How is the digital age transforming our response to stress?
Dr. Alexandra Crosswell
Humans are information-seeking beings at heart. But while technology has given us unprecedented access to the data we crave, it has created a deluge of side effects on our brains and bodies too. How are we adapting to information and stimulation overload?
Learn about this Garden Talk
Humans are information-seeking beings at heart. But while technology has given us unprecedented access to the data we crave, it has created a deluge of side effects on our brains and bodies too. How are we adapting to information and stimulation overload?
Dr. Alexandra Crosswell has been interested in the mind-body connection since working at the Duke Cancer Center as an undergraduate, and meeting patients that were convinced that a stressful event in their life like a divorce had caused their cancer. Alexandra was, and continues to be, fascinated by the question of whether it's really possible that our minds have power over our cells. She has spent 15 years as a psychological scientist studying the effects of stress on biological health and well-being, and is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF in the US.
Alexandra joins us in The Garden to explore the effect of our always-on culture on our brains and bodies, and why so many people feel like they're on perpetual high-alert.
Talk outline
50 minutes
30 minute talk
20 minute Member Q&A
Alexandra is fascinated by the mind-body connection, and if it's really possible that our minds have power over our cells. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF in the US.
Stress & the Body Collection
Stress. Your heart races, you feel overwhelmed, you may get dizzy or hot or sweaty. At some point in our lives we have all experienced that feeling, but what is actually happening to our bodies from a scientific perspective when our minds are under stress?Meditation - training your attention and awareness to reach a calm and stable state - is an ancient practice found all over the world and used in the modern day to manage stress. What's going on in your brain when you achieve this level of focus?
Stress starts in the mind, but it can take an enormous toll on the body too. Left unchecked, it can even prove fatal. What is stress, from a scientific perspective, and how does it wreak havoc on our bodies when we're in a state of burnout?
Humans are information-seeking beings at heart. But while technology has given us unprecedented access to the data we crave, it has created a deluge of side effects on our brains and bodies too. How are we adapting to information and stimulation overload?
