Effects Of Chronic Stress

Stress is a natural and vital feeling in our lives because it is the drive that helps most people to succeed. As with many things in life, too much of one thing can be very harmful to a person's well-being. Stress can be caused by anything that requires you to adjust to a change in your environment. Your body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Even a perceived challenge can activate the mind/body system, resulting in increased alertness and action, but chronic activation of this response leads to abnormal responses to stress.

Chronic stress creates excessive levels of cortisol in the brain, impairing the function of the hippocampus, leading to neuronal atrophy and destruction of neurons, decreased short term and contextual memory, and poor regulation of the endocrine response to stress. When you are chronically stressed, however, your stress response remains ramped up, and the stress hormones overwhelm the relaxation response. Stress hormones are beneficial in the short term because they give us the extra boost we need to meet an emergency; however, in the long run, they are harmful.

Chronic stress is a state of prolonged and continuous stress, and it can have some pretty drastic effects on your body. What's happening here is that your sympathetic system that helps you deal with the fight-or-flight response is always turned on. But in this case, there's not an immediate danger that you face and then come down from, achieving homeostasis. It's not good for your body to be in a constant state of danger management.

When you're chronically stressed, your liver is bypassed and the corticoids are able to run rampant. Too many corticoids can lead to a reduction in your immune system. The result is that you'll have an easier time getting sick. If you've ever had an extremely stressful couple of weeks followed by a bad cold or flu, then you know what we're talking about here. Too many corticoids also make the body more resistant to its stress hormone cousin, adrenaline. Trouble is, the adrenaline keeps on chugging when you're chronically stressed. This can eventually lead to a stomach ulcer, as adrenaline pumps up the level of acid your stomach produces. It's also a reason that chronically stressed people may also have chronic heartburn.

Just have a glance over the effects of chronic stress on the body

1. Effects of chronic stress on the cardiovascular system

- Increased strength & speed of heartbeat
- Hypertension
- Strain on the heart
- Thickening & narrowing of arteries
- Enlargement of the heart (resulting in increased work, less able to maintain proper blood flow, fatigue)
- Hyperglycemia (elevated blood sugar)
- High cholesterol

2. Effects of chronic stress on the musculo-skeletal system

- Muscular reactivity
- Chronic muscular tension and pain
- Migraine and tension headaches
- Exaggeration of reflexive postural patterns
- Bone demineralization

3. Effects of chronic stress on the digestive tract

- Gastritis
- Stomach & duodenal ulcers
- Stomach pain
- Obesity
- Colitis
- Irritable bowel syndrome

4. Effects of chronic stress on the reproductive system

- Infertility
- Menstrual disorders
- Impotence or premature ejaculation
- Loss of libido

5. Effects of chronic stress on the urinary system

- Bladder urgency
- Incontinence

6. Effects of chronic stress on the immune system

- Allergies
- Increased susceptibility to illness such as common cold
- Autoimmune conditions (Diabetes type 1, Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis)

7. Effects of Chronic Stress on metabolism

- Metabolic disorder
- Diabetes
8. Effects of chronic stress on the respiratory system

- Asthma symptoms often worsen under mental or emotional stress
- Hyperventilation
- Breathing pattern disorder

Now it's the time to combat with chronic stress! Take the time to exercise, even if it's just walking. The more you enjoy the exercise the better, because that also means you're experiencing pleasure instead of stress. The old saying, "don't sweat the small stuff," is an axiom you should try to embrace. See if you can prioritize the things that seem to stress you out. Let the ones that really aren't so important fall away and work on the rest in a calm and organized way. Some stressors you just can't avoid though, so if you lead a high stress life you can at least eat well and lay off the alcohol and cigarettes to combat the pressures of your job or lifestyle.

If you're chronically stressed, have your doctor check you out to make sure you aren't doing any long term damage to your body. Take control of your stressors and you might be surprised at the difference it can make in your life.