Stress is terrible for your mental health, but it can be even worse for your physical health. If you experience stress regularly, you may notice some other unexpected ailments happening too. Learn how stress affects your health and what you can do to avoid it.
Do You Know How Stress Affects Your Health?
Stress may not seem like that big of a deal at first. However, if you experience stress regularly, it can have a significant adverse effect on your mental and physical health. Why is stress so bad for your body, and what can you do about it? Learning how stress affects your health is the first step to finding a solution.
Why Does Stress Harm Your Body?
To understand the ways stress is harmful to your body, it’s helpful to know why your body experiences reactions to stress in the first place. Stress is an evolutionary response that occurs when your body perceives a threat to your well-being. In response to the danger, your body releases chemicals and hormones meant to help you escape it. In previous eras, this was a helpful tool for early humans to use to protect themselves. For example, if a large predator was stalking someone, their body would flood with adrenaline to give them the speed and strength they need to escape. Small doses of stress were crucial for avoiding predators and escaping dangerous situations.
However, in modern times, threats to our nervous systems look different. Instead of outrunning predators, we’re dealing with anxieties while engaging in a more sedentary lifestyle. As a result, hormones like cortisol and adrenaline build up in our bodies with nowhere to go. An excess of stress chemicals in the body can lead to all kinds of adverse mental and physical outcomes:
- Stress hormones tell your body to keep your stomach empty. Constant stress can lead to undereating, overeating, and even chronic stomach issues like acid reflux.
- Stress can make your body feel overwhelmed or quickly exhausted. Chronic stress can cause people to isolate themselves. It can also affect intimacy in relationships.
- Chronic stress can harm your attention span. It can leave people feeling scattered or confused or even cause them to struggle with memory and cognitive issues.
- Stress can make it impossible for your body to rest as much as it needs to. As a result, stress is disruptive to sleep and can lead to aches and muscle tension.
- The mental unrest caused by constant stress will have a negative effect on your mental health. Stress is linked to issues like anxiety, depression, and other emotional health problems.
How Can I Stop Stress from Harming Me?
Stress becomes harmful to your body when you experience too much of it. In order to make stress manageable, it’s a good idea to find some strategies that will help you process it:
- Exercise can help your body process stress hormones productively. Try and get some physical activity every day.
- Good sleep is essential to managing stress. Take steps to improve your sleep hygiene and get a healthy amount of rest.
- Expressing your emotions is a healthy way to deal with stress. Consider an outlet like journaling or talking your issues out with a friend.
- If managing stress on your own is too overwhelming, talk to your doctor or another medical professional.
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