How does stress affect us?

Of course there are times when the stress response is still adaptive today. You need it in the face of physical danger or when participating in sports that require fast, rigorous muscle activity. But neither of these situations demands a constant or prolonged stress response.

Chronic Stress

Chronic or persistent stress can occur when the stressors of life are unrelenting, as they are during a major reorganization or downsizing at work, undergoing a messy divorce, or coping with a chronic or life-threatening illness.

Chronic stress also occurs when little stressors accumulate and you are unable to recuperate from any one of them. As long as the mind perceives a threat, the body remains aroused. If the stress response remains turned on, you can be increasing your chances of a stress-related disease.

Stress and disease

Researchers have been looking at the relationship between stress and disease for the last fifty years. They have observed that people suffering from stress-related disorders tend to show hyperactivity in a particular preferred system, such as skeletal-muscular, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal system. For example, the evidence shows that chronic stress can result in muscle tension and fatigue for some people. For others, it can contribute to stress hypertension, soreness, migraine headaches, upset stomach, ulcers, or chronic diarrhea, colds, and insomnia.

Almost every system in your body can be damaged by stress.

• Suppression of the reproduction system can cause amenorrhoea (cessation of menstruation) and failure to ovulate in women, impotency in men, and loss of libido in both.
• Stress-triggered changes in the lungs increase the symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions.
• Loss of insulin during the stress response may be a factor in the onset of adult diabetes.
• Stress suspends tissue repair and remodeling, which in turn causes decalcification of the bones, osteoporosis, and susceptibility to fractures.
• Inhibition of immune and inflammatory systems makes you more susceptible to colds and flu and can exacerbate some diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
• In addition, a prolonged stress response can worsen conditions such as arthritis, chronic pain, and diabetes.
• There is also some evidence that the continued release and depletion of epinephrine during a state of chronic stress can contribute to depression.

The relationship between chronic stress, disease, and aging

Aging experts are looking at the changing patterns of disease and the emergence of degenerative disorders. Over just a few generations, the threat of infectious diseases such a typhoid, pneumonia, and polio have been replaced with such modern plagues as cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, respiratory disorders such as asthma and emphysema, and a pervasive incidence of depression. As you age normally, you expect a natural slowing down of your body's functioning. But many of these mid-to late-life disorders are stress-sensitive diseases. Researchers and clinicians are each now asking how stress accelerates the aging process and what can be done to counteract this process.

Stress can affect you from all sides.

Emotionally, stress expresses itself through depression, fear, anxiety, anger, and lack of confidence, cynicism, and lack of humor.

Social signs of stress include loneliness, withdrawal, aggressiveness, phoniness, and rejection.

Intellectually, stress shows up as inability to concentrate, feeling apathetic or bored, lacking creativity, and difficulty making decisions.

Finally, stress can impact us spiritually by causing us to feel hopeless, guilty, desperate, empty, and lacking joy.

Pages relating to the topic of stress:

• Articles
  • Stressed Out? Relaaaax... With Hypnosis
• Stress Management
  • How does stress affect us?
  • Causes of Stress
  • Scientific Explanations
  • History of Stress

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