Cortisol, long-term stress (versus “one and done”) and brain architecture

On Saturday, at a wedding, talking – as you do – about cortisol levels in people in long-term stressful situations and brain architecture. Pushback from a none-too-bright ideologue (no, seriously) who tried to evade questions about their position/experience (always a sign, that), and had some, ah, odd, ideas about how fear and negative stimuli work (or ‘should’ work).

Anyhoos, thought I’d look up the latest research.

And my, there is a lot. Two that look good –

de Kloet, E. R., & Joëls, M. (2024). The cortisol switch between vulnerability and resilience. Molecular Psychiatry, 29(1), 20-34.

Sultana, O. F., Bandaru, M., Islam, M. A., & Reddy, P. H. (2024). Unraveling the complexity of human brain: Structure, function in healthy and disease states. Ageing Research Reviews, 100, 102414.