Watch out… This is How Stress Affects Your Body

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Stress impacts the psychological state of a human being negatively, but do you ever think about how it affects the physiological function of the body? And your health as a whole? In this article, I will explain to you briefly how stress may affect various body organs, even though you might not realize it. Stress symptoms are the culprit for that nagging headache, weak vitality, and frequent insomnia.

Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you get an idea of what you’re dealing with and the long term physiological effects that you might have to face if you ignore this problem.

Common symptoms of stress and anxiety:

  • Accelerated heart rate
  • Headache
  • Stiff neck or shoulders
  • Back pain
  • Reflex acceleration of respiration
  • Excessive sweating
  • Insomnia
  • Digestive disorders such as nausea and diarrhea.

 

Stress and tension may affect various body organs, including:

The immune system:

The stress hormone corticosteroid can curb the performance of the immune system, for example, lowering the number of lymphocytes (B and T cells) produced by the body to fight invading viruses and bacteria.

Heart:

Stress makes you more likely to develop high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, strokes, and hardening of the arteries, as it is linked to coronary artery disease that affects the arteries that supply blood to your heart muscle.

In addition to an increase in blood cholesterol levels and the clumping of cholesterol particles leading to clots in the blood and in the artery walls.

Muscle:

Often, people who experience muscle aches can easily determine the cause. This is because most cases of myalgia result from too much tension, stress, or physical activity. Constant stress and tension causes pain in the neck and back and can make rheumatic pain worse.

According to a recent study by Jay Winner, M.D., author of Stress Management Made Simple says “When stressed, your body produces hormones that increase muscle tension and pain sensitivity”.

 

Stomach:

The digestive system is completely sensitive to our psychological mood, especially for those who have digestive problems without any clear physical cause.

However, the short-term stomach problems are usually nausea, diarrhea, indigestion and acid reflux. In the long term, continuing stress can trigger chronic illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, heartburn, ulcers and can even worsen symptoms of Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Fertility:

More and more studies seem to emphasize a link between stress, depression, anxiety and infertility. Chronic stress can impact ovulation by altering signals to the hypothalamus, the center of the brain that coordinates some of the hormones that arouse the ovaries to release eggs monthly.

Women under constant stress are more likely to ovulate less regularly, which shrinks the window of fertility and making it harder to plan babymaking when they’re most fertile. Some research shows that stress may also impact testosterone levels and sperm production in men.

Respiratory system:

Stress can make breathing difficult. That’s not an issue for most people, but those with respiratory diseases such as asthma or emphysema, getting sufficient amounts of oxygen is much harder. Some research shows that chronic stress can trigger asthma attacks, in which the airway between the lungs and the nose constricts.

Also, stress can trigger rapid or deep breathing also known as hyperventilation causing a panic attack in someone prone to panic attacks and it may leave you feeling breathless.

 

Skin:

The body releases cortisol and other hormones in response to stress and low blood-glucose concentration. Which tells the sebaceous glands to produce more oil. And as you know, oily skin is more prone to acne flare-ups and other skin problems. In addition, stress can aggravate cases of psoriasis, eczema, rosacea and acne.

 

How stress impacts a person’s thoughts and feelings?

  • Living under constant pressure and stress can make you feel unstable and unable to handle even the simplest problems that weren’t an issue before.
  • Stress causes frustration and a tendency to lose one’s temper quickly. It appears in the form of bouts and in places that you’d feel less comfortable.
  • Feeling tired and exhausted all the time.
  • Difficulty concentrating while studying or at work.
  • Excessive anxiety even on the most trivial things.
  • Being pessimistic and always expecting bad things.

The emergence of these symptoms varies from the course of your life and your personality. As well the support you get from family and friends to help you overcome difficult obstacles. Keep in mind that the body responds to the psychological tensions and can be reflected on your health in the form of symptoms and chronic diseases.

So try as much as possible to maintain your mental health intact because it is the key to physical health and less stressful life.

 

Reference:

Yassine
A herbalist from Western Sahara, a long distance runner, and the founder of Grapefruit Dieter. What started as documenting hundreds of natural herbs originating from the Western Sahara desert turns into a passion of research, sharing the nomads secrets of medicine, and collaborating with researchers across the world.