Stress is a part of life. While some is actually beneficial — like the kind that pushes you to meet a deadline, stress that’s frequent or long-lasting can take a real toll on your health. Too much stress negatively impacts your body, mood and emotional well-being. In fact, it can play a role in aggravating, or even causing, countless health problems. Our healthcare partners at AdventHealth share with you more about how stress can affect you and ways you can cope with it.
When you experience a stressful situation, your body gets ready for a life-and-death fight by producing a rush of hormones that speed up your heart rate and breathing and get your muscles ready to run or fight. This “fight-or-flight” response is your best friend if you’re running from a bear, but when the stress is from more frequent or long-term stressors, it can be your worst enemy.
Chronically elevated levels of “flight-or-fight” hormones can affect just about every system in your body. Some conditions linked to chronic stress include:
Stress can have such a wide-spread effect that it would be impossible to list all the ways it can show up in your body. Some of the most common symptoms of chronic stress include:
Now that you understand just how much stress can impact your health, let’s talk about what you can do to keep that from happening. The good news is that you can take control over your stress and teach your body how to cope when a stressful situation arises. Just remember that you’ll have the most success if you practice these strategies regularly — not just when stress rears its ugly head.
Some ways to manage stress include:
If you feel like you’re not able to manage your stress level on your own, please visit our site to find a professional therapist to help you develop strategies for coping with your stress. Your whole health is too important to put off another day.
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