Stress is responsible for most health problems. Experts say that stress breaks down the immune system, leaving individuals more susceptible to catching communicable diseases, such as cold and flu more often.
Everyone experiences stress from time to time because modern life is full of hassles, deadlines and demands. For many people, stress is so commonplace that it has become a way of life. In small doses, stress motivates and helps to perform under pressure. But prolonged stress is detrimental to health, affecting physical or mental functioning.
Truth is, stress, irrespective of its cause, lowers body immunity, thus leading to sickness. Stressful situations such as emotional turbulences and work-related monotony and boredom can lead to hormonal fluctuations.
The hormone cortisol, when released in greater amounts in times of stress, does not merely provide the body with a burst of energy, it also helps to suppress the body’s immune response to infections like the flu, keeping inflammation responses like coughing, sneezing and fevers in check.
What is more, stress affects immunity in ways related to stress type and duration. Researchers in the 2004 edition of Psychological Bulletin, aside stating that stress alters immunity, found out that short-term stress actually “revs up” the immune system, but long-term or chronic stress causes too much wear and tear, and the system breaks down. Also, they indicated that the immune systems of people who are older or already sick are more prone to stress-related change.
Duration of stress is equally important. The longer the stress, the more the immune system shifts from potentially adaptive changes (such as those in the acute “fight or flight” response) to potentially detrimental changes, at first at the cell level and then in broader immune function.
Yet, stress has widespread effects on all the body’s major systems and organs: frequent headaches, interruption of sleep habits, increased risk of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety disorders, weight gain due to stress- induced fatigue, lower desire for sex and raised blood pressure to dangerously high levels. It can also contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process.
Brazilian researchers have linked elevated stress to both depression and a suppressed immune system, and they have suggested that chronic stress may contribute to the development of certain forms of cancer. Stress can cause irritable bowel and other digestive disorders, such as ulcers.
Stress hormones actually shut down the digestive processes, causing a disruption in that system that can lead to variety of digestive discomforts.
Sudden heart attacks most poignantly demonstrate the interrelationship of stress, diet, and immunity as risk factors. Alone, any of this factors could increase the risk of coronary heart disease; together, they pose an even greater risk.
It’s important to learn how to recognise when your stress levels are out of control. Stress warning signs and symptoms include cognitive symptoms such as memory problems, inability to concentrate, moodiness and poor judgement; physical symptoms such as aches and pain, constipation, dizziness and frequent cold as well as behavioural symptoms such as procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities, nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing) and sleeping too much or too little. The most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it can creep up on you. You get used to it. It starts to feel familiar even normal.
Stress is part of life and it affects individuals in different ways depending on the personality of such a person. Stressful situations can take its toll on many organs of the body, including the heart. A stressed up person who is exposed to other risk factors like diabetes, bad cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking and lack of exercise is more vulnerable to developing a heart problem.
The “fight-or-flight” response of the body during times of stress floods the body with adrenaline and cortisol, which increases heart rate, redirects blood flow to the muscular system, releases fats into the bloodstream for use as energy, increases breathing rate, tenses muscles, and increases the blood’s clotting ability.
However, as body response to stress is the same, irrespective of the type and person, it is even worse when the stressor is persistent, as is the case in the working environment or when a person is experiencing financial hardship. But one’s responce to stress may be more important than the stress itself.
However, experts recommend minimising one’s stress level by getting enough sleep, eating balanced diet, increasing physical activity, maintaining a positive attitude to life, practising relaxation techniques such as mediation and deep breathing and fostering mutually supportive relationships.
Stress-hardy people have an optimistic attitude. They tend to embrace challenges, have a strong sense of humour, accept that change is a part of life and believe in a higher power or purpose.
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