or fictitious, that it perceives as a real danger, which has a high cost for the organism, causes diverse sufferings and alterations that prevent us from having a good quality of life .

In this sense, the specialist from Cinvestav and the IPN, said that the stress It is not a condition external to us, but a way in which we have decided to live, but that we can change, but for this we need to avoid, as much as possible, thoughts that unleash feelings of fear and insecurity. Have you had this type of stress? How has it affected you? Share your experience

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