Stress Affects Health More Than You think

Here Are 4 Ways Stress Affects Health And Makes You Sick

You may think that stress just makes you feel bad emotionally, and maybe tired and hopeless, but stress affects your health in many more ways. Here’s why. The mind-body connection is not just a myth or broad wellness speak. It’s a very real phenomenon, a way to describe how aspects of your mental health can affect your physical health as well. Stress is one of the clearest examples. While stress is an unavoidable part of life and even beneficial in certain situations, like helping you act in emergencies, chronic stress can wreak havoc on the body. Here, we’re going to look at a few ways it does that.

Stress Affects Health By Weakening Your Immune System

Maintaining a strong immune system is vital if you want to be able to live freely and happily without worrying about the risk of continuously falling ill. When you’re stressed out, your body produces higher levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Your immune function is one of the things that cortisol is supposed to regulate, and excessive levels of cortisol can suppress immune function. This is why people who deal with stress often also typically get sick more often, be it from the cold, flu, or more serious infections.

Stress Affects Health With Inflammation

Inflammation itself is not a good or bad thing, but simply how the body responds to injury and infection. It can be helpful at times, but chronic stress typically causes it to kick into overdrive. This can lead to chronic inflammation, which is a leading cause of long-term health issues like back pain, joint pain, as well as conditions like arthritis, diabetes, and even autoimmune disorders. Many people who suffer from long-term stress also experience muscle pain, digestive issues, and headaches, which can often be attributed, at least in part, to an overactive inflammatory response.

Stress Affects Health By Reawakening Dormant Illnesses

There are some viruses that, once you catch them, don’t really fully leave the body. The chickenpox virus is a good example of this. Instead, it can lie dormant, posing no problems unless it has the opportunity, such as an immune system weakened by chronic stress. This is what leads to shingles. How does shingles look like? If you have a painful red rash, typically on one side of the body or face, that is developing small, fluid-filled blisters, then it may be a case of shingles that has awoken due to a weakened immune system.

Stress Affects Health By Weakening The Heart

Chronic stress greatly increases your risk of other chronic diseases down the line. Perhaps the most serious of these is the impact on your heart. Stress raises blood pressure, raises cholesterol, and can lead to more plaque building up in your arteries, all of which can contribute to heart disease. A lot of the ways we deal with stress, whether it’s smoking, overeating, or a lack of exercise, can exacerbate this issue. If you’re trying to tackle a chronic stress problem, it’s worth talking to your doctor about a physical just to make sure you’re treating any heart issues it might be causing, as well.

If you think you’re experiencing chronic stress, then it may be time to look into getting some health with is. The consequences on your health can be truly severe otherwise.