Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Stress and the brain: individual variability and the inverted-U

Nature Neuroscience volume 18, pages 1344–1346 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

It is a truism that the brain influences the body and that peripheral physiology influences the brain. Never is this clearer than during stress, where the subtlest emotions or the most abstract thoughts can initiate stress responses, with consequences throughout the body, and the endocrine transducers of stress alter cognition, affect and behavior. For a fervent materialist, few things in life bring more pleasure than contemplating the neurobiology of stress.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Conceptualization of the inverted-U in the context of the benefits and costs of stress.

References

  1. McEwen, B. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1353–1363 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Arnsten, A.F. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1376–1385 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sorrells, S.F. et al. Neuron 64, 33–39 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hodes, G. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1386–1393 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Tost, H. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1421–1431 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chatterji, S. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1364–1375 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Holon, N. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1405–1412 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Calhoon, G. & Tye, K. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1394–1404 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hariri, A.R. & Holmes, A. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 1347–1352 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Caspi, A. et al. Science 301, 386–389 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Diamond, D.M. et al. Hippocampus 2, 421–430 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. McEwen, B.S. & Sapolsky, R. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 5, 205–216 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Chrousos, G. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 5, 374–381 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Baldi, E. & Bucherelli, C. Nonlinearity Biol. Toxicol. Med. 3, 9–21 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Luksys, G. & Sandi, C. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 21, 502–508 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Prager, E. & Johnson, L. Sci. Signal. 2, re5 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Roozendaal, B. Psychoneuroendocrinology 25, 213–238 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Sapolsky, R.M., Romero, L. & Munck, A. Endocr. Rev. 21, 55–89 (2000).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Fiorillo, C.D., Tobler, P. & Schultz, W. Science 299, 1898–1902 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Russo, S.J. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 15, 1475–1484 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert M. Sapolsky is in the Departments of Biological Sciences, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.,

    Robert M Sapolsky

Authors
  1. Robert M Sapolsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert M Sapolsky.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sapolsky, R. Stress and the brain: individual variability and the inverted-U. Nat Neurosci 18, 1344–1346 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4109

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4109

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing