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Story 4: Does Complaining Shrink Your Brain?
This post claims that complaining shrinks and damages the brain. Yikes! Find out if this is actually the case by fact-checking the article.
Investigate the Source
This article is from CNBC, a well-established news source, but the attention-grabbing language in the headline could instill shock or fear in its readers. It is important to stop and do some investigating before sharing.
Skim the article and find this part that suggests the claim is backed by research:
Stress from negativity shrinks your brain
A 1996 Stanford study suggests it’s time to stop. Complaining, or even being complained to, for 30 minutes or more can physically damage the brain.
Researchers used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and found “links between long-term stressful life experiences, long-term exposure to hormones produced during stress, and shrinking of the hippocampus,” the study’s authors wrote. (The hippocampus is the region of the brain involved in the formation of new memories and is also associated with learning and emotions.)
Trace Back to the Original
The article references a Stanford study about long-term stressful life experiences, claiming this research points to physical brain damage caused by complaining. But there is no quote or evidence included in the article to back this up. Trace back to the original Stanford study by clicking through the link in the article.
Since the summary of the study is fairly long, use the “find” command (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F on a Mac) to search for the word “complain.” What did the search come up with? The word cannot be found.
Read on to see that the researchers were studying people with PTSD who endured extremely stressful life events. Does the study say anything about how this research might apply to everyday situations like complaining?
This excerpt from the Stanford study answers the above question:
Sapolsky's advice to people leading everyday, stressful lives is not to strain themselves by worrying about stress too much.
"This fits what we know about animals," Sapolsky said. "It suggests that massive, massive amounts of stress...may have an effect on this part of the brain in humans."
"But there's absolutely no evidence that ordinary stressors cause this much damage."
The study was misrepresented. In order to get people to click on the news article and read it, the writer used exaggerated language in the headline. This is known as “clickbait”—a tactic to be aware of when navigating the world of online news.