How Chronic Stress Harms Your Body

Learn more about stress Chronic stress can literally rewire your brain and damage

your body at the cellular level. When you're constantly stressed, your body floods

with cortisol, which shrinks the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible

for memory and learning. Your blood pressure stays elevated, wearing down your arteries and increasing

heart attack risk. Stress also weakens your immune system, making you vulnerable to disease.

Even worse, it accelerates aging by shortening telomeres, the protective caps on your DNA.

Managing stress isn't optional; it's survival.