How stress affects our health and wellbeing
Author: Professor Joyce Harper
High stress levels have a hugely negative effect on our wellbeing and can cause many health issues.
Stress is defined as ‘a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.’ We may be getting stressed at work or at home.
Stress is a part of all our lives. The stress response gets our body ready for a fight or flight reaction. The body system that controls stress is the limbic–hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (LHPA). If you are in danger, the brain’s hypothalamus sends signals to the adrenal glands. These glands release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which get the body ready for action. Cortisol will increase blood sugar and raise blood pressure to prepare the body for fight or flight. Our body can tolerate this for a short time and it may be useful if we are being competitive, but prolonged high cortisol levels can affect our health and wellbeing.
Stress has a negative effect on our heart, can increase the risk of stroke, and cause insomnia. Cortisol and adrenaline can cause migraines and headaches. Too much cortisol can prevent us from making new memories and cause us to become confused. It is thought that stress affects our sex drive and fertility and can have a negative effect on pregnancy. Stress affects digestion and can bring on irritable bowel syndrome. Stress may also affect our physical appearance by increasing acne and causing premature ageing.
Cortisol can make us crave sugar and fat and causes more deep-abdominal fat. “You can clearly correlate stress to weight gain,” says Philip Hagen, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in the USA.
There is evidence that how we cope with stress stems from how our mothers nurtured us. Experiments in rats have shown that rats of mothers who did not nurture their pups had abnormal numbers of cortisol receptors and the pups were more sensitive to stress. These are called epigenetic changes – which is a way the body decides which genes are turned on and off. Other studies show that stress when pregnant and childhood abuse can affect the stress response of the offspring. Epigenetic effects can be transmitted through many generations but they can also be reversed by lifestyle changes, such as exercise and relaxation. We need to control our stress before it takes control of us.
Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress
Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.
The Mayo Clinic has described stress symptoms:
Common effects of stress on your body
- Headache
- Muscle tension or pain
- Chest pain
- Fatigue
- Change in sex drive
- Stomach upset
- Sleep problems
Common effects of stress on your mood
- Anxiety
- Restlessness
- Lack of motivation or focus
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Irritability or anger
- Sadness or depression
Common effects of stress on your behavior
- Overeating or undereating
- Angry outbursts
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Tobacco use
- Social withdrawal
- Exercising less often
We can reduce stress by:
Cutting out coffee, smoking, alcohol
Getting plenty of sleep
Eating a healthy diet
Exercise
Talking to someone
Using relaxation techniques
Managing our time
Learning to say NO so we do not take too many things on
Global women have written a number of posts on reducing stress including listening to music, getting enough sleep, having ‘me’ time, losing your temper, gong and hot yoga and staying calm.
In the next few posts I will write about other methods to reduce stress.
Read More:
Global women – stress in pregnancy linked to autism
You must be logged in to post a comment.
