Have you ever thought about how chronic stress might affect your health and behaviour?
Your heart is racing. You’re breathing shallow. You feel the adrenaline pumping, getting your body into “fight or flight” mode!
Where are you? Not face to face with an anaconda. You may be sitting in traffic, late for work with road works ahead that weren’t there yesterday.
Maybe you started the morning arguing with your spouse. Now your boss is going to be on your case about punctuality and you feel like your head is already about to explode.
Whether we worry about family, finances or finding the right partner, if we ignore daily distress it takes a toll on our health.
The Price We Pay
The consequences range from the potentially fatal to perennial health problems.
Headaches, hypertension, constant fatigue, lowered sex drive, problems sleeping, upset stomach, muscle tension or pain and chest pain may result from stress.
According to Healthline, the hypothalamus in your brain tells your adrenal glands to release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones accelerate your heartbeat and send blood rushing to your muscles, heart, and other important organs, getting you ready for action. Imagine what happens if your stressors are ever-present and you constantly feel under pressure or overwhelmed.
High Blood Pressure
The rush of stress hormones that are released temporarily when you’re in a distressing situation increase your blood pressure by causing your heart to beat faster and narrowing your blood vessels. What happens if you end up with uncontrolled high blood pressure? Your brain’s blood vessels may be weakened, causing them to get narrower, rupture or leak, or blood clots may form in the arteries leading to your brain, blocking blood flow. Both of these scenarios can lead to a stroke.
Heart Disease
Characteristics of an unhealthy lifestyle such as eating badly, lack of exercise, being overweight, drinking too much alcohol and smoking may reflect habits that develop or intensify as a result of chronic stress. These behaviours cause changes that promote the build-up of plaque deposits in the arteries and may increase blood pressure, both of which can lead to heart disease. Studies also suggest that the high levels of the hormone cortisol, which is released in response to stress, can increase blood cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure, all common risk factors for heart disease.
Diabetes
Those battling chronic stress may have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. In prehistoric times, you would have needed an energy boost to flee from danger and your liver produces extra blood sugar for this purpose. Today, if the demands of modern life create constant mental distress, the regular production of extra glucose may be too much for the body to handle.
The problem is if you have diabetes, according to the National Health Service (NHS UK) you’re up to five times more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. Prolonged, poorly controlled blood glucose levels increase the likelihood that blood vessels will become clogged and narrowed. These harmful levels also increase the chance that a blood vessel in your heart or brain will become blocked, leading to a heart attack or stroke.
As if that’s not enough, high blood glucose levels can damage the tiny blood vessels in your nerves, possibly causing numbness, which can lead to ulceration of the feet. About 1 in 10 people with diabetes get a foot ulcer, which can cause a serious infection. may require amputation.
If the nerves in your digestive system are affected, you may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation.
Serious eye problems may also result from diabetes. If damage to the retina is caught early enough, laser treatment will preserve the sight but it will not improve it.
And then there’s the matter of potential kidney disease. Your kidneys will work less efficiently if the small blood vessels of your kidney become blocked and leaky.
Waiting to Exhale
When you’re stress you breathe faster in an effort to quickly distribute oxygen-rich blood to your body. While this is a natural response designed to protect us from danger, stress can make it harder to breathe, potentially making conditions like asthma worse.
Weakened Immune System
You may find that when you’re stressed for an extended period of time, you catch the cold or flu easily and you just can’t seem to shake it once it takes hold. That’s because your defences are weakened by the constant production of stress hormones.
Poor Digestion
Stress hormones working overtime to pump blood faster through the body may increase stomach acid levels. This, along with faster breathing, can throw your digestive system out of whack, leading to heartburn or acid reflux, or possibly even diarrhoea, constipation, nausea or stomachache. Stress can also increase the risk of ulcers or cause existing ulcers to act up.
Changes in Behaviour
Stress doesn’t only affect us physically but of course mentally too. Our behavioural changes can leave us feeling totally out of sorts and may strain our relationships with others. These changes include:
- Anxiety
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty concentrating
- Lack of motivation
- Restlessness
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Irritability or anger
- Sadness or depression
What to Do?
We will all experience stressful situations at some time or other. Divorce or loss of a loved one can wreak havoc on our emotions, but these are specific events. When stress springs from everyday pressures and you ignore it or you don’t have a healthy release, your body remains in a high-alert state almost constantly and this is extremely harmful.
What are the simplest solutions? Don’t sweat the small stuff. For immediate stress-relief, breathe deeply or go for a walk to clear your head, and for general wellness develop an exercise routine that involves 30-45 minutes of exercise three to five times per week.
You’ll find more tips on managing stress in the next article…
