Though each person experiences stress differently, we are all accustomed to the physical feelings. Some people get jittery or feel their heart race, while others get headaches, stomachaches, or tense muscles.
In reality, we may not realize the effect of stress on our body’s organs and systems.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, from Ohio State University’s College of Medicine, emphasizes that people often underestimate the significant impact of stress.
When faced with stress, the brain releases hormones like cortisol, adrenaline (or epinephrine), and norepinephrine. These hormones lead to physiological changes known as the fight-or-flight response and help individuals respond to or survive threats.
The problem is that these changes can and often do result from non-life-threatening stressors. Work deadlines, traffic jams, financial strains, and family conflict can hurt one’s physical and mental health.
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An entire body’s reaction to stress
Here’s a thorough examination of the various organs and systems in the body, from head to toe, that can be impacted by stress.
1. How stress harms the brain:
Scientists observed that ongoing stress can harm the brain’s memory center due to high cortisol levels. Extended cortisol levels can also reduce attention, planning, problem-solving, creative thinking, and impulse control.
2. How stress harms the cardiovascular system:
When you’re stressed, your heart rate and blood pressure go up to help you fight or flee. This is a natural response, but in today’s world, constant stressors can prevent these levels from returning to normal as they should.
If you’re stressed for a long time, it can make your blood pressure go up, and you might gain weight, have trouble with insulin, and get more inflammation in your body. All of this together makes it much more likely that you could have a heart attack, stroke, or build-up plaques in your arteries.
3. How stress harms the respiratory system:
When you’re stressed, your breathing can become faster due to the sympathetic nervous system and stress hormones. This might make you feel out of breath. This faster and shallow breathing can affect your blood’s ability to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide.
A review from 2017 in the journal Respiratory Medicine found that different types of stress, like watching tense movies or having to finish a math assignment, activate the sympathetic nervous system. This activation was linked to mild narrowing of the airways (bronchoconstriction) in people with asthma, especially in response to passive stress.
4. How stress harms the immune system:
When you’re stressed, hormones like cortisol reach your immune system. Then it causes various disruptions. Inflammation increases as a factor in various illnesses like dementia and cardiovascular disease. Stress can also lead to the release of proteins called pro-inflammatory cytokines. This will affect the performance of the immune system.
Temporary inflammation is usually beneficial for the body’s healing process. But prolonged inflammation is not good. It can hurt healthy cells. This makes the risk of infection higher. It also weakens the body’s response to vaccinations. Additionally, it slows down the healing process.
Furthermore, the brain can absorb pro-inflammatory cytokines, which raises the risk of depression. People who are depressed often struggle with sleep and are less inclined to exercise. This difficulty in sleeping and lack of physical activity can make depression and inflammation worse.
5. How stress harms the gastrointestinal system:
Stress affects the gastrointestinal system in various ways. Stress can slow down the emptying of the gut, leading to feelings of nausea, bloating, or constipation.
These changes can make conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome worse.
A study in the 2020 issue of PLOS One discovered that among 1,078 IBD patients, psychological stress was connected to flare-ups of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. 75% of the participants recognized this connection.
Stress can lead to a leaky gut, and a leaky gut, in turn, can contribute to anxiety and depression because the gut communicates strongly with the brain.
6. How stress harms the skin:
If you’ve ever had a flare-up of eczema or acne while you were upset, you are aware of the effects of stress on the skin. We’ve learned over time that the skin is a very active organ in and of itself. It communicates moment-to-moment with the brain and has its immune system.
As a result, the skin’s immune system gets involved when there’s stress, whether it’s short-term or long-term. This involvement leads to inflammation. Then it makes skin conditions like rosacea, psoriasis, hives, and eczema worse.
Additionally, stress can affect the skin’s capacity to keep water. Stress can make the skin’s sebaceous glands produce more oil. This increase in oil production can worsen acne.
Days after a stressful incident, the skin shows the aftereffects. Stress does indeed affect the skin. This sets up a harmful cycle where stress worsens an existing skin problem. This, in turn, causes more distress and can either extend or make the condition worse.
In summary
Realizing the physiological effects of stress can make you appreciate how crucial it is to reduce it. Furthermore, experts noted that most of the negative consequences of stress are partly adjustable.
If you exercise regularly, get enough rest, and take action to manage stress, you can reduce stress activity in the brain. This, in turn, helps in lowering systemic inflammation. Moreover, these practices decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Deep breathing techniques, gradual muscle relaxation, yoga, meditation, and aerobic exercise are other ways to reduce your body’s reaction to stress.
Coloring books are often used as a therapeutic tool to reduce stress and promote relaxation. Coloring requires concentration and focus on the present moment. It helps individuals divert their attention from stressors and negative thoughts, promoting mindfulness. Concentrating on coloring allows the mind to relax and enter a meditative state.
Using these tactics makes sense because stressful situations and events, both large and minor, are unlikely to disappear very soon. More than merely significant stressors are important. Minor stressors that accumulate do, too, especially if you don’t manage them.
Also read: 1 Letter to a Stressed Mom
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