This is the first part of our episode dedicated to Mental Health Awareness Week. 

In this episode, Bea talks to Dr. Mathias V. Schmidt, a Research Group Leader at the MPI of Psychiatry, about the science of stress. 

Mathias gives us an introduction to stress, how it is defined, the effect it has on our bodies, and how the stress response can be measured. We talk about the evolutionary importance and different types of stress, some that can be beneficial, as well as the traumatic and chronic stress that can arise when we are not in control of the situation. Matthias gives some examples of how stress can affect our system, leading to a higher risk for a number of metabolic, cardiovascular, as well as psychiatric diseases. 

Mathias also discusses the reasons behind the major differences in people’s resilience and sensitivity to stress, and talks about the mixture of biomarkers that are starting to be used to detect vulnerability to stress. 

Check out Dr. Schmidt’s Research Group: https://www.psych.mpg.de/1496026/schmidt_m 

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Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar 

Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus 

See you in a week, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy!