Beth Rush
Stress is your body protesting against how you use it. It indicates that you need to stop what you’re doing and pay attention to how it’s affecting you. There are different ways stress can accumulate and harm your health, whether you have been overworking or worrying about something too much.
When stressed, your body releases a chemical called cortisol to help you cope. The World Health Organization (WHO) found that a little bit of stress is good for you since it can be a protective signal to stop further damage. This can help you face challenges – but too much can cause long-term damage.
What Can Stress Do to Your Body?
A little stress can be helpful, but it can damage your health if allowed to accumulate in the body. You may not know how much it affects your daily life until you break down from it. Here are five long-term effects of stress on health.
1. Weight Gain and Loss
The buildup of stress hormones in the body can cause weight gain. Stress causes the body to release a chemical that increases your appetite. You may crave particularly sweet food, which over-consumption of, ultimately leads to weight gain. However, stress affects people’s appetites in different ways. Just as stress causes weight gain, for others it could lead to weight loss. Being stressed can make you lose your appetite or forget to eat.
2. Anxiety and Depression
Stress induces anxiety and depression. These long-term effects occur when triggers are gone but still seem present. For example, you may have been worried about completing a huge task but still feel that way when it’s done. Anxiety leads to depression. If feelings of anxiety are not treated for a long time, depression may set in.
3. Heart Disease
Chronic stress can lead to heart disease, which entails high blood pressure, heart attacks, and the risk of stroke. Research found that being stressed triggers your amygdala — the part of the brain that deals with stress — to signal your bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. As a result, your body becomes inflamed, which affects your heart due to poor blood flow.
4. Muscle Aches and Pain
Another effect of stress is muscle aches and pain. Your body may protest if you lift too much weight while exercising, leading to muscle aches and pain. Excessive weightlifting can also harm your joints. You can prevent this by learning proper techniques.
5. Loss of Sex Drive
The long-term effect of stress on the body can lead to a lack of interest in sexual activities. Excess cortisol interferes with your emotional and cognitive behaviours, causing a distraction in your daily life and ultimately reducing your desire. A loss of sex drive may lead to more stress due to you and your partner struggling with intimacy.
Symptoms of Stress
Listening to your body and preventing stress from damaging your health is crucial. Here are signs of pressure to look out for:
- Shortness of breath
- Panic attacks
- Indigestion
- Heartburn
- Distraction
- Headaches
- Fast heartbeat
- Zoning out
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Stomach issues such as constipation, nausea or acid reflux
What Causes Stress?
Stress can come in different forms — emotional, physical, or psychological. However, some of these factors may be inevitable. For example, most people get stressed by their jobs, either from trying to meet a deadline or dealing with an unpleasant co-worker.
Aside from work stress, other situations that may trigger stress in your daily life:
- Personal relationships: Being in a toxic relationship with your partner, family members, or neighbours may trigger stress.
- Parenting: You can get stressed from trying hard to raise your children well.
- Social isolation: Isolating yourself from friends and family could possibly lead to feelings of frustration, loneliness, boredom, stress, and anxiety.
- Financial problems: Figuring out how to pay bills or feeling guilty about spending too much may trigger stress in your daily life.
- Personality: Being an introvert may prevent you from talking about your challenges to others, and being an extrovert may make you commit to too many activities.
- Daily routine: Your daily activities may trigger stress, although you may not realize it. It’s easy to overlook everyday routines as causing issues because you expect to be used to them.
- School: Students may get stressed from school activities, such as multiple classes and assignments and trying to meet deadlines.
Simple Ways to Manage Stress
Stress is unavoidable but can be managed. One of the most common ways to deal with it is by exercising. You do not need to get to a gym to work out when stressed. There are simple exercises you can do at home or on the go. The most important thing is getting your body moving.
You may also manage stress by identifying its triggers. Figuring out the cause of a problem marks the beginning of its solution, so you may reduce anxiety by avoiding situations that cause it.
Practising breathing exercises can help you manage stress symptoms. Find a quiet and comfortable place, take a normal breath and then take deep breaths through your nose. You can choose to breathe out your mouth, depending on how you feel most comfortable.
Taking breaks when necessary can also help manage stress. Sometimes, you may not be aware of the need to rest when you begin to experience tension. Do not wait until you become exhausted or burned out. Take time off before you get to that stage.
If you can’t manage your stress personally, seek help from professionals to prevent it from having long-term effects on your health.
Pay Attention to Your Body
Everyone’s body reacts differently to stress. What causes pressure for you may not affect someone else. Pay attention to your personal triggers to prevent the long-term effects of stress on the body. After finding that out, you must find ways to manage it.
A little bit of stress is good because it pushes you to overcome challenges. However, when you notice chronic issues such as anxiety and depression, you must seek immediate attention from your healthcare provider.
The most important thing is to focus on your body and take steps to alleviate tension so you can feel your best.
Photo by Eugene Chystiakov on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Beth Rush
Beth is the Managing Editor and content manager at Body+Mind. She is a well-respected writer in the personal wellness space and shares knowledge on various topics related to mental health, nutrition, and holistic health. You can find Beth on Twitter @bodymindmag. Subscribe to Body+Mind for more posts by Beth Rush!