Physical stress reaction

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."

Common Stress Reactions - A Self-Assessment

Disaster Resources Home | Emergency Mental Health Resources

View Adobe Acrobat Version | Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

Before the workshop begins, think about how you know you are experiencing stress and check no more than ten reactions you commonly have when under stress. This is for your personal use and will not be shared.

Behavioral:

Change in activity levels
Decreased efficiency and effectiveness
Difficulty communicating
Increased sense of humor/gallows humor
Irritability, outbursts of anger, frequent arguments
Inability to rest, relax, or let down
Change in eating habits
Change in sleep patterns
Change in job performance
Periods of crying
Increased use of tobacco, alcohol, drugs, sugar or caffeine
Hyper-vigilance about safety or the surrounding environment
Avoidance of activities or places that trigger memories
Accldent prone

Psychological or Emotional:

Feeling heroic, euphoric or invulnerable
Denial
Anxlety or fear
Worry about safety of self or others
Irritability or anger
Restlessness
Sadness, moodiness, grief or depression
Vivid or distressing dreams
Guilt or "survivor guilt"
Feeling overwhelmed, helpless or hopeless
Feeling isolated, lost, lonely or abandoned
Apathy
Over identification with survivors
Feeling misunderstood or unappreciated

Physical:

Increased heart rate and respirations
Increased blood pressure
Upset stomach, nausea, diarrhea
Increased or decreased appetite which may be accompanied by weight loss or gain
Sweating or chills
Tremors or muscle twitching
Muffled hearing
Tunnel vision
Feeling uncoordinated
Headaches
Sore or aching muscles
Light sensitive vision
Lower back pain
Feeling a "lump in the throat"
Easily startled
Fatigue that does not improve with sleep
Menstrual cycle changes
Change In sexual desire or response
Decreased resistance to colds, flu, infections
Flare up of allergies, asthma, or arthritis
Hair loss

Cognitive:

Memory problems/forgetfulness
Disorientation
Confusion
Slowness in thinking, analyzing, or comprehending
Difficulty calculating, setting priorities or making decisions
Difficulty Concentrating
Limited attention span
Loss of objectivity
Inability to stop thinking about the disaster or an incident

Social:

Withdrawing or isolating from people
Difficulty listening
Difficulty sharing ideas
Difficulty engaging in mutual problem solving
Blaming
Criticizing
Intolerance of group process
Difficulty in giving or accepting support or help
Impatient with or disrespectful to others

(adapted from CMHS (Rev. Ed., 2000)

How Stress Works and Why It Makes Us Stronger - T&P

Stress training is often used to train NASA astronauts or emergency workers to not only survive in difficult situations, but also to act as efficiently as possible. Psychologists call it stress inoculation. T&P publishes an excerpt from Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal's book Good Stress as a Way to Get Stronger and Better, in which she explains how "good" stress differs from "bad" stress. nine0003

How did stress get infamous?

Good stress as a way to become stronger and better

In 1936, the Hungarian endocrinologist Hans Selye injected laboratory rats with a hormone isolated from the ovaries of a cow. The results were very unpleasant for rodents. The rats began to develop bloody ulcers. Their adrenal glands swelled, while their thymus glands, spleens, and lymph nodes—parts of the immune system—were shrunken. They were very sad and sick rats. nine0007

But was the bovine hormone really to blame? Selye set up control experiments by injecting some rats with a saline solution, and others with a hormone from a cow's placenta. And they showed the same symptoms. He tried using extracts from the kidneys and spleen. And those rats got sick. No matter what he injected into the rats, they got sick, and with the same symptoms.

In the end, it dawned on Selye that the rats got sick not because of the substances they were injected with, but because of what they were experiencing. They just didn't like being pricked with needles. Selye discovered that he could cause the same symptoms in rats by exposing them to various unpleasant influences: extreme heat or cold, incessant physical exertion, loud noises, the action of toxic substances. Within 48 hours, muscle tone dropped in rats, ulcers developed in the intestines, and suppression of the immune system began. nine0007

Then they died.

Thus the science of stress was born. Selye chose the word stress to describe the state he put rats in and their physiological response to that state (we now call it the stress response). But what does all this have to do with you? Before starting his research, Selye was a physician. Then he saw many patients whose body began to fail for no reason at all. They showed some general symptoms - loss of appetite, fever, weakness - that could not be called characteristic of specific diseases. They just looked extremely tired of life. At that moment, Selye called this condition "the syndrome of suffering." nine0007

How to look at life from the bright side and successfully deal with stress? Learn this in the Antifragility course.

