Effects of not managing stress

Physical Effects of Stress on the Body

In this Article

Stress affects us all. You may notice symptoms of stress when disciplining your kids, during busy times at work, when managing your finances, or when coping with a challenging relationship. Stress is everywhere. And while a little stress is OK -- some stress is actually beneficial -- too much stress can wear you down and make you sick, both mentally and physically.

The first step to controlling stress is to know the symptoms of stress. But recognizing stress symptoms may be harder than you think. Most of us are so used to being stressed, we often don't know we are stressed until we are at the breaking point.

What Is Stress?

Stress is the body's reaction to harmful situations -- whether they’re real or perceived. When you feel threatened, a chemical reaction occurs in your body that allows you to act in a way to prevent injury. This reaction is known as "fight-or-flight” or the stress response. During the stress response, your heart rate increases, breathing quickens, muscles tighten, and blood pressure rises. You’ve gotten ready to act. It is how you protect yourself.

Stress means different things to different people. What causes stress in one person may be of little concern to another. Some people are better able to handle stress than others. And, not all stress is bad. In small doses, stress can help you accomplish tasks and prevent you from getting hurt. For example, stress is what gets you to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of you. That's a good thing.

Our bodies are designed to handle small doses of stress. But, we are not equipped to handle long-term, chronic stress without ill consequences.

What Are the Symptoms of Stress?

Stress can affect all parts of your life, including your emotions, behaviors, thinking ability, and physical health. No part of the body is immune. But, because people handle stress differently, symptoms of stress can vary. Symptoms can be vague and may be the same as those caused by medical conditions. So it is important to discuss them with your doctor. You may have any of the following symptoms of stress.

Emotional symptoms of stress include:

Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody
Feeling overwhelmed, as if you are losing control or need to take control
Having a hard time relaxing and quieting your mind
Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), and feeling lonely, worthless, and depressed
Avoiding others

Physical symptoms of stress include:

Low energy
Headaches
Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea
Aches, pains, and tense muscles
Chest pain and rapid heartbeat
Insomnia
Frequent colds and infections
Loss of sexual desire and/or ability
Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ears, and cold or sweaty hands and feet
Dry mouth and a hard time swallowing
Clenched jaw and grinding teeth

Cognitive symptoms of stress include:

Constant worrying
Racing thoughts
Forgetfulness and disorganization
Inability to focus
Poor judgment
Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side

Behavioral symptoms of stress include:

Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much
Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
More use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes
Having more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing

What Are the Consequences of Long-Term Stress?

A little stress every now and then is not something to be concerned about. But ongoing, chronic stress can cause or worsen many serious health problems, including:

Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders
Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and strokes
Obesity and other eating disorders
Menstrual problems
Sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in men and women
Skin and hair problems, such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss
Gastrointestinal problems, such as GERD, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, and irritable colon

Help Is Available for Stress

Stress is a part of life. What matters most is how you handle it. The best thing you can do to prevent stress overload and the health consequences that come with it is to know your stress symptoms.

If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed by stress, talk to your doctor. Many symptoms of stress can also be signs of other health problems. Your doctor can evaluate your symptoms and rule out other conditions. If stress is to blame, your doctor can recommend a therapist or counselor to help you better handle your stress.

Photo Credit: Prostock-Studio / Getty Images

SOURCES:

Department of Health and Human Services: "Stress and Your Health."

American Institute of Stress: "Effects of Stress."

Helpguide.org: "Understanding Stress."

The Side Effects of Stress

Dealing with stress can be hard on one’s mental and physical well-being. In this article, learn more about how stress can affect and even damage the body.

Effects on the Body: Physically, Mentally, and Behaviorally

Even though stress is often associated with an emotional or mental feeling, it can take a toll on the body physically. Stress can cause headaches, muscle pain, chest pain, or stomach pain (which can often lead to other gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea or constipation). It also can impair sleeping, sex drives, and fatigue. If stress is not managed appropriately, it can lead to long-term physical damage such as chronic migraines, hair loss, muscle disorders, and even respiratory or cardiac diseases (American Physiological Association, 2018). Stress can also impact your mental state and moods. When untreated, stress can increase anxiety and depression, deter motivation and focus, and continue to spiral the mind into a state of feeling overwhelmed. Restlessness and feeling more irritable or angry are also other common side effects of stress. Long-term effects of mental stress include insomnia, developing an anxiety disorder, and severe depression (The American Institute of Stress, 2020).

