How Does Stress Affect Health?

How does stress affect health? -- I’m sure you've heard this question before. Or will stress affect your overall health? It has been asked on TV, in the news, in magazines and many other places discussing health issues. There is scientific evidence that suggests stress can have a negative impact on your health.

Let’s say you feel constantly stressed and worn down. Do you have a tendency to get sick easily? Are you constantly tired? Are you overweight and do you look and feel unhealthy? These can all be symptoms of the bad side effects brought on by high levels of stress.

How does stress affect health in the short and long term?

Short-term stress does not really have a huge impact on your health. It lasts only a short time and then goes away. Once gone, your body is able to repair any damage left behind.

Chronic stress is the worst kind of stress for your health. Your body is flooded with all kinds of hormones and chemicals that are released during stressful situations. Unlike short lasting stress, these chemicals and hormones don’t get a chance to go away. Your body is constantly dealing with them floating around inside of you.

Because your body never gets a rest from these during long lasting stress, health problems start to occur. Your immune system will weaken causing you to get sick easier. You will begin to feel worse and may not take care of yourself like you should. All this amplifies the negative effects of stress on your body, health and mind.

How does stress affect health directly?

Many health problems have been linked to stress, and although stress may not be the direct cause of some of these problems, it certainly gets the ball rolling. For example, the debate is still out on whether stress causes you to gain weight. But let’s think about it, even if stress is not directly the cause of weight gain, it is still a factor.

When you are stressed your body releases a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol has been in the news a lot lately and has been a source for companies claiming they can stop the effects of the hormone. Cortisol may have an effect on you gaining weight. This is one way stress can cause weight gain.

When you are stressed or overly busy, you may not feel like you have the time to eat healthy and may get lunch out of a vending machine or from a fast food restaurant. We all know how unhealthy these are and how they cause you to gain weight. This is another way stress has an effect on weight.

Now it is the end of the day and you are just getting home from a hard stressful day. You are tired, so you sit in front of the television or go to bed. No exercise for you, you just feel too tired. This adds to health problems and causes you to gain weight. This is yet another way stress can affect your weight. So as you can see stress can cause you to gain weight through many different channels.

This is just one example of how stress can affect your health. Imagine stress exerting multiple forces through many different ways on all aspects of your health and well-being. This is why it is so important to get stress under control to reduce the negative impact it has on you.




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