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This week are we more prone to struggle with stress and if so, why?

I'm Greg Jackson and in today's episode of the naked scientist, you and I will be probing the state of our mental health.

I'll be stressing myself out to uncover how the human body responds to stress and why. We'll be seeing

whether having a gut feeling has anything to do with it and what we can all do to

unwind a little more. The Naked Scientists Podcast is powered by UKfast.co.uk. Stress. It's something we've all felt at some point in our lives, but there was an article that I read recently that really brought home how serious chronic stress can be.

At the 2014 Biennial Chess Olympiad in Norway,

not one but two competitors died, one during the match and the other was found dead a few hours later in his hotel room.

Why? Well, they think it was all to do with the extreme stress of the game.

And what's even more shocking is that this isn't an isolated experience.

Back in 2000, a Latvian chess champion had a fatal heart attack during a Finnish tournament.

That same year, another Latvian suffered the same fate whilst playing in Berlin.

More recently, one of Australia's leading players retired abruptly from chess, saying he'd been

warned by his doctors that the stress of top-level competition was causing him serious health

problems.

It got me thinking about what extreme stress can do

to all of us if left unchecked.

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