We've all been irritated or worried about something at some point. It happened that we could not fall asleep for a long time, thinking about some thought. Every person is familiar with the experience of stress. But stress is not always a negative experience. He can be a helper. For example, when we need to speak publicly in front of a large audience, or if an athlete has a competition, then stress mobilizes our strength. But when a person experiences stress for a long time, it can subject the entire body to negative changes. In this article, I would like to draw attention to how long-term stress affects our brain. Chronic stress, or as it is also called distress, which occurs during constant overload or prolonged conflicts at work or in the family, affects the size, structure and functioning of the brain .Stress is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system. This is the interaction of the endocrine glands and adrenal glands. When our brain detects a stressful situation, it signals the body to become more active and synthesizes a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol puts our body in a state of high alert; according to nature’s plan, our ability to act, but not to think, increases. An example of this is panic, when a person can find himself in another place in a short time and not remember how he got there. Actions in a state of passion also fall into this category. Long-term exposure to cortisol harms the human brain by stimulating the development of connections in the amygdala of the brain in the fear center. As a result, increased anxiety - or a trivial situation begins to be perceived as dangerous. Along with a long-term increase in cortisol levels, neural connections in the hippocampus (the part of the brain responsible for learning, memory and control of emotions and behavior) are destroyed. A person becomes unbalanced, easily influenced by emotions, about such people one can say “weak-willed,” and, of course, memory suffers. The person talked on the phone, hung up and cannot remember what he said. The hippocampus also regulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, so when it weakens, hormonal control is disrupted. The result is vegetative-vascular dystonia or panic attacks, that is, out of the blue a person experiences a release of corticosteroid hormones. Moreover, an increased level of cortisol causes the destruction of synoptic connections between neurons and leads to a decrease in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. What does this mean? The fact is that the prefrontal part of the cerebral cortex is responsible for concentration, decision-making, reasoning and social interaction. And another important study: cortisol increases the sensitivity of the pleasure center to dopamine. And he, in turn, is responsible for the formation of a conditioned reflex. You did something, the brain released dopamine, and you feel pleasure. Dopamine seems to “tell” us “you did well, do the same next time.” It’s good when such reinforcement comes after completing work or acquiring a useful skill. But in conditions of imbalance, this can lead to various kinds of addictions. That is, against the background of prolonged stress, a person quickly becomes dependent on any psychologically active substances, people, things. There is a version that long-term stress can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. There is another interesting, but not very pleasant observation. At the ends of chromosomes there are telomeres: this is a protection that shortens with age. When telomeres run out, cells stop dividing and die. That is, telomeres directly affect aging and life expectancy. And it turns out that stress contributes to telomere shortening. The conclusion suggests itself. Stress contributes to the aging of the body. If you want to age quickly, stress more often. Well, seriously, 98% of stressful situations can be solved in the future. And if you look back into the past, you will confirm this. Awareness of this fact gives us the opportunity to calmly accept the situation and find a way out of it. Bottom line is: do you want.