VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Taylor Hemness
As we begin this new week, our post-election coverage continues. Obviously last week was dominated by the news of Donald Trump’s big electoral victory to go back to the White House.
Whether you voted for him or not, a lot of stress can be tied to politics. I spoke with Dr. Kausik Si, a neuroscientist at the Stowers Institute here in Kansas City about the effect of long-time stress on the brain.
“When you have a long-term stress, I think some of those processes that allow us to coordinate, make a sense of the world become sort of disrupted,” Dr. Si said. “Then, even things that are not very stressful or mundane become suddenly stressful, and they get heightened.”
Another element to the stress you may feel from the election season is the fact that you only play a very small role in the outcome.
“It's not what you are doing, (it’s) what collectively we're doing,” Dr. Si told me. “And in that case stress actually comes from what the relationship or your expectation of what the group of people are doing. And actually, also the relief or happiness comes from the fact that it's not just your decision. A group of people decided the way you wanted things to be.”
So be on the lookout for potential stress effects on your brain. Dr. Si also reminded me that, as simple as it may sound, everyone’s brain is different, so your joy or your continued stress based on the results may be very different from someone else’s.
Dr. Si also reminded me that no matter your voting preference, there is value in the brain getting relief from the election season being over.
