Stress is one of the top underlying causes behind many health issues in today's fast-paced life. From chronic back pain to sleep and digestive problems, these health issues should not be ignored in the long term. Specific lifestyle changes and overall dietary changes need to be made to treat these and similar nagging health concerns and manage stress. However, the key is to manage stress here, as stress is also essential for survival as a human being.
Stress is not entirely bad, as it helps us react appropriately to potential challenges and threats. It triggers our flight-or-fight response when we need it to fight what is causing stress or even perhaps stay away from the stressor. However, once the challenging flight-or-fight situation has passed, your body should return to its normal state. In short, stress should be temporary. Prolonged stress and its symptoms can be harmful to your health both mentally and physically, causing health concerns like fatigue, insomnia, and back pain, among others.
Let's dive into this topic to understand what stress is, how many types of stress there are, and how it works daily to help us combat our problems.
The definition of stress does not involve anxiety or any other body’s internal reaction. Stress is defined as the biological response to potentially dangerous situations. Now, potentially dangerous situations can be defined differently by different people; being chased by a wild animal is an example of a potentially dangerous situation, and losing your house keys is also a potentially dangerous situation. While they vastly differ in seriousness, the brain doesn’t understand the context accordingly and will be flooded by cortisol and adrenaline hormones in both scenarios.
So, as you can imagine, stress is your body’s natural response when you have to do something that’s not natural to you or something that you don’t particularly want to do. So, when does it become a problem? When the feeling of stress doesn’t go away. You can feel extremely stressed, but it goes away when you are through what is stressing you out. In some cases, based on the different types of stress, sometimes the feeling just does not go away. That’s when it becomes a problem for your health. So, what are the different types of stress, and how do they affect you? Let’s find out.
There are three types of stress, namely acute stress, chronic stress, and episodic stress. As the names suggest, they have varying effects on your health and need to be managed accordingly. Let’s review what each of these types of stress are:
Do you know the thrill or fear you experience when riding a roller coaster? That’s acute stress. It is experienced when you are narrowly escaping a potentially dangerous situation, and it can even be enjoyable in some scenarios, such as the one explained. However, it should be noted that acute stress is only experienced when the event causes you absolutely no harm and the event passes quickly. Experiencing acute stress can prepare your body for stressful situations in the future, but it should be done with limitations; otherwise, it can trigger chronic stress.
Chronic stress is a condition where you have high levels of stress over a long period of time. The constant high levels of cortisol and adrenaline in your body keep you in a constant fight or flight mode, which causes stress on your bodily functions. Chronic stress is the most common type of stress that causes physical symptoms like cardiovascular diseases, sleep problems, anxiety and other mental health problems, and lastly, a high blood pressure level. Chronic stress is dangerous for your health, and unless you are able to identify the signs of chronic stress, it is very difficult to diagnose and treat the condition.
Lastly, there’s a third type of stress that’s worse than acute stress but better than chronic stress. As the name suggests, episodic stress is defined by periods of acute stress, which are triggered by stressful events. When you are going through a difficult time, and you are worried about what will happen next, it is claimed as episodic stress.
Even though episodic stress is not as bad as chronic stress, repeated episodes and underlying health conditions can lead to physical symptoms and health complications, both physical and mental. It is important to identify the signs of episodic stress and find appropriate help to improve your symptoms.
Today, the answer to this question for many people would be most things they have to do in a day. The constant fear of having to meet expectations and responsibilities is an endless cycle, and the fast-paced urban lifestyle only makes it worse. As mentioned previously, a dangerous situation can trigger stress. The fear of losing your job or not being able to meet your financial goals, they too can be a dangerous situation and one you can’t get over right away. These situations put significant stress on your health and cause the build-up of chronic stress over time.
The symptoms of stress are not the same for everyone. However, there are some symptoms that are mostly common among people experiencing stress, so knowing about them can help you identify your own symptoms when you are experiencing stress. Here are some of the most common symptoms of stress that you should monitor.
There are even more physical conditions that can be caused by stress, including ulcers and even symptoms of depression. These symptoms need to be monitored regularly to ensure you can keep your stress levels in check. Stress prevention starts with understanding triggers and practising healthy habits to ensure the impact of stress on your health is not damaging or permanent. So, what can be the permanent impacts of stress on your health? Let’s find out.
There are several impacts of stress on your health and all of it cumulatively can cause health complications in the long run, if the condition is not kept in check. With that being said, let’s look at the physical, mental, behavioural, and long-term impact of stress on your health.
Stress, or more precisely, chronic stress can cause physical symptoms and increase your risk for several health conditions. One of the most important physical impacts of stress is high blood pressure. Due to the excess secretion of adrenaline and cortisol in your body, the blood pressure levels increase, causing a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.
High levels of stress lead to hypertension, which increases your risk of several health conditions such as kidney problems, musculoskeletal problems, chronic pain, gastrointestinal problems, and even a compromised immune system. These health impacts can prove to be fatal if they are left untreated. One of the easiest ways to manage the risk of all these conditions is to make sure you are keeping your stress levels in check.
