Toxic stress is when combined pressures on a developing or growing child become too much. It is when stressors – things like being unwell, or breathing polluted air, or being abused or shouted at – add up so that they undermine growth and healthy development, especially of the brain.
AuthorRobert Hughes
Robert Hughes is a Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He initially trained and practiced in clinical medicine (at Bristol University, and including a BSc in Global Health from UCL), and completed his Masters in Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health as a Kennedy Scholar.