Issue #50: How Stress Harms You
Issue #50: How Stress Harms You
Learn about the negative effects of stress, why it can damage you long term and what to do about it
Dear mental health advocate,
Are you easily stressed? Or dealing with a lot of pressure on yourself lately? It’s pretty common to juggle a lot that’s going on in your life. Unfortunately, having to manage severe stress for extended periods of time is not good for your health. So, in today’s free edition of The Present Psychologist Paper I will explain how stress can harm you in the long-term and what you can do about it. Keep on reading!
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The Dangers of Long-Term Stress
A busy life is something we all seem to have nowadays. In Amsterdam, where I live, everyone is running around from appointment to meetings, the gym, social get-togethers, family and many other activities without much time to relax and recharge. My life generally looks like that too. And you know what? It stresses me out. Huge to-do lists, full agendas and worrying about the future can overwhelm quickly. I guess it is part of life, jumping from task to task. That’s just what people do. Right? Well, to a certain extent. It is not always healthy and sustainable. Burnout percentages are increasing, and there is a reason why meditation, mindfulness and yoga have become so popular. The rat race is in full swing, but the movement to lead a more quiet life with less stressors and triggers seems to grow strong too.
True, stress is perfectly normal. Everyone deals with it from time to time. But the issue is, like with many things in the world, balance is key. Being exposed to consistent and heavy stress is very unhealthy and completely dysregulates your body and mind. There are hormones involved and your nervous system plays a big role. Chronic stress is known to lead to health risks and triggers your fight-or-flight response more often than is needed. The processes in your body are disrupted and the negative consequences are yours to bear. Sounds gruelling right? Well, it is. I can’t stress the hazardous, long-lasting effects enough (see what I did there…) so you hopefully will be nudged to live a life without constant and enormous pressure. Today I will explain more about stress, how it exactly affects our body and what to do if you are dealing with it.
Okay, so what is stress and what does it do?
Stress can best be defined as our body’s response to various types of internal and external pressure. That means there are many situations and triggers possible leading to tension. Sometimes it happens when we face difficulties controlling a certain event, when we feel threatened by something or when our sense of security is compromised. How we react to a stimulus is different for everyone. Think about doing an exam. Some might be crippled with stress, while others deal with a healthy amount of nerves. Two reasons cause these, according to the Mayo Clinic:
Our experiences in life. What we have been through in our life can put a stamp on how we behave and react in certain situations. A childhood trauma for example impacts your stress response and can be responsible for how you respond to an event. Or, if you are used to something you have repeatedly done before it influences you as well. Imagine going on stage to perform for the first time, likely it makes you more nervous compared to a seasoned artist going at it for the hundredth time.
Our genetics. Not everyone has the same genes and the slightest difference can impact our stress reaction. For example, although we all have an automatic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the exact output of hormones and how the HPA and ANS react to outside stressors varies from person to person.
The moment we feel stressed by something, our muscles start to tighten to potentially help our body guard against injury or to fight if needed. Our fight-or-flight response is triggered. This means that exposure to long-term stress creates a constant tension in the body. Also, when we experience acute stress, our heart rate goes up and the heart muscle contracts more severely. Stress hormones are released, like adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. These are responsible for sending messages to the body preparing to fight or flight. Imagine if you have chronic stress, your body then would constantly think it has to be ready to react any second. But, many times these stressors actually don’t require fight or flight. Instead, we try to tell our body to stop and go about our day. This completely dysregulates our nervous system and makes us more susceptible to health risks.
What does chronic stress look like in daily life?
While I believe most people are pretty much able to define whether they are constantly stressed or not, it is still helpful to recognize the signs. It can make you more aware to take a step back or signal that something needs to change. Chronic stress can present itself in several ways, but often looks like:
Issues with sleeping, such as insomnia or nightmares
Feeling nervous all the time, suffering from anxiety or even panic attacks
Muscle tension, aches, stomach pains, cramps, headaches
Loss of control, feeling helpless and difficulties concentrating
Compromised immune system, leading to being ill more often
Anger issues, irritability and lashing out regularly
What are long-term effects of chronic stress?
It might already be quite clear: stress is not good for you. Weirdly (and this is something I should tell myself too) enough, why is it that we all know that stress is bad for us, still we keep exposing ourselves to it? I guess we don’t always have control when it comes to specific situations or triggers. Nevertheless, it is harmful for our existence if we have to deal with chronic stress. Want to know why?
Persistent stress has a strong effect on our heart and our blood vessels. I explained before that our hormones lead to an increased heart rate and our heart muscle contracting more heavily. If this happens consistently, we are more prone to suffer from a heart attack, stroke or hypertension.
Stress causes issues in the communication between our immune system and the HPA axis. As a result, it is more likely that specific physical and mental health conditions develop. Examples of physical diseases are diabetes, obesity and immune disorders, or dealing with mental health illnesses like depression.
As well, chronic stress impacts our reproductive systems. In particular, it can lower our libido, increase the chance of erectile dysfunction, create irregular menstrual cycles and ultimately make it more difficult for women to conceive.
Is there anything I can do to make it better?
Yes! It all sounds quite negative so far, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, because there are plenty of options to lower all these negative effects. And completely erasing stress from your life is hard. That’s not really needed, a bit of stress is fine and sometimes healthy. Small amounts of stress can even be a motivator to some degree. Regardless, it could be good to try and incorporate a few of the below routines in your life to lower your stress levels:
Exercise often and maintain a healthy diet. Find a workout or activity you like and fits your wishes, which will make it easier to persevere. It does not mean you have to go to the gym, a proper walk each day already does wonders.
Focus on creating a healthy work-life balance. I know this is difficult for many, especially in a world where a career seems to be such an important indicator of success and presumed happiness. There’s more to life. If financially possible, try to work a few hours less and spend these on relaxation, hobbies or time with loved ones.
Include certain daily habits in your routine that prioritize relaxation and help you unwind from stressful moments. This looks different for everyone, but good examples are gratitude journaling, meditation, reading, listening to music and even just doing nothing can destress you a bit.
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My name is Alf Lokkertsen and I am a psychologist and writer, creating mental health content for you. My passion is to raise awareness about topics related to psychology, as it has helped me greatly in my personal life. I strongly believe that many problems could be avoided or dealt with better if everyone had some in-depth psychology knowledge.
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Nervous system regulation has become the primary focus of my work these days. It plays such a central role in our physical and mental health, influencing almost every system of the body. Such important work, and we are living so out of balance in the western world! It took healing from an autoimmune disease in my own life to fully understand the importance of this.