Many years later, when Selye began to conduct his laboratory experiments, sick and dying rats reminded him of his patients. Maybe, he thought, the body is weakening from the loads that one has to cope with in difficult life situations? And here Selye made a giant leap from experiments with rats to the study of human stress. He suggested that many health problems, from allergies to heart attacks, could be the result of a process he observed in rats. This analogy for Selye remained purely theoretical; he studied laboratory animals all his life. However, this did not prevent him from building hypotheses regarding man. And, having made this speculative logical transfer, Selye made another decision that forever changed the world's attitude to stress. He gave it a definition that goes far beyond laboratory methods of working with rats. According to Selye, stress is the reaction of the body to any impact on it . That is, it is not just a reaction to painful injections, traumatic injuries or harsh laboratory conditions, but a response to any impact that requires response or adaptation. By defining stress in this way, Selye laid the foundation for the negative attitudes towards it that we see today.

Selye devoted his entire subsequent career to promoting his ideas about stress, was nicknamed "the grandfather of the science of stress" and was nominated ten times for the Nobel Prize. He even wrote what could be considered the first official guide to stress management. Sometimes he received research funds from unexpected admirers. For example, tobacco manufacturers paid him to write articles about the harmful effects of stress on human health. At their request, he even gave a speech to the US Congress on how smoking helps fight the dangerous effects of stress. nine0007

But Selye's main contribution is that he first convinced the world of the dangers of stress. If you tell a colleague, "I'm going to get an ulcer on this project," or complain to your spouse, "This stress is killing me," you're paying homage to Selye's rats.

advertisement for cigarettes as a stress reliever

Was he wrong? Not really. If you are in the same position as his rats - subjected to deprivation, torment and other negative influences - your body will undoubtedly pay for it. There is a lot of scientific evidence that very severe or traumatic stress can damage your health. However, Selye's definition of stress is very broad: it includes not only injuries, violence, and abuse, but also almost everything that can happen to you . For Selye , stress was synonymous with the body's response to life as such.

Over time, Selye realized that not all stressful experiences lead to illness. He started talking about good stress (which he called eustress ) and bad stress ( distress ). In one of the later interviews, the scientist said: “We experience stress all the time, so the only thing you can do is try to make it useful for you and those around you.” But it was already too late. Thanks to Selye's work, a general attitude towards stress as a very dangerous condition has taken root in society and the medical environment. nine0007

The legacy of Hans Selye has been developed in stress research conducted with the help of laboratory animals. To this day, much of what you hear about the negative effects of stress scientists learn from experiments on rats. But the stress that these animals experience actually has little to do with everyday human stress. If you are a guinea pig, then your day will look something like this: you will be shocked unexpectedly; thrown into a bucket of water and forced to swim until you start to sink; they will put them in a solitary cell or, conversely, in an overcrowded cage with a very small amount of food, for which they will have to fight fiercely. It's not stress; it's the Hunger Games for rodents. […] nine0007

Is the stress response normal?

Hans Selye is often blamed for the bad reputation of stress, but he is not the only culprit. There is also Walter Cannon with cats and dogs. Cannon, a physiologist at Harvard Medical School, first described the fight-or-flight stress response in 1915. He studied how fear and anger affect the physiology of animals. In order to anger and frighten the test subjects, he used two methods: he pinched the mouth and nose of the cat with his fingers until her breath was disturbed, and put dogs and cats in the same room to fight. nine0007

According to Cannon, frightened animals release adrenaline and become in a state of heightened sympathetic activity. Their heart rate and breathing speed up, their muscles tense - thus they prepare for action. Digestion and other physiological functions that are not required at the moment slow down or stop. The body prepares for the fight by storing energy and mobilizing the immune system. All these changes are automatically launched when a threat to life occurs. nine0007

The fight-or-flight instinct is not unique to dogs and cats; it is present in all animals. He often saves lives - both animals and humans. That is why it is so stable in evolution, and we should be grateful to nature for writing it into our DNA.

