Stress eats away at all of us at one point or another.

Nearly three-quarters of adults report feeling physical symptoms of stress within the past month, according to the American Psychological Association and while 62% of adults have tried to somehow reduce stress in the past five years, only 37% have had luck in actually doing so.

We know stress increases our chances of developing chronic illnesses like hypertension and cardiovascular disease, but surely it’s having an affect on our brains too.

Researchers have been unpacking some of the neurological effects of stress and their findings are fascinating. In the past year, research out of the University of California, Berkeley has demonstrated that chronic stress generates long-term changes in the brain that lead to anxiety and mood disorders.

According to research by Yale scientists, chronic stress leads to a loss of synaptic connections between brain cells, which could result in decreased brain mass in the prefrontal cortex–the part of your brain just behind the forehead that’s responsible for regulating behavior. In other words: Stress literally shrinks the size of your brain.