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How Chronic Stress Affects Your Health

Are you constantly feeling stressed? Stress is something we all encounter on a regular basis, but when it starts to have a negative effect on your body and mind, it means you are distressed.

What many people don’t know is that stress is a state of being that negatively impacts the body. In fact, stress has a bigger impact on our bodies than most of us realize, or care to acknowledge.

Ways In Which Your Body is Affected By Stress

There are two kinds of stress. The “good” stress is called eustress, and is moderate or normal stress. We generally only hear about the “bad” stress known as chronic stress or distress.

Chronic stress gradually affects your health at first; in fact, you may not even notice the symptoms at all. And if the stress is not managed, the symptoms will get worse and its effects may even be irreversible.

There are many ways in which stress may manifest itself in your body, including:

Depression. When you are stressed out, it is very common for people to become depressed. There are only so many chemicals in the brain to help a person deal with stress, and when levels are imbalanced, this can lead to a person becoming profoundly depressed in what can be a relatively short period of time.

Anxiety. Those who are stressed are likely to deal with uncontrollable levels of anxiety. Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, and this can cause many different changes in the physiological functioning of the body.

Heart disease. Stress is very closely linked to heart attacks and death associated with cardiovascular disease. When stress is not managed, the body breaks down quickly and the heart is often profoundly impacted.

Diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing epidemics in the world and both mental and physical stress can cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels. The long term effects associated with this include heart disease, blindness, liver problems, kidney disease, and more.

• Hair loss. This can be a symptom of unmanaged stress. If your hair is falling out prematurely, discuss any potential medical issues with your medical provider, but also consider looking closely at how you are dealing with the stress in your life and see if there are things you can do to control it more effectively.

• Obesity. We often cope with stress by consuming unhealthy, fattening foods. In addition, stress prohibits the control of necessary chemicals that are needed to break down fat, which can lead to obesity.

• Sexual dysfunction. Stress is one of the most common reasons associated with impotence in men.

As you can see, stress can affect your health in many ways, and needs to be taken seriously.

This is all the more reason to start actively managing your stress today!

Looking for ways to help you manage stress? Check out prior editions of Jua! Journal. In addition,

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