|
  
|
|
The Physical Dangers of Stress
Stress is the ultimate proof of the mind-body connection. Your mind perceives
the stress; your body reacts to it physically. In fact, there really isn't
a part of your body that isn't affected by stress.
Stress, by its very nature, starts with the brain. Your body reacts like a
roller coaster to the anxiety. It takes you up – fast, and then brings you
crashing down – just as fast. Your perceived level of threat stimulates a
surge of hormones, which is the cause of the heightened state of alertness
which accompanies the stress. That's why, very often, you find you can neither
sleep nor relax while you're in this state.
But, since your body can't continue in this hyper-mode for a long time, you
soon find that once the hormone level subsides, you are brought back down.
This is when you experience the headaches, moodiness, memory loss, inability
to concentrate, and at times, even aggressive behavior.
It's well known that stress suppresses and weakens your immune system, your
first line of defense against colds, the flu and other health issues. Your
reaction to stress lowers your body's white blood cell count, which reduces
your system's ability to heal itself.
Without a doubt, the most widely researched effects of stress on the body deal
with the heart. It has been widely publicized that more heart attacks occur at
the beginning of the work week - Monday (www.bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/health/612550.stm),
than any other day of the week. As an interesting side note, many of those
occur in the parking lot of the person's place of employment in the morning.
Some of the lesser known physical symptoms of stress reveal themselves in some
of the most unlikely places, like the ears, the lungs and even in the hair.
Those racing hormones which give us the ability to react more quickly to our
perceived danger also heighten our sense of hearing. While this may sound like
a benefit, in reality, it can be a danger. Research conducted at Cornell
University revealed that even a moderate amount of noise is capable of
elevating the damaging stress hormones.
Another study indicates that a collection of smaller noisy stressors – taken
together – can actually be more stressful than one time loud noise. So, moms,
it's not your imagination: a loud television in the background, kids yelling
and screaming, horns honking, and other noises really do send your nerves on
end.
A large part of the fight-or-flight response resides in your lungs. One of our
first reactions to a stressful situation is to hyperventilate. Our body is
preparing our lungs for that extra oxygen in that will soon be needed in our
bloodstream to run from threat, which in prehistoric era meant a large, deadly
animal. But today, our threats aren't as overt as that. So, for the most part, increased breathing causes dizziness and pains in the diaphragm. Severe
stress, additionally, exacerbates an existing asthma condition and any other
pre-existing respiratory problems.
You shouldn't be surprised that under conditions of continual stress you
discover that your hair isn't as shiny as it once was. In fact, you may even
discover that you're losing some of your hair. It's part of your body's very
real reaction to tension. Hair is considered by many a barometer of your inner
health. So, in stressful situations, your hair is the first part of your body to
feel the repercussions.
Those old movies that show a woman who has just been scared witless by some
monster suddenly developing a streak of grey hair aren't' far from the truth.
Stress triggers your autoimmune system to attack your own hair follicles.
Another good example of this is to examine the men who become U.S. presidents.
If the individual didn't enter the office with grey hair, he certainly left
with it after even as few as four years. An even more severe reaction is your
hair actually falling out.
|
Sitemap
|
| |
|
|
|
