What Are The 5 Ways Stress Hurts Your Health And Body?


Methodology

The world health organization (WHO) states, “Health is the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmities”.

This is true in all senses as most people today cannot lead a healthy life considering all these aspects. Our current world is breeding with people collecting more and more stress each passing day. It seems as if stress is an unavoidable part of our life.

Health Effects Of Stress On The Human Body

Leading a healthy lifestyle doesn’t simply mean having a lot of nutritious food but it also includes leading a healthy lifestyle which is a combination of maintaining a healthy body and mind.

Health Effects Of Stress On The Human Body

It is equally important to keep your mind happy and stress-free as a stressed mind can bring about all harm that can completely ruin your entire system.

Stress can be defined as a natural response or reaction to everyday pressures and this will lead us to a state of worry and tension.

This is a normal phenomenon but it becomes unhealthy the moment when it affects our day-to-day functioning.

At times stress can be a despoiler in most of our lives that can seriously harm and affect our well-being and overall mental health.

Stress can affect our body in a number of ways that can be both physical and mental which eventually leads to social. Some major health effects caused by stress are discussed below.

Depression

Though stress is harmful on its own, its prolonged effects can lead to depression. This is a more serious condition as this will completely affect our social well-being, ability to concentrate and sleep habits, energy level, and eating habits.

Depression can at times interfere with infertility too. There are chances of weight loss or weight gain along with this repeated thoughts of suicide come up.

Panic Attack

Panic attacks can be explained as sudden episodes of intense fear or anxiety and physical symptoms, based on a perceived threat rather than imminent danger.

Most often, the common reason for panic attacks is stress that affects daily routines having no proper sleep and rest which will eventually lead to life-threatening conditions like panic attacks. 

Sleep Disorders

Changes in sleep patterns can negatively affect our overall health and quality of life. Having a good sleep for an adequate amount of time is really important because it decides the grade of your performance in the upcoming day.

It is generally recommended for a normal adult to have at least seven hours of sleep every night. But a stressed mind and body can lead to distractions that might affect our proper sleep.

health effects of stress on the body

Muscle Aches And Headaches

Stress can bring about other disturbing ailments like muscle pain and headaches. Though they seem trivial, they can completely ruin our everyday performance with the muddling pain that is an unavoidable part of such sickness.

Stress can cause muscle tension and within a period of time, we develop pain and soreness in the muscles. Headaches caused by stress are otherwise called stress headaches or tension headaches.

They are experienced as pain that is usually associated with muscle pain. Inadequate sleep, stress, anxiety, and improper posture lead to stress headaches.

Upset Stomach

Indigestion, heartburn, diarrhea, constipation, and nausea are some of the common illnesses that will lead to an upset stomach. In many instances, these problems are brought out by uncontrollable stress and tension.

Chest pain, fatigue, insomnia, inability, or loss of sexual desire are a few other physical issues that come along the way of stress. Further, mental illnesses such as restlessness, lack of motivation or focus, anger, overuse of drugs, and social withdrawal are other aftermaths of stress on our bodies. 

Briefly, to have a better life ahead one should be able to manage stress effectively. It is not possible to completely avoid or erase stress from our lives.

But through an adjusted and disciplined lifestyle, we can easily control and manage the stress that is coming our way.

Practicing yoga can help in keeping our minds calm. Working out daily for a fixed time can make one more confident. Always bear in mind that a happy mind is the key to a happy life.

Dr. Germana Barata is a research associate of the ScholCommLab and a dedicated science communication researcher at the Laboratory of Advanced Studies in Journalism (Labjor) and the Centre for the Development of Creativity (Nudecri) at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil. With a Master’s and PhD in History of Science from São Paulo University, Dr. Barata is a respected scholar who has been awarded a productivity research fellowship in science communication at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in Brazil.

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