This episode is sponsored by Newport Healthcare, providing results-driven treatment for teens and young adults ages 12 to 28, who are struggling with trauma, depression, anxiety, and co-occurring issues like eating disorders and substance abuse.

Newport's trauma-informed programs incorporate experiential activities like adventure therapy, mixed martial arts, dance, and zip lining because we know that moving the body benefits the mind and aids in healing mental health conditions.

Learn more at Newport Healthcare.com.

April is Stress Awareness Month, which this year seems more relevant than ever.

The American Psychological Association's most recent stress in America survey fielded in February and March

found record high levels of stress among Americans of all ages.

That stress was tied to inflation and economic uncertainty, global tensions

amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all compounded by two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 87% of respondents to the poll said that rising prices were a source of significant stress for them,

while 81% cited global uncertainty as a significant stressor. In recent decades, research has

found that stress can harm our physical as well as our mental health, through its complex

effects on our brain, body, and immune system. So how does stress get under

our skin to affect our health? What are the biological pathways through which this happens?

Do different types of stress affect us differently? Is it possible to measure stress objectively

and to figure out whether the level of stress we're under is high enough to harm our health.

And when we do feel stress, what are some strategies we can use to manage it and minimize its negative effects?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

that examines the links between psychological science

and everyday life.

I'm Kim Mills.

Our guest today is Dr. George Slavich, Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Stress

Assessment and Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studies the

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