The Cycle of Stress: From Individuals to the World and Back

Stress is a feeling of being worried, scared, or overwhelmed, caused by challenging situations or big life changes. Not all stress is bad, and some kinds of stress, like exercise, can even be good for us. However, when stress is severe or lasts a long time, it can harm our health. Severe stress causes inflammation, which is the body’s way of protecting itself. Inflammation helps the body heal, but long-lasting inflammation can lead to health problems. Stress can also affect the brain, making it hard to think clearly or make good decisions. In our work, we linked all these stress-related factors together (using math) to explain our hypothesis that stress can spread from person to person through our actions, words, and body language—and even over social media—until it affects whole societies and eventually the entire planet! This is a dangerous cycle that can lead to even more stress and inflammation, making problems worse. To break the cycle, we each need to focus on reducing stress in our own lives.