TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Madhumita Murgia: How stress affects your brain

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Are you sleeping rtseesllsy, feeling irritable or moody, forgetting little things, and fielneg overwhelmed and isolated? Don't worry. We've all been there. You're probably just stressed out. Stress isn't always a bad thing. It can be handy for a bsrut of extra energy and focus, like when you're playing a competitive sport, or have to speak in public. But when its continuous, the kind most of us face day in and day out, it actually bngeis to change your brain. Chronic stress, like being overworked or having arguments at home, can affect bairn size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes. srtess begins with something called the hypothalamus puttiraiy aradenl axis, a series of interactions between endocrine glands in the brain and on the kdieny, which controls your body's rociaetn to stress. When your brain detects a stressful situation, your HPA axis is itatnslny activated and releases a hornmoe called cortisol, which primes your body for intnsat action. But high levels of cortisol over long podries of time wreak havoc on your brain. For example, chronic stress increases the activity leevl and number of neural connections in the amygdala, your brain's fear center. And as levels of cortisol rise, electric signals in your hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning, mmeoiers, and stress control, deteriorate. The hippocampus also iinbihts the activity of the HPA axis, so when it weakens, so does your ailtbiy to corntol your stress. That's not all, though. Cortisol can literally cause your brain to shrink in size. Too much of it results in the loss of synaptic cnnintcooes between neurons and the sriknihng of your porternafl cortex, the part of your brain the regulates behaviors like concentration, decision-making, judgement, and social interaction. It also leads to fewer new brain cells being made in the hippocampus. This means chronic stress might make it harder for you to lrean and remember things, and also set the stage for more serious mental problems, like depression and eventually Alzheimer's disease. The effects of stress may filter right down to your brain's DNA. An experiment showed that the amount of nurturing a mother rat provides its noewrbn baby pyals a part in dnniemtrieg how that baby responds to stress later in life. The pups of nurturing moms turned out less sensitive to stress because their brains developed more cortisol receptors, which stick to cooirstl and dampen the stress response. The pups of negligent moms had the opposite ocuomte, and so became more sensitive to stress throughout life. These are considered epigenetic changes, meaning that they effect which genes are expressed without directly cnnhaigg the genetic code. And these changes can be reesrved if the moms are swapped. But there's a surprising result. The epigenetic changes caused by one single mother rat were passed down to many generations of rats after her. In other words, the reutsls of these actions were inheritable. It's not all bad news, though. There are many ways to reverse what cortisol does to your stressed brain. The most puwofrel weapons are exercise and meditation, which involves breathing delepy and being aware and focused on your surroundings. Both of these atitiviecs decrease your stress and increase the size of the hippocampus, thereby improving your mmoery. So don't feel defeated by the pressures of daily life. Get in control of your stress before it takes control of you.

Open Cloze

Are you sleeping __________, feeling irritable or moody, forgetting little things, and _______ overwhelmed and isolated? Don't worry. We've all been there. You're probably just stressed out. Stress isn't always a bad thing. It can be handy for a _____ of extra energy and focus, like when you're playing a competitive sport, or have to speak in public. But when its continuous, the kind most of us face day in and day out, it actually ______ to change your brain. Chronic stress, like being overworked or having arguments at home, can affect _____ size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes. ______ begins with something called the hypothalamus _________ _______ axis, a series of interactions between endocrine glands in the brain and on the ______, which controls your body's ________ to stress. When your brain detects a stressful situation, your HPA axis is _________ activated and releases a _______ called cortisol, which primes your body for _______ action. But high levels of cortisol over long _______ of time wreak havoc on your brain. For example, chronic stress increases the activity _____ and number of neural connections in the amygdala, your brain's fear center. And as levels of cortisol rise, electric signals in your hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning, ________, and stress control, deteriorate. The hippocampus also ________ the activity of the HPA axis, so when it weakens, so does your _______ to _______ your stress. That's not all, though. Cortisol can literally cause your brain to shrink in size. Too much of it results in the loss of synaptic ___________ between neurons and the _________ of your __________ cortex, the part of your brain the regulates behaviors like concentration, decision-making, judgement, and social interaction. It also leads to fewer new brain cells being made in the hippocampus. This means chronic stress might make it harder for you to _____ and remember things, and also set the stage for more serious mental problems, like depression and eventually Alzheimer's disease. The effects of stress may filter right down to your brain's DNA. An experiment showed that the amount of nurturing a mother rat provides its _______ baby _____ a part in ___________ how that baby responds to stress later in life. The pups of nurturing moms turned out less sensitive to stress because their brains developed more cortisol receptors, which stick to ________ and dampen the stress response. The pups of negligent moms had the opposite _______, and so became more sensitive to stress throughout life. These are considered epigenetic changes, meaning that they effect which genes are expressed without directly ________ the genetic code. And these changes can be ________ if the moms are swapped. But there's a surprising result. The epigenetic changes caused by one single mother rat were passed down to many generations of rats after her. In other words, the _______ of these actions were inheritable. It's not all bad news, though. There are many ways to reverse what cortisol does to your stressed brain. The most ________ weapons are exercise and meditation, which involves breathing ______ and being aware and focused on your surroundings. Both of these __________ decrease your stress and increase the size of the hippocampus, thereby improving your ______. So don't feel defeated by the pressures of daily life. Get in control of your stress before it takes control of you.

