As a rule, in fact, the body's ability to experience and react to acute stress is a positive and adaptive competence in a sometimes dangerous world.
Chronic stress is a definite threat to emotional and physical health.
It can lead to depression, suppress the autoimmune system and even impair normal intellectual functioning, making it a serious problem for harried students hoping to salvage the highest possible grade with a good performance on final exams. This was the message delivered to about 150 people during a stress management workshop sponsored by the Science Across the Curriculum program last week in UU-133. Diane Witt, assistant professor of psychology, and Gary Truce, professor of physical education, described how the body deals with acute and chronic stress and what can be done to restore balance when our minds and bodies are negatively affected by stress. Witt, whose research focuses on neuroendocrinology, spoke about how the brain affects behavior via hormones, while Truce, who has worked with Olympic and professional athletes on mind-body connections, focused on how adjustments in attitude and behavior can alter physiology and help alleviate adverse consequences of stress. During stressful situations or situations that are perceived as stressful, stress hormones are released, Witt said.