Is Stress Really As Detrimental To Your Health As You Think?

It has been known for many years that stress can affect your health but we are only now beginning to properly understand exactly how stress can affect the body. A number of the myths surrounding stress, such as the fact that stress might cause ulcers, are at last being laid to rest and others are now being confirmed.

A lot of the more obvious affects of stress such as, headaches, a rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, high blood pressure and digestive problems are easily recognized and well known, however there are also various longer-term and potentially serious conditions which can be created by chronic stress.

Studies which have been undertaken at the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere for example suggest strongly that stress affects the body's immune system. Interestingly these very studies have also shown that the affect can be both bad and good.

As one particular definition of stress is that it is simply a person's 'fight or flight' response to an apparent threat, it can clearly have a good affect. It can, for example, trigger the release of chemicals that help to heal infections resulting from bites. This makes sense when you consider how evolution might have tailored the body's immune system to cope with these problems.

However, when this particular response lasts for an extended period of time, the affects can be harmful and one consequence is that the body's immune system actually becomes less effective resulting in an increased susceptibility to infection and a reduced resistance to flu and other viral illnesses.

Another consequence is an overall feeling of tiredness and sometimes even depression. If a person is stressed for long periods of time then a feedback loop develops between the cause of the stress (the clear belief that it is not possible to find a solution for the problem which is causing the stress) and the affects. This produces a cycle in which the belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Chronic stress can also impact your health by compromising you circulatory system. If stress hormones released by the 'flight or fight' trigger are not used up by {some form of physical activity such as fighting infection|the physical activity of, for example, fighting infection then they can cause actual physiological stress on the body.

High blood pressure hightens the pressure on the walls of blood vessels which can result in tiny tears arising in the blood vessels. If the body then reacts to heal these micro-tears, scar tissue can be produced which restricts the blood flow through the vessels.

Whenever stress levels reach extremely high levels or remain for a long enough period of time then heart attacks can occur. The likelihood of heart attack is also raised in older individuals or in individuals who carry certain genetic characteristics. With a narrowing of the blood vessels, the heart may well be unable to deliver sufficient blood and oxygen at moments of high demand.

Doctors have also been aware for some time that stress can exacerbate the affects of rheumatoid arthritis and this is now also explained by the affect of stress on the immune system as there is a well documented and proven connection between rheumatoid arthritis and the body's immune system.

Avoiding stress is vital for us all to maintain good health and, luckily, as we begin to gain a clearer knowledge of stress we are also developing a number of extremely useful stress relief techniques.