In a world that appears to be becoming more and more divisive, there's one thing we can all agree on. As a society, we are stressed out. Whether it's financial pressures, family or work obligations, or even just finding time for yourself in a never-ending tornado of to-do lists, stress is everywhere and it's not going away.

We often talk about the physiology of stress and how it affects us physically and mentally, but in this episode of Your Complex Brain, we delve much deeper to talk about the science of stress - what's actually happening in our brain and our body when the stress response is activated, and how these insights could lead to new approaches and therapies for treating disease.

We’ll speak with internationally renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Jaideep Bains, about his research looking at how the brain processes, activates, and adapts to stress, and whether stress is contagious. We’ll also hear from clinical psychologist, Dr. Kathryn Curtis, about the power of mindfulness and mindful breathing to help decrease stress, and we’ll have a first-hand account of dealing with stress and burnout from Farrah Schwartz.

Featuring:
Dr. Jaideep Bains - Director of the Krembil Research Institute and a Senior Scientist with the Krembil Brain Institute at UHN. For the past two decades, Dr. Bains has led a successful research team at the University of Calgary, making many important discoveries that have provided insights into how the brain adapts to stress. 

Dr. Kathryn Curtis – a Clinical Psychologist at the Comprehensive Integrated Pain Program at UHN, where she provides psychological services to individuals living with chronic pain. Dr. Curtis’ research evaluates mind-body interventions, such as yoga and mindfulness, for populations experiencing chronic pain and mobility restrictions.

Farrah Schwartz - Manager of Patient Education and Engagement, at UHN. Farrah has worked in the patient education field for more than 15 years and regularly teaches and presents on the impact of health literacy on health outcomes and experience. After 15 years as a mother, Farrah still learns new things most days, and feels it is vitally important to talk about the challenges of parenting openly to build support and reduce the stigma of mother/parent burnout and stress.

Additional resources:
Dr. Jaideep Bains’ lab website
Dr. Jaideep Bains’ public talk – ‘Is My Stress Your Stress?’
Dr. Ja

The Your Complex Brain production team is Heather Sherman, Jessica Schmidt, Dr. Amy Ma, Kim Perry, Alley Wilson, Sara Yuan, Meagan Anderi, Liz Chapman, and Lorna Gilfedder.

The Krembil Brain Institute, part of University Health Network, in Toronto, is home to one of the world's largest and most comprehensive teams of physicians and scientists uniquely working hand-in-hand to prevent and confront problems of the brain and spine, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, chronic pain, brain cancer or concussion, in their lifetime. Through state-of-the-art patient care and advanced research, we are working relentlessly toward finding new treatments and cures.

Do you want to know more about the Krembil Brain Institute at UHN? Visit us at: uhn.ca/krembil

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] or message us on social media:
Instagram - @krembilresearch
Twitter - @KBI_UHN
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KrembilBrainInstitute

Thanks for listening!