This is what market volatility does to your health

Unless you’ve been under a rock or off on a desert island enjoying the last few weeks of summer, blissfully unaware of anything happening in the world, you have no doubt heard about the extreme stretch of volatility currently battering Wall Street and your investments.

In six of the last eight trading days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) has closed up or down more than 200 points. The broader stock market entered correction territory – down 10% - for the first time in four years. August delivered the worst monthly performance since May 2012.

Yahoo Finance wondered what kind of toll this level of volatility takes on our health.

For one thing, studies have found that trading stocks lights up the same part of the brain as sexual lust.

Associate Professor Brian Knutson of Stanford University found that the brain can cause investing mistakes, or at the very least, affect the decision-making process.

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In a recent study, Knutson found that “positive aroused feelings associated with anticipation of gain (e.g., “excitement”) may promote risk taking, whereas negative aroused feelings associated with anticipation of loss (e.g., “anxiety”) may promote risk aversion.”

Studies have also found that the brain activity of someone whose investments are making money is indistinguishable from that of someone who is high on cocaine or morphine, according to Jason Zweig, author of Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich.

Zweig also cites research that found the more frequently people were told they were losing money, the more active the brain’s “fear center” became, causing a surge of adrenaline and other stress hormones which have been found to "fuse" memories, making them more indelible.

So not only does losing money cause physical stress, the memory of the loss burns itself into your brain, affecting future decisions when it comes to investments. Remember THAT the next time you think about making a quick trade.

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