How stress affects your health?

Most people are aware that stress can have a negative impact on emotional health, but awareness about its impact on physical health may be less familiar. Headaches, backaches, or even difficulty concentrating at work can all be caused by stress.

Stress influences behavioral, emotional, and physical health. Learning to make stress management a priority can have a positive and protective impact on health. Stress may result in anxiety, difficulty with focus, overwhelm, anger, sadness, and depression. Physical impacts may be a headache, chest pain, exhaustion, sleep disturbances, and digestive troubles like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation. Behavioral results of stress can include outbursts, substance use, eating changes, and withdrawal from social activities and interactions.

Stress that isn’t managed can result in serious health issues. The hormones produced by the body as part of the stress response cause reactions in the body. For example, the breathing rate increases when stress is experienced. For those that have breathing conditions like asthma, this may trigger asthma attacks. Blood pressure increases as a result of the body’s response to experiencing stress. The liver produces extra blood sugar when the body interprets stress. The immune system can be negatively impacted by stress hormones. Over time, the immune system can be weakened by stress. Chronic stress causes these reactions in the body on a repeated basis and can result in high blood pressure, and increased risk for diabetes.

Taking action to manage your stress is important. Some common strategies for managing stress include:

• Getting adequate sleep
• Getting regular exercise
• Making time for enjoyable activities
• Spending time with your social support system
• Eating nutritious food
• Managing caffeine intake

If stress is becoming problematic and interfering with your ability to function, or you notice physical manifestations of stress, talk with your doctor or licensed mental health professional. Working with a therapist can help you address events and circumstances that may be contributing to stress. Processing stressful situations in a safe environment can also lead to new ways of viewing things and new strategies for problem-solving. Your therapist can also help you learn coping skills and ways of changing thinking that contribute to stress.