Someone dealing with untreated stress may develop uncharacteristic behaviors. This can look like frequent angry outbursts, social withdrawal, or increasing alcohol or tobacco use. These behavioral changes can also lead to irreparable damage if not managed appropriately. For example, increased alcohol and tobacco use could lead to an addiction. These types of addictions could pose several implications to the body, including developing liver disease or cancer.

Types of Stress

The American Psychological Association groups stress into three categories: acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress. Acute stress can be defined as short-term stress, and it’s normal for everyone to experience it. For example, getting into a car accident or the nerves one gets before public speaking are common examples of acute stress. Some types of acute stress can be healthy (i.e. resolving a conflict), and happen every so often. However, when acute stress happens too frequently, it turns into episodic acute stress. This type of situational stress can lead to stress and anxiety disorders.

Chronic stress is defined as consistent stress over a long period of time, such as weeks or even months. Different stress factors like financial issues, troubles at work or school, or unhealthy relationships can lead to chronic stress.

Unfortunately, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, chronic stress can lead to serious health problems if not treated, including:

High blood pressure
Heart disease
Diabetes
Obesity
Depression or anxiety
Skin problems, such as acne or eczema
Menstrual problems: This can look like having irregular menstrual cycles, etc. (Nagma et al., 2015).

Helpful Resources

Asking for stress management help can be hard, especially if someone is already feeling overwhelmed by stress. Below are some helpful resources to help manage stress accordingly.

CDC’s Coping with Stress: https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/cope-with-stress/index.html
CDC’s Stress: https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/tools-resources/workplace-health/stress.html
WMMC’s Coping and Managing Stress Blog
Stress reduction and mindfulness apps: The Google Play and Apple App stores have several apps that help manage stress anxiety. Two applications we recommend include the MindShift app and the Calm app.

Early and immediate stress management is key to stress management. Be sure to talk to your primary care doctor about your symptoms and develop a stress management plan that’s right for you.

Work Cited:

American Psychological Association. (2018, November 1). Stress effects on the body. American Psychological Association. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Healthy ways to handle life’s stressors. American Psychological Association. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/tips
Hall-Flavin, D. K. (2021, September 14). Can stress make you lose your hair? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/expert-answers/stress-and-hair-loss/faq-20057820#:~:text=Three%20types%20of%20hair%20loss,combing%20or%20washing%20your%20hair.
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, March 24). How stress affects your body and behavior. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-anagement/in-depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987
Nagma, S., Kapoor, G., Bharti, R., Batra, A., Batra, A., Aggarwal, A., & Sablok, A. (2015, March 1). To Evaluate the Effect of Perceived Stress on Menstrual Function. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4413117/
Stress effects. The American Institute of Stress. (2020, June 16). Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.stress.org/stress-effects
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Stress and your health: Medlineplus medical encyclopedia. MedlinePlus. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://medlineplus. gov/ency/article/003211.htm

How to deal with stress

07/07/2019

The concept of "stress" is often understood as something traumatic and negative.

In this case, stress is the body's response to any stimulus coming from outside, which violates the usual stable state. That is, even any joyful event, such as the birth of a child, is also stressful.

All body systems, such as: nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine tend to be in a certain state that provides balance. If this balance is disturbed, the body systems strive to restore it as soon as possible. The psyche in this sense "works" in much the same way.

Speaking of stress, it is important to understand what events “create” a stressful situation, they are called stressors. Conventionally, all these events can be divided into "big" and "small". For example:

Death and divorce - "big" stressors
Sleepless nights, feelings of loneliness, financial difficulties, disturbing news, having to do many tasks with limited time - "small" stressors

"small" stressors a person has to deal with every day, and they are only a unit of the avalanche that accumulates day by day. For well-being, this is much worse than one "big" stressor.

In psychology, there is a concept "stress scale" , where each stressor can be evaluated as a percentage. For example, if the death of a loved one is estimated at 100% on a stress scale, then any other stressor also has its own assessment (let's take into consideration the situation when a person gets a new job). For employment, we need to: collect the necessary documents (about 40%), undergo a medical examination (about 60%), deal with our duties “on the spot” (about 50%), get to know colleagues (about 30%), build a new route from at home before work (about 20%), these events occur in a short period of time, in total we get 200% stress in a week. Therefore, here we say that the complexity of overcoming stress with many "small" events is higher than with one "big" one. It is also important to take into account the attitude of a person to this particular event, the same move can be perceived by someone not as stress, but as an ordinary life situation, for another, a broken nail is a serious stress.

