WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY WHEN STRESSED?
Stress is a part of everyday life whether it’s the thought of a looming deadline an argument with your partner or worrying about how you’re going to pay next month’s rent we all experience different doses of stress throughout our lives but what does stress do to the body and how harmful are high levels of stress to your physical health welcome to brilliant thinking intrigue your mind click that subscribe button before we get started and you’ll never miss out on another amazing video you’ll want to brew a cup of herbal tea and run a relaxing bath after this one because today we’re talking about what stress does to the human body we speak about stress like it’s a bad thing but it’s more like ice cream a little bit here and there causes no harm but too much can be unhealthy how does the body react to stress when we experience stressful stimuli the central nervous system tells the body’s adrenal gland to release cortisol and adrenaline this in turn releases glucose into the bloodstream in preparation to power your muscles additionally.
These hormones alter the immune system suppress the digestive system and communicate with brain regions that control mood motivation and fear in these ways cortisol and adrenaline optimize your body for fleeing a potential threat evolutionary stress was tied to the fight or flight response and it allowed our ancestors to run screaming when a hungry saber-toothed tiger ambushed their cave while most of the tigers are gone these days our body’s central nervous system still reacts like our big brown relatives did nowadays the stress response has more negative than positive impacts in our lives.
Especially in the long term experiencing high levels of stress on a regular basis for extended periods of time can cause anxiety depression digestive problems headaches heart disease and sleep problems amongst other things while some of these symptoms usually go away once the stress is reduced high levels of stress can cause chronic and permanent illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome and heart disease additionally it’s been found that consistently high levels of cortisol brought on by stress has been linked to shorter life expectancies in numerous academic studies one such study by researchers at Purdue university followed sixteen hundred men ages forty-three to ninety-one for twelve years to examine.
How those with consistently high levels of stress varied over time at the end of the study only 50 percent of the men with high levels of stress were alive compared to 85 percent of the other group this shows a clear correlation between high levels of stress and a lower lifespan highlighting the dangerous effects of long-term stressors on the body worryingly stress is also associated with unhealthy habits such as smoking taking illicit drugs and abusing alcohol which are both maladaptive and life-shortening coping mechanisms so yes you can actually stress yourself to death stress can be a good thing not all stress is a bad thing some short-term effects of stress can help you cope with serious situations like an exam or important work assignment feelings of stress tend to make you more alert and can improve your memory recall under pressure so it makes sense that a healthy amount of stress can actually be beneficial in certain situations you should however ensure a state of constant stress doesn’t become a lifestyle or you’ll likely experience some of the detrimental effects that stress can have on the body.