Walter Cannon

However, many scholars point out that close combat or a hasty escape are not the best strategies for situations that modern man faces every day. How can this reaction help you survive traffic jams or the threat of being fired? What will happen if, when any difficulty arises, you simply run away from relationships, children, work? You can't beat up a late mortgage payment and disappear every time you have a conflict at home or work. nine0007

From this point of view, you should suppress the stress response at all times, except in cases of purely physical danger, such as escaping a burning building or rescuing a drowning child. In all other situations, this is just a senseless waste of energy that prevents successful counteraction to stress. This is evidenced by the theory of inconsistency of the stress reaction of a stressful situation: the reactions that saved our ancestors are not suitable for you and me. A stress reaction that has no adaptive value in the modern world only hinders us. […] nine0007

Let's be clear: a reaction that supports only two survival strategies - fight or flight - really does not correspond to modern life at all. But it turns out that human stress responses are actually much more complex. They have evolved along with man, adapting to the changing world over time. The stress response can activate various biological systems that support various behavioral strategies. Thanks to this, you can not only run out of a burning building, but also understand problems, receive social support and learn from the experience. […] nine0007

How to look at life from the bright side and successfully deal with stress? Learn this in the Antifragility course.

There are several types of stress responses, and each has a different biological profile that motivates different strategies for coping with stress. For example, the goal response increases self-confidence, motivates action and helps to use the experience gained, while the care and friendship response stimulates courage, generates a desire to care for others and strengthens social bonds. These responses, along with the fight-or-flight response, make up your body's complex stress responses. To understand how stress stimulates these very different responses, let's take a closer look at the biology of stress. nine0007

Stress gives you the strength to cope.

As Walter Cannon noted, the fight-or-flight response is triggered by the activation of your sympathetic nervous system. To make you more alert and ready for action, this system forces your entire body to mobilize all available energy resources. The liver releases fat and sugar into the blood to serve as fuel. Breathing becomes deeper to bring more oxygen to the heart. The heart rate speeds up so that oxygen, fat and sugar reach the muscles and brain more quickly. Stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol help your muscles and brain use this energy more efficiently. As a result, you are ready to overcome any obstacles. nine0007

It is this response to stress that provides a person with exceptional physical abilities in special situations. You can often find reports in the news about the incredible strength that a person acquires in stressful situations - for example, the story of two teenage girls from Lebanon, Oregon, who managed to lift a 1.5-ton tractor, under which their father was trapped. “I don’t know how I was able to lift it, it was very heavy,” one of the girls told reporters. “But we just took it and raised it.” Many people experience something similar when under severe stress. When something very important is at stake, the body uses all the energy resources to do what is needed. nine0007

The energy that stress gives you not only helps the body, but also stimulates the brain. Adrenaline sharpens the senses. The pupils dilate to let in more light, and hearing becomes more acute. At the same time, the brain processes the signals coming from the sense organs faster. Unnecessary thoughts are turned off, less important tasks temporarily lose their relevance. Attention is concentrated, you absorb and process more information.

A chemical cocktail of endorphins, adrenaline, testosterone and dopamine kicks in. This is one of the reasons why some people like to experience stress - it gives them a pleasant arousal. The combination of the above substances increases your sense of self-confidence. You can act more purposefully and strive for what can give you satisfaction. Some scientists refer to this aspect of stress as "excitement and awe." Skydivers, skydivers, and lovers also experience such sensations. If you have pleasant goosebumps running down your back from participating in a game of chance or trying to complete a difficult job on time, then you know what it is. nine0007

When it comes to true survival, these physiological changes are most pronounced, and you may have the classic fight-or-flight response. But if nothing directly threatens your life, the body and brain switch to another state - the reaction of striving for the goal . Like the fight-or-flight response, this stress response empowers you and helps you perform in challenging environments. The heart rate increases, adrenaline levels soar, muscles and brain get more fuel, and "feel good hormones" are released into the bloodstream. But this reaction differs from the previous one in several important ways. You feel focused, but not fearful. The level of stress hormones is also different, in particular, the level of DHEA is increased, which helps to recover faster from stress and learn useful experiences. As a result, your Stress Response Growth Index rises—that is, there is a favorable balance of stress hormones that determines how harmful or beneficial stress will be for you. nine0007

People who are completely immersed in what they are doing and enjoy it show clear signs of a goal-seeking reaction. Artists, athletes, surgeons, gamers, musicians, completely surrendering to their favorite pastime, experience just such a reaction to stress. The best in these fields of activity do not at all remain cold-blooded under the pressure of difficult circumstances; it would be more accurate to say that they have a stress reaction of striving for a goal. It gives them access to mental and physical resources, which, in turn, provide increased confidence, concentration, and performance. nine0007