All signs of stress can be divided into areas of their manifestation:

psychophysiological;
emotional;
behavioral.

Psychophysiological stress primarily manifests itself in muscle tension, trembling and nervous tics, spasms and associated pain in the chest, abdomen, back, neck, dizziness, high blood pressure, increased heart rate, rapid breathing, autonomic manifestations in the form dry mouth or throat, excessive sweating.

On an emotional level, "most people experience stress as feelings of restlessness or irritability, irritability, anger and hostility, unusual aggressiveness, inability to concentrate." There may also be a feeling of loss of control over oneself and the situation, causing feelings of helplessness or hopelessness, fear and panic.

At the behavioral level, the impact of stress can manifest itself in the fact that a person, in order to get away from it, begins to abuse alcohol, smoke heavily, eat uncontrollably, lose interest in his appearance, constantly rush in an effort to be in time somewhere, search for the guilty, or, on the contrary, it falls into inaction and apathy.

Of course, it is undeniable that in some cases, stress can have a positive effect on a person's performance. For example, in certain types of creative activity, as well as in sports, a person experiences "a state of psycho-emotional stress that accompanies the activity itself and causes specific sensations: from cheerfulness to delight."

In certain cases, a person may even experience a feeling of euphoria, which is a consequence of the action of the hormone serotonin, the active release of which by the adrenal cortex is the most important psychophysiological reaction to stress. This hormone can also enhance feelings of optimism, the feeling that a person is “knee-deep”. The danger is that this state can give rise to a sense of self-perfection, which often leads to failure.

The following psycho-emotional problems are negative consequences of stress:

stress makes it difficult to consider several alternatives, a person demonstrates rigidity in behavior and thinking;
stress enhances the black and white perception of the world, nuance is impossible and inadequate response appears;
stress causes a prolonged state of fatigue, which leads to increased irritability, paranoid reactions, increased suspicion, hostility and increased defensive reactions;
stress increases the limitation of time perspective and ignorance of future consequences;
stress accelerates the decline in the sense of responsibility for the outcome of a decision.

Because of the impact stressors have on daily life, it is important to understand how to deal with them

Distribute tasks

Competent distribution of tasks for a day or a week significantly "unloads the brain", and does not put it in a rigid, time-limited framework. Thus, if you are waiting for a time-consuming and time-consuming work that is valuable to you and to the quality of the work, allocate about an hour a day for it than be immersed in this activity for days.

Throw out emotions

When a stressful situation arises, it is important sometimes (if appropriate) to give yourself time and permission to act out your emotions. "Closing" in oneself can provoke more serious consequences, such as psychosomatic or neurosis-like reactions.

Use breathing techniques

Sometimes it is important to mobilize forces for other tasks. Thus, it is necessary to bring the autonomic nervous system into a state of balance. In this situation, the following technique can be used: take 5-10 slow deep breaths, concentrating on your breath, feel how the air fills your lungs, how it penetrates into every cell of the body and how it leaves during exhalation. If you are familiar with breathing exercises, you can use some other simple exercises.

Move on

In a stressful situation, we also encounter a strong excitation of the central nervous system, if you feel that the body is “asking” for movement, do not restrain yourself, use your energy for what will be useful for you. You can send it to sports or cleaning the apartment.

Relax

It is important to be able to switch from a traumatic situation, do what you love, chat with friends, learn simple relaxation methods (for example, you can transfer yourself for a short time of 10-15 minutes to a place where you feel cozy and comfortable). And in case of a stressful situation, use the acquired skills.

Look for pluses in the current situation

As mentioned above, we often perceive a situation of stress as something negative. At the same time, in many negative situations you can find something positive. For example, a car broke down - "I'll take a walk", or a mistake was made at work - "I know how I can fix the situation", etc.

In any case, there are situations when a stressor accompanies us almost constantly, as, for example, now in a pandemic. This includes information in the regions, and quarantine measures, and information from other countries. There are situations where we can hardly change anything. As the saying goes, “you can’t change the situation, change your attitude towards it.” At the moment, many are at home and do not know what to do in this situation. We have a choice how to respond to it : we can choose to panic, we can deny the situation, or we can enjoy this time at home, which sometimes does not allow the modern rhythm of life, for example, to be with family, to do a general cleaning of the house , read a book that has been on the shelf for a long time, revisit your favorite series or try to learn a new hobby.

