Your Brain Takes an Hour to Recover From Stress

Recoup and Recover: When something stressful happens in your day, your heart races, your muscles tense, your breathing quickens, and then — once the stressful moment passes — you might expect your brain to snap right back to normal. But new research suggests that recovery from stressful occurrences may take longer than we think.

The Study: Researchers from Kochi University of Technology in Japan studied 90 young adults after a two-minute cold-immersion stress test. Using MRI and EEG, they tracked physiological responses immediately afterward, then after 20, 60, and 80 minutes. The biggest differences in stress-adaptation brain activity emerged around the 60-minute mark. People who were better at adapting to stress showed reduced activity in the brain’s “salience network,” which helps detect threats, alongside increased activity in a neural network associated with rest and introspection.

Takeaway: Even if you’re good at processing stressful situations, it still takes your brain around an hour to recover physiologically. So after a tense meeting, difficult conversation, or other acute stressor, consider giving yourself some breathing room before jumping into the next demand.

Keep in Mind: This was a relatively small study of young adults using a controlled physical stressor, not everyday anxiety or chronic stress. More research is needed to know how broadly the findings apply.