Stress helps communication and stimulates social connections

Your stress response does more than just provide you with energy. In many situations, it also forces you to connect with other people. This side of stress is predominantly controlled by the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin has become widely known as the “love molecule” and “cuddle hormone” because it is actually produced by the pituitary gland when you hug someone. However, in reality, the functions of oxytocin are much more complex. It is a neurohormone that fine-tunes the social instincts in your brain. Its main function is to create and strengthen social attachments, which is why it stands out during hugs, as well as during sexual intercourse and breastfeeding. Increased levels of oxytocin make you reach out to people. It generates a desire for personal contact - through touch, SMS or meeting over a glass of beer. In addition, oxytocin helps the brain better understand what other people are thinking and feeling. It enhances empathy and intuition. With high levels of oxytocin, you are more likely to trust and help the people you care about. Oxytocin makes the brain more receptive to social contact and thereby enhances the warm feeling you get when you care for others. nine0007

But the functions of oxytocin are not limited to the social sphere. It is also the hormone of courage. Oxytocin suppresses the fear response in the brain, the instinct that makes you freeze in place or run. Not only does this hormone urge you to seek out hugs; he makes you brave.

Oxytocin is as much a part of the stress response as adrenaline, which makes your heart race. During times of stress, the pituitary gland releases oxytocin to stimulate social bonding. This means that stress makes you a better person without additional investment in personal growth and socialization training. nine0007

Hans Selye

Released during the stress response, oxytocin causes you to turn to those who can support you. It also strengthens the connections that matter most to you, making you more responsive. Scientists call this the care and friendship response . Unlike the fight-or-flight response, which is primarily about self-preservation, this response forces you to protect those you care about. And most importantly, it gives you courage. nine0007

When you feel like talking to a friend or loved one, this stress response prompts you to seek support. If something bad happens and you immediately think of your children, pets, relatives or friends, this stress reaction motivates you to protect your “tribe”. When someone is dishonest and you rush to stand up for your team, your company, or your community, it's all part of the prosocial stress response.

Oxytocin has another amazing quality: this so-called love hormone has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system. The heart has special receptors for oxytocin, which promotes the regeneration of heart muscle cells after microtrauma. If your stress response involves the release of oxytocin, stress literally strengthens your heart. We usually hear that stress can cause a heart attack! Yes, stress-induced heart attacks really sometimes happen, and they are usually caused by a sharp release of adrenaline, but not every stress reaction causes damage to your heart. I found one study that showed that when rats are stressed and then chemically attacked, they exhibit a very significant resistance to heart injury. However, when rats were given an oxytocin-blocking substance, stress no longer had such a beneficial effect on them. This study reveals to us one of the most surprising aspects of stress. It turns out that the stress response is our innate stability mechanism that makes us care for others, but also strengthens our heart. nine0007

Stress helps you learn and grow

The last stage of any stress response is recovery, bringing your body and mind back to a state of calm. The body needs stress hormones to recover. For example, cortisol and oxytocin fight inflammatory reactions and support the work of the autonomic nervous system. DHEA and Neuronal Growth Factor (NGF) increase neuroplasticity so your brain can learn from stressful experiences. You may feel like your body needs to repair itself after exposure to stress hormones, but in fact the opposite is true - it is these hormones that have a restorative function. People who produce more of these hormones during times of stress tend to recover much faster and with minimal consequences.

Recovering from stress does not happen instantly - it is a process that takes time. In the first few hours after a strong stress reaction, the brain rewires, remembering and assimilating the experience. At this time, the activity of stress hormones increases in those areas of the brain that are responsible for learning and memory. The brain processes the experience, which is why you can't stop thinking about what happened. You may want to discuss this with someone. If everything ended well, you replay what happened in your head, remembering everything you did and what it led to. If the result was not very successful, you try to understand what happened, imagine what would have happened if you had acted differently, and mentally construct a positive outcome. nine0007
A person often experiences strong emotions during the recovery process. There is still energy in him, and he is too excited to immediately calm down. After stress, you may experience fear, shock, anger, guilt, or sadness. But you can also feel relief, joy or gratitude. Moreover, these emotions can fill you at the same time - this is part of the process of understanding the experience with the brain. They encourage reflection and learning from experience, which in turn helps prepare for future stresses. In addition, thanks to emotions, you better remember what happened. These emotions are driven by chemical changes that make the brain more flexible—it can rewire itself based on experience. Thus, the emotions that accompany the recovery process from stress help you learn and find meaning in what is happening. nine0007
Based on all the above processes, the brain and body are trained to cope with stress. It leaves an imprint in your mind that will help you know how to behave next time. It doesn’t happen with every little adversity, but if you face a really difficult task, your brain and body will definitely learn from it. Psychologists in such cases say that a person receives a stress inoculation . This is a kind of "vaccination" for the brain. That is why stress training is one of the key training methods for NASA astronauts, emergency workers, professional athletes and representatives of other specialties who need to learn not only to survive in stressful situations, but also to act as efficiently as possible. Stress vaccination is used in preparing children for emergency evacuation, work training to adapt to harsh working conditions, and even teaching communication to autistic children. nine0007
If you recognize that stress gives you the positive experience you need, you will be more comfortable with each new challenge. Research shows that when the benefits of stress for learning and resilience are recognized, the physiological response to it can also change. As we saw with Alia Crum's work, watching videos of the benefits of stress increased participants' DHEA levels before and after the mock interview. Other research also shows that perceiving a stressful situation as an opportunity to hone one's skills, improve one's knowledge, or become stronger elicits a goal-seeking response rather than a fight and flight response. And this, in turn, increases the chances that the experience gained will bring significant benefits to the person in the future. nine0007
causes, symptoms, treatment, useful or not

