46 | Are we thinking about stress the wrong way?

About this episode

Nida Ali discusses the complex relationship between physiological and psychological stress and their impacts on the body.

Can we tease apart physiological and psychological stress? Stress in the mind and stress in the body are each comprised of a complex set of phenomena. Is it possible to experience one without the other? And how do they each impact the other functions of the body? Nida Ali joins the podcast to talk about her work trying to understand the relationship between the different types of stress and the immune system. We talk about the autonomic and endocrine stress responses, their relationship to the subjective experience of stress, and the long term impacts of both. We also chat about gender differences in both the physiological expression and the emotional experience of stress, what happens when you're overheating, and why it is your hands tremble when you're nervous. Guest: Nida Ali Cohost: Arianna Curioni To hear about Arianna's work, check out Episode 13

People in this episode

Host: Arianna Curioni

Guest: Nida Ali

Topics covered

• stress
• physiological stress
• psychological stress
• immune system
• gender differences
• autonomic response
• endocrine response

Keywords

• stress
• immune system
• physiological response
• psychological response
• gender differences
• endocrine system
• autonomic system
• nervousness
• overheating

More episodes of The Monkey Dance

• 45 | Human migration as a complex system · May 13, 2026 · 1h 13m
• A10 | Investigating systemic corruption · April 17, 2026 · 1h 1m
• A5 | The evolution of cooperation · March 27, 2026 · 1h 57m
• A6 | Can we hold AI accountable for its actions? · March 13, 2026 · 1h 29m
• 44 | Voting under autocracies · February 27, 2026 · 1h 21m
• 43 | What makes a war? · February 13, 2026 · 1h 16m