Stress is a natural physical and mental response to life experiences. Every person experiences stress from time to time. Anything from everyday responsibilities like work and family to serious life events such as a diagnosis of a new disease or disorder, war, or the death of a loved one can trigger stress. For immediate, short-term circumstances, stress can be advantageous to your health. It helps you to deal with potentially serious situations. Your body responds to stress by releasing hormones that increase your heart and breathing rates and alerts your muscles to respond.
If stress is not managed in time it can badly affect your health.
Chronic stress can result in several symptoms. Symptoms of chronic stress include:
- irritability
- anxiety
- depression
- headaches
- insomnia
Stress is responsible for causing physical symptoms like headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and difficulty in sleeping. According to scientific studies, research says that stress also can cause or worsen certain symptoms or diseases.
Stress can create more complications when people drink alcohol, consume tobacco, or recreational drugs to try to relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving stress and giving a feeling of relaxation, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems.
Forty-three percent of all adults have developed adverse health effects from stress. Approximately 75% to 90% of visits to doctors’ offices are linked to stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress plays a substantial role in the development of various conditions, including headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a threat to the workplace. Stress aggravates health issues already present in an individual.
Stress also negatively affects sexual life. The person starts losing interest in sex. If stress is not treated within time, a man’s testosterone levels start decreasing. Chronic stress can disrupt sperm production and lead to erectile dysfunction or impotence. Moreover, it may elevate the risk of infection in male reproductive organs, such as the prostate and testes.
For women, stress can affect the menstrual cycle a sit cause an imbalance in hormones. It results in irregular, heavier, or more painful menstrual periods. Chronic stress can also intensify the symptoms of menopause.
With time, stress hormones will also make your immune system weak. People constantly under stress are more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections like the flu and the common cold. Stress increases the time the body takes to recover from an illness or injury.
