March Focus: How does stress affect your wellness?
How does stress affect your wellness?
The effects of stress are vast within the body and contribute to many of the major health issues that exist in our modern world. Below is a list,with the link to stress and resulting effects. See how many of these physiological effects of stress are showing up on your personal list:
Blood Pressure and Circulation: when stressed, blood vessels constrict in a fight or flight response to direct blood flow away from the extremities. Heart rate and blood pressure also increase.
Chronic stress in this area can lead to hypertension, increased risk of stroke, damaged blood vessels, reduced kidney function, and heart damage.
Digestion: When stressed, digestion is paused to conserve energy by diverting blood away from the digestive system, decreasing secretions that digest food, and stopping the contractions needed to digest food.
Chronic stress in this area can disrupt digestive acids, reduce absorption of nutrients, slow or disrupt bowel movements, and cause inflammation in the GI system.
Immune health: A constant stream of stress hormones affects immune system efficiency, sometimes by up to 50% after periods of major stress.
Chronic disruption to the immune system from stress can increase inflammation, increase susceptibility to disease, and increase risk of auto-immune diseases
Cholesterol and Triglycerides: Stress can raise levels of LDL cholesterol and decrease the healthy HDL cholesterol levels as well as slow the rate at which triglycerides are cleared from the bloodstream.
Chronic elevated levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides as well as low levels of HDL cholesterol are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Sleep: When stressed, the body is placed in a state of hyper-arousal, when this is a chronic occurrence, stress hormones will prevent restful sleep and circadian rhythms can get disrupted.
Chronic insomnia due to stress will increase daily fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, tension headaches, depression, anxiety, and irritability.
Bone Density: High levels of stress will reduce the body’s ability to absorb calcium and in turn block bone regrowth.
Chronic stress can lead to weakening of bones, osteoporosis and weak or soft teeth.
Muscle Tension: We are all very acutely aware of the fact that stress increases tension in the muscles as a result of the fight or flight response.
Chronic stress can lead to chronic pain in the shoulder and neck, frequent tension headaches, grinding teeth, poor posture.
Skin health: Stress related inflammation can result in increased sensitivity and reactivity of the skin
Chronic stress induced inflammation can increase oil production, aggravation of conditions like psoriasis, rosacea, eczema, and acne, and loss of collagen.
Hair loss and gray hair: We all joke about our main stressors causing us to go gray early, but it’s actually a proven fact! Hair growth can slow or stop as a result of stress as well as affect the cells that add color to hair.
A major stress events can cause you to lose your hair for up to 3 months.
Heart Disease: This is often a worry for families of people who’s loved ones work in high stress jobs and for good reason. Chronic stress is a good predictor of heart disease.
Long term results of stress include damage to blood vessels, enlarged left ventricle, heart attach, and arrhythmias.