Stress causes accelerated ageing of your brain and increases your risk for conditions like alzheimers. Apart from the long-term effects, chronic stress causes anxiety and symptoms of depression in people. These conditions can lead to an overall cognitive decline in people with chronic stress, which affects their decision-making abilities, concentration, and memory. People with chronic stress are also at a higher risk of being addicted to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other addictive substances as a coping mechanism to manage their stress levels.
These health impacts can have permanent effects on your brain and mental health if it is not kept in check. Stress can also have a significant impact on your emotional health as chronic stress or even acute stress, in some cases, can cause mood swings, emotional dysregulation and an overall drop in your quality of life. It is important to monitor these effects and identify the root cause accordingly in due time to reduce your risk of further emotional and mental health complications.
Stress impacts your sleep more than any other aspect of your life. Not getting enough sleep is one of the reasons for increased blood pressure levels, which increases your risk of the physical effects of stress mentioned above. Not getting enough sleep also causes the emotional health effects of stress as mood swings and irritability are common signs of people with sleep problems. Apart from sleep problems, stress can cause demotivation and fatigue that reduces your interest in engaging in any form of physical activity.
This leads to a more sedentary lifestyle, which is considered generally unhealthy. Lastly, stress can impact your eating habits and cause cravings that can lead to unhealthy eating habits. Similarly, for some people, stress can reduce their appetite and cause malnutrition as a result of not eating. All these effects cumulatively have significant long-term impact on your health and need to be managed as early as possible.
Stress can accelerate the ageing of your brain, but that’s not where it stops. Chronic stress can accelerate the ageing of your whole body, also known as biological ageing. Accelerated ageing can increase your risk of chronic diseases. It can even have an impact on your reproductive health, especially for women causing problems in fetal development, which could lead to developmental issues in children. These long-term effects are not rare and people experiencing chronic stress for a significant period experience these effects quite commonly. So, the only way to mitigate these risk factors is by managing your stress levels. So, how do you manage stress? Let’s find out.
Managing stress and preventing stress are two sides of the same coin. The same practices that help you manage stress will also help you prevent it from recurring. It is important to understand that these management techniques are general and are key to helping yourself live healthily.
Sleep is one of the most important and best regulators of stress. Getting deep sleep for 7 to 9 hours per night is one of the best ways to manage your stress and also prevent chornic stress in the first place. Do note that many people sleep a lot but are still highly stressed. This is because just like appetite, stress can cause both over sleeping or sleeplessness. In cases of oversleeping, the body still feels tired after sleeping long hours because the quality of sleep is poor, which has similar effects on your health as insomnia. So, make sure you are getting good quality sleep for 7 to 9 hours every night to keep stress levels in check.
One of the primary reasons why stress affects people to the extent it does today is lack of physical activities. Most jobs are office based today and it leads to little or no requirement to perform physical tasks. This has led to an increase in sedentary lifestyle, which has its own health risks. Engaging in regular physical activities willingly is one of the best ways to keep yourself stress-free.
Playing sports, exercising, swimming, going on a hike, cycling, all of these activities can help you manage your stress levels. However, please note that you must do them willingly and happily, otherwise it has little to no effect on your health. If you are engaging in activities with a disgruntled attitude, it will make you more irritable and fatigued by the end of it. So make sure you are listening to your body too and take rest when required without pushing yourself too hard.
Diet, physical activities, and sleep are the three fundemantals of managing your stress levels and maintaining a healthy body. A good diet can reduce stress as eating a balanced diet keeps your hormonal balance in check and reduces the risk of mood swings and general irritability. A good diet also helps your gut health and keeps your body healthy, which reduces the risk of gastrointestinal problems. These are some of the ways diet helps manage your stress levels and can positively impact your health.
Meditation has been around for over 5000 years and it has numerous benefits for your health. For stress, meditation helps manage stress levels and reduce anxiety. It also helps people with insomnia get better sleep and even feel more relaxed. The best thing about meditation is you can do it anywhere and anyhow you want. The most common way to meditate is to sit with your eyes closed and focus on a word or your breathing. The key is to let your thoughts run wild and not judge them at all. This process will help you feel calmer and manage your anxiety better.
Yoga has been around for thousands of years too and it takes the good things of exercise and meditation and puts them together. There are specific yoga exercises that are built to help you relieve stress while helping you with stretching your muscles. Yoga also has a spiritual aspect to it, which can help you calm your nerves and manage stress as well.
Lastly, deep breathing is a common technique that you can use to manage your stress levels immediately. The key is to take long, deep breaths through your nose and exhale slowly out of your mouth. Deep breathing sends more oxygen to your brain and the nervous system, which can counteract the effects of stress on your physical health.
Stress is as much a silent killer as hypertension, and it is important to take it seriously. The effects of stress on your health can be far-reaching, and it can lead to severe health complications. The only way to manage stress is to create a better lifestyle and diet. In some cases, medications and medical intervention may also be required.
So, if you are experiencing symptoms of chronic stress and need medical help, feel free to reach out to us at MASSH. We specialise in functional medicine and preventative care to help you manage complications arising from stress and hypertension before they can affect your health. Check out our website to learn more about stress management and treatment at MASSH and visit us today to consult with our specialists.
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