Show Notes
Growing up, many of us were taught to just stay calm and carry on - as if stress was all in the mind, with no real effect on the body. But chronic stress can change your brain, raise your risk of heart disease, and even shorten your life.
In this episode, we ask: what happens when a stress response built to last minutes never switches off?
Today, Professor Carmine Pariante, one of the world's leading researchers on stress, helps us understand what’s happening in your body during a stressful moment and why chronic stress disrupts sleep, appetite, and energy levels. Carmine also explains how worried you should be about cortisol, and whether "cortisol face" and "cortisol belly" are backed by evidence.
By the end, you’ll understand why stress can be so powerful, when it becomes harmful, and have some evidence-based ways to manage it.
Next time you reach for wine, your phone, or something sweet after a hard day, ask yourself: is this helping you cope, or helping you avoid how you feel?
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Timecodes
Intro
Should you be aiming for zero stress?
Inside your fight-or-flight response
Can stress actually cause a heart attack?
Why your stress response won't switch off
Why stress eating isn't a willpower problem
Why emotional stress feels physical
The earliest sign of chronic stress
There's no such thing as "it's all in your head"
Stress causes the same inflammation as a cold
The blunt truth about chronic stress
How stress clogs your arteries
Why chronic stress can steal your joy
What a brain scan reveals about chronic stress
Is "cortisol face" actually real?
Does the viral cortisol cocktail actually work?
Why control is the key to coping with stress
How singing for one hour lowered cortisol
Why exercise is such powerful stress relief
Foods with the strongest evidence against stress
Why alcohol doesn't actually relieve stress
Is your phone making your stress worse?
The first thing to do when stress overwhelms you
Why modern life never switches your stress off
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
The Appetite Reset by Dr Federica Amati
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
Good Mood Food (preorder) by Prof. Tim Spector
Free resources from ZOE
TheSmart Snacking Guide: How to feed your gut, fuel your day, and snack without guilt
The Hormone Harmony Guide: Tuning Your Body’s Internal Orchestra
Eating for Better Brain Health: Your brain-gut blueprint
Howto eat in 2026- Discover ZOE’s 8 nutrition principles for long-term health
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks
Mentioned in today's episode
Effectof anti-inflammatory treatment on depressive symptom severity, The American Journal of Psychiatry (2025)
Implementinga group singing intervention for depression, Frontiers in Medicine (2024)
TheRelationship between Diet and the Occurrence of Depressive Symptoms, Nutrients (2023)
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Episode transcripts are available here.