Solution

outcome
connections
burst
brain
ability
powerful
reaction
stress
memories
deeply
hormone
results
prefrontal
instant
inhibits
learn
memory
periods
shrinking
adrenal
control
activities
feeling
level
changing
reversed
cortisol
kidney
plays
newborn
instantly
restlessly
pituitary
determining
begins

Original Text

Are you sleeping restlessly, feeling irritable or moody, forgetting little things, and feeling overwhelmed and isolated? Don't worry. We've all been there. You're probably just stressed out. Stress isn't always a bad thing. It can be handy for a burst of extra energy and focus, like when you're playing a competitive sport, or have to speak in public. But when its continuous, the kind most of us face day in and day out, it actually begins to change your brain. Chronic stress, like being overworked or having arguments at home, can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes. Stress begins with something called the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis, a series of interactions between endocrine glands in the brain and on the kidney, which controls your body's reaction to stress. When your brain detects a stressful situation, your HPA axis is instantly activated and releases a hormone called cortisol, which primes your body for instant action. But high levels of cortisol over long periods of time wreak havoc on your brain. For example, chronic stress increases the activity level and number of neural connections in the amygdala, your brain's fear center. And as levels of cortisol rise, electric signals in your hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning, memories, and stress control, deteriorate. The hippocampus also inhibits the activity of the HPA axis, so when it weakens, so does your ability to control your stress. That's not all, though. Cortisol can literally cause your brain to shrink in size. Too much of it results in the loss of synaptic connections between neurons and the shrinking of your prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain the regulates behaviors like concentration, decision-making, judgement, and social interaction. It also leads to fewer new brain cells being made in the hippocampus. This means chronic stress might make it harder for you to learn and remember things, and also set the stage for more serious mental problems, like depression and eventually Alzheimer's disease. The effects of stress may filter right down to your brain's DNA. An experiment showed that the amount of nurturing a mother rat provides its newborn baby plays a part in determining how that baby responds to stress later in life. The pups of nurturing moms turned out less sensitive to stress because their brains developed more cortisol receptors, which stick to cortisol and dampen the stress response. The pups of negligent moms had the opposite outcome, and so became more sensitive to stress throughout life. These are considered epigenetic changes, meaning that they effect which genes are expressed without directly changing the genetic code. And these changes can be reversed if the moms are swapped. But there's a surprising result. The epigenetic changes caused by one single mother rat were passed down to many generations of rats after her. In other words, the results of these actions were inheritable. It's not all bad news, though. There are many ways to reverse what cortisol does to your stressed brain. The most powerful weapons are exercise and meditation, which involves breathing deeply and being aware and focused on your surroundings. Both of these activities decrease your stress and increase the size of the hippocampus, thereby improving your memory. So don't feel defeated by the pressures of daily life. Get in control of your stress before it takes control of you.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
chronic stress	2
mother rat	2

Important Words

ability
action
actions
activated
activities
activity
adrenal
affect
amount
amygdala
arguments
aware
axis
baby
bad
begins
behaviors
body
brain
brains
breathing
burst
called
caused
cells
center
change
changing
chronic
code
competitive
concentration
connections
considered
continuous
control
controls
cortex
cortisol
daily
dampen
day
decrease
deeply
defeated
depression
detects
deteriorate
determining
developed
disease
dna
effect
effects
electric
endocrine
energy
epigenetic
eventually
exercise
experiment
expressed
extra
face
fear
feel
feeling
filter
focus
focused
forgetting
functions
generations
genes
genetic
glands
handy
harder
havoc
high
hippocampus
home
hormone
hpa
hypothalamus
improving
increase
increases
inheritable
inhibits
instant
instantly
interaction
interactions
involves
irritable
isolated
judgement
kidney
kind
leads
learn
learning
level
levels
life
literally
long
loss
meaning
means
meditation
memories
memory
mental
moms
moody
mother
negligent
neural
neurons
newborn
news
number
nurturing
outcome
overwhelmed
overworked
part
passed
periods
pituitary
playing
plays
powerful
prefrontal
pressures
primes
problems
public
pups
rat
rats
reaction
receptors
regulates
releases
remember
responds
response
restlessly
result
results
reverse
reversed
rise
sensitive
series
set
showed
shrink
shrinking
signals
single
situation
size
sleeping
social
speak
sport
stage
stick
stress
stressed
stressful
structure
surprising
surroundings
swapped
synaptic
takes
time
turned
ways
weakens
weapons
words
worry
wreak