referrals
Neurology Rehabilitation center epileptological center Rehabilitation and physiotherapy Headache treatment Gynecology Orthopedics Psychiatry Functional diagnostics Pediatrics Ultrasound diagnostics Psychology

Treatment room Otolaryngology Therapy Endocrinology Cardiology Rheumatology Urology Allergology Botulinum therapy Consultation Nephrology Child Development Center

services and prices

specialists

clinic

About clinic

News

Reviews

Question answer

Licenses
nine0145 Requisites
Supervisory authorities

Privacy Policy

contacts

Stress is a state of psychological and physical tension in response to external influences. It can be caused by difficult situations, monotonous activities and emotional factors. Stress helps you adapt to a changing environment, but can have negative health consequences. nine0007

Is stress good or not?

Short-term one-time stress has a positive effect. In response to a stimulus, the body produces three hormones: cortisone, adrenaline, noradrenaline and activates the cells of the immune system.

Thanks to this, a person for a short time period:

memory improves;

nine0004 increases the level of immunity;

the rate of tissue regeneration increases;

intellectual abilities are activated;

increases the endurance of the nervous system;

the functioning of the sense organs improves.

If a person is systematically exposed to a stress factor, all his organs and systems work hard. As a result, the body intensively wastes energy, passing through the three stages of the process.

The first stage takes effect at the moment of exposure to the stress factor, and lasts a few minutes. It is followed by a second one lasting from several hours to several days, during which a person is looking for a solution to the problem or a safe way out of the situation. nine0007
If the action of the factor continues, the body depletes the adaptive capacity and ceases to minimize the harmful effects of the stressor. It is at the stage of distress that a person experiences overload, psychological disorders, signs of somatic diseases.

Causes of stress

Allocate systemic and mental type of impact of a stress factor. The systemic type is the body's response to an infectious disease, inflammation, injury, light, high or low temperature. Mental type - manifests itself on the emotional and mental sphere, followed by the biological level. nine0007
Mental causes of stress include:

professional activities associated with increased responsibility;

complex relationships in the family;

conflicts, phobias, problems in communication, threats of a different nature, intractable problems, dysfunctional social relations in the team; nine0007

unfulfilled needs, low self-esteem, perfectionism;

change of place of residence or work, monotonous activity, divorce, death of a loved one;

information overload;

lack of rest sufficient to restore the psyche; nine0007

psycho-emotional tension caused by risk, time pressure, increased workload, novelty of the situation or its uncertainty.

The consequences of prolonged stress in men and women are the same - depression and somatic diseases. Therefore, it is important to timely note the signs of psychophysical stress, identify its causes and eliminate it.

Signs of stress

Prolonged exposure to a stress factor causes serious stress throughout the body, significantly worsening the general mood and well-being of a person.

Common symptoms of developing stress:

Muscle tension in the head, neck, shoulders, back.

Increased anxiety.

nine0145
Irritability at the slightest provocation.

Reduced performance.

Depression, apathy.

Sleep disorders.

Absent-mindedness, deterioration of memory and ability to concentrate, slowing down the pace of thought processes. nine0007

Chronic fatigue, pessimism, desire to distance themselves from society.

Headache, unexplained chest pain.

Disorder of appetite, violation of the digestive function.

Often a person acquires an obsessive habit, for example, biting his lips, turning his neck, straightening his hair.
Learn more

How to deal with bipolar

Why arguing is good

Chest soreness from anxiety

Are panic attacks fatal

Co parenting with a narcissistic ex

How to stop eating so much food

Can psychiatrists prescribe medicine

Bipolar disorder care plan

Relationships between mother and daughter

I have two personality types

Daughters of narcissistic mothers support group