Of course, there are situations of acute stress in case of loss of loved ones, as in emergency situations, in which it is difficult to observe the above techniques. In this case, it is important to seek professional help.

In the city of Ryazan on the basis of GBU RO "Regional Clinical Hospital. N.N. Bazhenov" , a helpline 24-45-24 was founded, where you can get emergency psychological assistance, there is also an office of medical, social and psychological assistance on the basis of the dispensary department, where psychologists can advise you and offer psychoprophylactic work to prevent psychosomatic or neurotic disorders.

Remember, our psyche is a very delicate matter, do not hesitate to ask for help. Any disease is easier to prevent than to treat it for a long time. Take care of your mental health!

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Doctor, I'm stressed - how to deal with stress and is it useful?

It is worth remembering that everyone has such states, this is a normal part of life. However, in case of regular, chronic stress, you need to consult a specialist.

What can cause stress?

Stress can be caused by a variety of events - problems at school, at work, or traumatic events. Moreover, events can be not only negative, but also positive if they are associated with new experiences. Stress occurs when a person is forced to do something at the limit or beyond their capabilities.

What are the effects of stress?

Since stress affects the entire body, the consequences of a chronic condition can affect different systems:

Musculoskeletal system. Since muscles tighten when stressed, prolonged stress can lead to permanent tension. Because of this, for example, headache, pain in the lower back or upper limbs can occur.

Respiratory system. Typically, stress-related problems in this system occur in those who already have some kind of impairment. For example, acute traumatic stress can trigger an asthma attack. However, in healthy people, rapid breathing and hyperventilation can lead to a panic attack.

Cardiovascular system. Chronic stress can lead to problems with the heart and blood vessels, increase the likelihood of hypertension, stroke, heart attack.

Endocrine system. During stress, the production of hormones - glucocorticoids, including cortisol, increases. These hormones affect immune system function and inflammation processes. In the long term, stress can be linked to metabolic and immune disorders, depression, and chronic fatigue.

Gastrointestinal tract. Stress can lead to increased or decreased appetite, discomfort in the stomach and intestines, changes in the intestinal microbiota, the functioning of the nerves of the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system.

Nervous system. Chronic stress constantly activates certain parts of the nervous system, which affects all other organ systems.

Male reproductive system. Stress can affect hormone balance and lead to decreased libido, erectile dysfunction and even impotence.

Female reproductive system. Stress can cause menstrual irregularities and associated pain, decrease libido, affect fertility, pregnancy and postpartum adjustment, and exacerbate menopausal symptoms.

Is stress always bad?

A stressful situation activates the body's systems adapted to fight or escape from a threat. In such cases, the pulse quickens, breathing accelerates, muscles tighten, and the brain uses more oxygen and increases activity. This can help in a dangerous, life-threatening situation, and in a non-dangerous situation, increase motivation.

In addition, working to the limit often develops them, and a moderate level of stress can prepare a person for new difficulties and increase his resilience to them.

How do you know when it's time to see a specialist?

While stress can have more than just negative effects, it can also cause serious harm. Stress can become unhealthy if it is chronic or traumatic . If a person feels overwhelmed by stress, feels that he cannot cope with it or turn it in favor, he should turn to a psychologist or psychotherapist.

How do you deal with stress on your own?

1. Keep in touch with other people, be able to share feelings with them and get support

Try not to isolate yourself from society, but rather meet friends and discuss problems.

2. Walk and exercise

Even 15 minutes of exercise once a day is effective. Or you can go to the pool several times a week. The main thing is that you like this type of activity.

3. Get enough sleep

We understand that in modern realities it is extremely difficult, but you need to try. Each person needs a different amount of sleep. Some people need 6 hours, while others need 8-9 hours to feel fresh and rested.

4. Take time for yourself, do things that make you happy

Take a hot bubble bath, watch an interesting short film or an episode of your favorite TV series, read a book that you have been putting off for a long time. It is important to be able to switch between different activities.

5. Do progressive muscle relaxation exercises

Tighten your whole body for a few seconds and then relax. Do this several times, focusing on your sensations during the process of tension and relaxation.

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