The Impact of Stress on Mental and Physical Wellbeing
There was a time when someone used to mention their stress and how badly it was affecting them; people used to make fun of it, calling it being soft and a loser, but nowadays people are becoming more and more mature and aware due to the presence of the internet and social media about stress and how it makes a hell of a life for a lot of people. In this article, we will see how stress affects humans' mental and physical well-being.
The Impact of Stress on Mental and Physical Wellbeing
Because medical science and research labs have grown so rapidly, humans can now study specific effects, like mutation, evolution, or biochemical changes, at fundamental levels caused by stress. Many world-renowned experts publish their research for free so people can read it, and most of these research papers are available on the internet; we have also provided links to some of those journals with summaries in easy language so that you can understand them quickly.
The impact of Stress on Mental and physical well-being can be easily noticed through symptoms like dizziness, dark circles, frustration, sudden weight loss and gain, hormonal problems, hair fall, pimples, etc. Many of the recognised doctors around the world advocate many different ways to tackle this problem by performing exercise, yoga, meditation, prayer, travel, listening to music, etc. But in this article, we are not going to just mention surface-level stuff; we will see the deep side of it.
Stress And Its Reasons
First of all lets define what is stress, because many of you may mistake many different health problem as Stress. In reality, it is not as big of a problem as the internet hypes it. It is pretty common to happen, and it can be defined as the natural response of the brain towards a bigger goal that is hard to achieve but very important to be done. Examples: Work pressure, financial concerns, relationship problems, academic demands, health issues, etc.
Major Impact Of Stress on the Brain
According to the research paper published in 1998 by Bruce S. McEwen (Protective and Damaging Effects of Stress Mediators), our brain experiences continuous emotional strain from chronic neuroendocrine system overdrive caused by stress. Another journal written by Habib Yaribeygi et al. in 2017 (The Impact of Stress on Body Function: A Review) mentions that stress causes Central Nervous System Alterations, Means affecting mood stability, processing speed, and cognitive regulation. Last but not least, one of the best articles by Robert M. Sapolsky, released in 1996 (Why Stress Is Bad for Your Brain), mentions how glucocorticoid neurotoxicity works. He explains that long-term release of stress hormones in the brain results in atrophy of CA3 hippocampal dendrites and inhibits neurogenesis, which badly affects declarative memory.
Top 10 Impacts On Mental Health Caused By Stress
- Anxiety
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Sleep loss
- Mood swings
- Reduced Motivation
- Decrease in self-esteem
- Headache
- Anger issues
- Decrease in willpower
- Isolating tendency
Major Impact Of Stress on the Physical Body
According to an article written by Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser et al. in 2002 on “Psychoneuroimmunology: Psychological Influences on Immune Function and Health”, Stress affects protein synthesis, which helps in patching up wounds, by slowing it down by up to 40 per cent. At first, in 1998, Experts mentioned that stress can negatively affect the heart health and they have explained the mechanism behind it in depth in a research paper titled “The Relationship of Depression to Cardiovascular Disease”. The physical body shows a lot of visible symptoms while experiencing stress, such as lower energy, Sudden Weight Loss or gain, Digestive issues, etc. Stress also causes acute blood pressure spikes, endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerotic plaque instability, and hypercoagulability (“Stress and Cardiovascular Disease”).
Most Common Ways To Deal With Stress
- Slow breathing
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Weight Lifting
- Mindfulness
- Reading
- Travelling
- Listening to music
- Playing Sports
- Dancing
Does Stress Cause Lower Life Expectancy?
Yes, Exposure to long-term stress can cause your body cells to age faster (“Accelerated Telomere Shortening in Response to Life Stress”), and it also causes healing to be slower, as mentioned previously in this article, which indirectly indicates that Stress lowers longevity. Physically, it is also quite visible when a person suffers long-term stress through symptoms like early whitening of hair, loosening of skin, under-eye hollowness, etc.
Most Common Reasons for Stress
Sometimes we do experience stress, but due to a lack of awareness at that moment, we find it difficult to actually diagnose the reason for it. So, to make it easier, here are some of the reasons in most of human life:
| Category / Factor A | Category / Factor B |
|---|---|
| Workload | Traumatic Events |
| Financial Concern | Sudden Big Changes in Life |
| Academic Goals | Insecurity or Comparison |
| Relationship problems | Death of Loved Ones |
| Health Concern | Unrealistic Expectations |
Should We Visit a Doctor for Stress?
Sometimes, long-term exposure to stress can cause autoimmune disease or certain changes in the body that cause bad effects in everyday life. Only in those cases must you visit a doctor. Otherwise, in most cases, stress and its symptoms end in a very small time period. As we have already discussed, stress is normal and natural; therefore, we should not be afraid of it. Once the time period of the goal that was causing stress ends, or the work gets done, then everything goes back to normal.
Positive Impacts of Stress
According to an article by Firdaus S. Dhabhar released in 2014, “Effects of Stress on Immune Function: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful”, very short-term stress may cause a sudden release of the adrenaline hormone, which may increase healing, immune system, and growth processes. Experiencing very strong stress can sometimes positively change the psychological aspect, according to “Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence”. Alia J. Crum mentions that sometimes short-term stress increases the ratio of DHEA relative to cortisol, Higher cognitive flexibility, and Better focus while doing high-risk challenges (“The Role of Stress Mindset in Shaping Cognitive, Emotional, and Physiological Responses”).
Conclusion
Stress does impact mental and physical wellbeing, and in most cases this impact is negative. Positive impacts are there, but taking stress should not be promoted. Normal methods are mentioned in the article that can help in dealing with stress, but if it affects you very badly, then visiting a doctor and taking medication is a must. Stress is a natural and normal reaction, and it should not be taken too seriously as marketed on social media.
FAQs
Is stress-related sleep disturbance normal?
Yes, but if it continuously affects you for many days, then visit a doctor.
Does stress cause major illness?
No, Stress is natural and normal. Only very long-term exposure to it can lead to major illness.
Are stress and Anxiety the same?
No, they are different. Stress happens from hard but important challenges to do, while anxiety can be described as mental fog; it can happen for many reasons, like hunger, waiting, an unsuitable environment, and temperature. It can also happen without any reason.
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