Doctors have known for a long time that stress can affect your health but we are just now starting to properly understand precisely how stress can affect the body. A number of the myths surrounding the subject of stress, like the fact that stress can cause ulcers, are finally being laid to rest while others are now being confirmed.
Some of the more obvious affects of stress such as, hypertension, muscle tension, a rapid heartbeat, headaches and digestive problems are easily recognized and well known, but there are also a variety of long-term and potentially serious conditions that can result from persistent stress.
Studies that have been carried out at the National Institutes of Health and at other institutions for example strongly suggest that stress affects the immune system. Interestingly enough these very studies also show that the affect on the immune system can be both bad and good.
Given that one definition of stress is that it is simply a person's 'flight or fight' response to a perceived threat, it can have a positive affect. For example, it can, trigger the release of chemicals which help to heal infections arising from bites. That makes sense if you think about just how evolution may have tailored the immune system to deal with such problems.
But, when this response persists over a lengthy time period, the affects may be detrimental and one consequence is that the immune system actually becomes less effective leading to a higher susceptibility to infection and less resistance to flu and other viral illnesses.
Another consequence is a general feeling of tiredness and sometimes even depression. If an individual is stressed for long periods of time then a feedback loop is created between the cause of the stress (the clear belief that it is not possible to solve the problem that is causing the stress) and its affects. This produces a cycle in which your belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Chronic stress may also effect your health by compromising you circulatory system. If stress hormones which are released as a result of the 'fight or flight' trigger are not depleted by {some form of physical activity such as fighting off infection|the physical activity of, for example, fighting off infection then they can produce actual physiological stress on the body.
High blood pressure increases the tension on the walls of blood vessels which can result in small tears appearing in the blood vessels. If the body reacts to repair these micro-tears, scar tissue can be produced which restricts the flow of blood through these vessels.
Whenever stress levels reach extremely high levels or remain for long enough a heart attack may occur. The likelihood of heart attack is also higher in older individuals or in individuals who carry specific genetic characteristics. With narrowed blood vessels, the heart may well be unable to deliver enough blood and oxygen at moments of high demand.
Doctors have also been aware for a long time that stress can worsen the affects of rheumatoid arthritis and this is also now explained by the affect which stress has on the immune system as there is a proven and well documented link between rheumatoid arthritis and the immune system.
Avoiding stress is important for all of us if we are to maintain good health and, luckily, as we gain a clearer understanding of stress we are also developing various extremely helpful techniques for relieving stress.
Donald Saunders
Author Bio
For more information about stress, including such things as stress symptoms and stress relief please visit Stress-Relief-And-Anxiety-Relievers.com
