How Can Stress Affect Your Physical Health

A 2022 poll by the American Psychological Association shows that 65% of Americans are stressed, citing economic challenges and tense political climates as significant reasons.

The human body can handle stress and health issues up to a certain point. However, chronic stress has an effect on every system of the body, including the respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, musculoskeletal, nervous, gastrointestinal, and reproductive systems. If left unchecked, stress can be a possible cause of serious health risks.

Stress is often linked with mental health issues. Check your mental state online with SmartCare.

What is Stress, and Why Does It Happen

Experts describe stress as the emotional, psychological, or physical tension a person feels when under pressure or overwhelmed. It is the body’s way of responding to anything that requires attention or action.

Stress is also the body’s natural defense behavior against danger and predators. It is a psychological and physiological response that often occurs when a person experiences new and unexpected situations that threaten the sense of self. When faced with a threat or a challenge, the body undergoes a partially physical response. The brain activates the “fight-or-flight” response, which triggers a person to stay and fight or flee to safety.

The body produces excess cortisol, the stress hormone, and adrenaline, the “fight-or-flight” hormone, which readies someone to take the required position. These hormones cause the following mental reactions:

• Alertness
• Sweating
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Heightened muscle preparedness

Chronic stress should not be confused with acute stress, which occurs within a month of a traumatic event. Acute stress is short-term, while extreme stress is long-term.

What Does Stress Do to the Body

How does stress affect the body? The short and long-term effects of stress on the body vary from person to person. Short-term effects are not a cause for concern as they quickly resolve independently.

However, research published in a biology medical journal shows that chronic stress can lead to inflammation, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and autoimmune conditions. Here is how some of the long-term effects of stress can affect the body’s systems.

Respiratory System

Emotional stress causes the airway between the nose and lungs to constrict, which can cause shortness of breath. This situation has more of an impact on people with pre-existing respiratory conditions like asthma and chronic bronchitis. Acute stress can even trigger asthmatic attacks.

Ask a doctor about helpful stress management techniques to prevent harmful outcomes.

Musculoskeletal System

Typically, the muscles tense up in preparation for fight or flight at the onset of stress and ease up once the anxiety passes. However, chronic stress forces the muscles to be in a constant state of tension. Chronic muscle tension can lead to other conditions like tension headaches and migraines.

Cardiovascular System

With acute stress, a person’s heart rate and blood pressure increase and return to normal after the anxiety passes. Chronic stress keeps the heart rate constantly elevated, increasing blood pressure and the risk of developing a heart attack and stroke.
Persistent chronic stress can also pressure the vascular system causing inflammation, mainly in the coronary arteries.

Nervous System

The autonomic system forms part of the nervous system and directly impacts the body’s physical response to stress. The autonomic system is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

The SNS is responsible for the “fight-or-flight” response, activates the release of cortisol and adrenaline, and prepares the body for reacting. Chronic stress forces this body to stay constantly prepared. The autonomic system continues to trigger physical responses causing a long-term drain on the body.