How Stress Can Affect Your Physical Health

If you have experienced chronic stress in your life, you know it can affect your physical health. The effects can range from disrupted sleeping habits, chest pains, heart arrhythmia, and high blood pressure. One or all of these physical problems can disrupt your life, harm you emotionally, and you can lose the ability to live a normal life. Stress can aggravate allergies, skin disorders, and cause hair loss. Even the teeth and gums are implicated for periodontal disease and tooth loss.

Stress affects weight, as many patients will certify to. Many people with chronic stress have cravings for salt, sugar, and fats. These "comfort" foods are what you may turn to for help in relieving stress. Weight gain also occurs when a patient is eating a healthy diet. Stress releases a hormone called cortisol. This hormone is a major reason people who have a high amount of stress collect fat in their abdomen area. Unfortunately, this is often a predictor of heart problems and diabetes. Studies have found that women who gained weight in response to stress were less able to manage stressful events.

A few people will suffer from weight loss while under acute stress. Stress may trigger the thyroid gland and cause hyperactivity. This causes the body to burn up calories faster and stimulates the appetite. Other eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia are other eating disorders that are connected to stress and emotional issues.

Diabetes is also affected by chronic stress. It is associated with the insulin-resistant condition in which the body is unable regulate blood sugar levels. Stress also hinders the ability to handle any existing diabetes effectively.

Pain is another health problem that is irritated by stress. There is a connection between pain and emotion and is complicated by personality types, stress, and the fear of pain itself. Headaches, especially tension headaches are associated with stress and stressful events. Many women who suffer from migraine headaches are found to have personalities that overreact to stressful conditions. These women may be predisposed by genetics to translate stress into muscular contractions.

Muscular and joint pain may be intensified by stress. Psychological distress plays a role in the severity of back pain. Back pain has long been associated with job dissatisfaction but it isn't clear if the back pain is caused by job problems or they existed and were aggravated by stress. Depression is also associated with back problems.

Yes, stress can affect your health in a negative way. Those who have suffered from chronic stress know this is true. Many patients have found when the chronic stress is removed from their life; many of their physical problems were reduced or went away.

Learning what your stress triggers are, and learning how to handle each of them can reduce all of these physical problems. Stress may never be eliminated, but changing your lifestyle can reduce the effects of stress. Eat healthy, exercise, and get the proper amount of rest. These three items will help reduce the effects of stress.

Next article: Parental Stress And Autistic Children

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