What Can Stress Do to the Body and Brain | Long-Term Effects

21 Dec What Can Stress Do to the Body and Brain | Long-Term Effects

Stress is a part of everyone’s life – for some, it’s their driving force in challenging situations while for others it’s the reason behind a shattered work-life balance.

However, it’s true that while stress is not always bad, prolonged stress can take a toll on your mind and body. 

Moreover, what stress can do to your body also depends on the level of stress, your health, and also how you handle stressful situations. 

One thing’s for sure, though. 

Not doing anything about it is not an option because stress often comes out in the form of hair fall, skin rashes, chest pain, and many other repercussions.

Be it work pressure, family issues, or any other drama; when stress begins to heighten and take the driving seat in your life, you’ll start to feel the negative effects of stress. 

So, let’s figure out more about what does stress do to the body and what you can do about it.

What Does Stress Do To Your Body?

If you are constantly under stress, eventually your body will start to reflect it in some way or the other. 

And after a point of holding it off, it eventually starts to cause damage to your health both emotionally and physically.

Long term effects of stress on your body can be classified into:

• Physical Effects Of Stress
• Psychological Effects Of Stress

Let’s know about these in detail.

Physical Effects Of Stress

Some of the physical health problems provoked by stress are:

#1. Sore Muscles And Joint Pains

Stress can affect your musculoskeletal system. Muscle tensions are the body’s way to protect you from any injury. And continuous tension can lead to pain and body aches. 

Tightness and soreness of muscles can give rise to arthritis symptoms and persistent pain in the back and shoulders can result in headaches and migraines.

#2. Heart Diseases

It might be difficult for you to believe but stress can affect your heart. Even small stressful circumstances like trying to meet the deadline and family problems can increase your heartbeat. 

Moreover, too much stress can discharge too much cortisol, i.e., the stress hormone, and worsen the heart’s condition.

Not to mention, acute stress can lead to cardiovascular effects which can result in heart attacks, artery damage, stroke, damaged blood vessels, and hypertension.

#3. Gastrointestinal Issues

Stress leading to shifts in eating habits is quite common. The first thing we do when we get stressed is either skip eating or load ourselves with junk. 

Changed eating habits can result in acid reflux, heartburn, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, and constipation.

Moreover, gastrointestinal issues can affect the intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients.

#4. Affect The Menstrual Cycle

Ladies will agree with this!

Stress directly affects their menstrual cycle. Because of too much stress, the period date might shift. 

Also, stress can lead to an increase in premenstrual symptoms.

#5. Low Fertility

Prolonged stress can impact men’s fertility. 

It can lower the sperm count and can decrease the quality of the sperm produced. 

Adding to it, in women, stress can affect hormonal levels and can lead to irregular ovulation. 

#6. Lower Immunity

Stress affects your overall health. Be it your sleep, your diet, or your heart. So, no wonder it has a negative impact on your immunity as well. 

Stress is known to weaken your body’s ability to fight infections and illnesses. 

As a result, you get sick easily and find it difficult to overcome any infection or any other kind of injury. 

Moreover, constant stress and anxiety also lower the wound healing ability and it has been seen that the body of people with high stress takes more time to heal a wound.

#7. Excessive Hair Fall

If you’re wondering what happened to your luscious and bouncy hair lately, stress might be one of the reasons behind the lost shine and thickness of your hair. 

By affecting the diet and your hormones, stress can affect the growth of your hair too. 

An unusual hair fall pattern could be a sign as well as the result of excess stress.

Adding to it, not merely stress can cause hair fall, but also it can lead to premature graying of hair. 

#8. Skin Problems

You might find it hard to acknowledge but your skin issues are related to stress as well. 

To elaborate, under stress, the body releases a hormone called cortisol. This hormone after some time starts to diffuse the gut wall, resulting in the leaking of toxic bacteria into the blood. 

This can trigger the immune response and lead to rashes, itchiness, psoriasis, and other skin-related diseases.

#9. Worsen Respiratory Problems

If you have asthma, stress can only add to the problem. 

Yes, you read that right. 

Acute stress or extended stress can worsen respiratory problems. That is to say, stress leads to anxiety and can cause panic attacks and troubled breathing.

#10. Degraded Nails

You must have noticed that many people chew nails when under stress. 

But it’s not only about that.

High cortisol levels which happen because of stress can actually disrupt the growth of your nails. 

Stress can affect your body physically, and this is a well-known fact now. Moreover, it can also decrease one’s ability to endure pain. 

A study done on children with recurring pain showed that stress reduced the tolerance level for that pain. 

Another study proved that stress can have detrimental effects on skeletal muscle functions. 

How Stress Affects Skeletal Muscle Function In Geriatrics?

Objective: Old age comes with weak skeletal muscles and muscle functions. And stress and cognition affect muscle function. This study demonstrates the effect of stress on muscle function in geriatrics.

Method: A cross-sectional study was done on 64 subjects which excluded people with a previous history of muscle-skeletal and neurological disorders. 

Maximum voluntary contraction and endurance time were measured with a handgrip dynamometer. 

Result: Stress hormones have a negative effect on skeletal muscle and could be a risk factor for disability. 

Moving on, stress also highly affects your sanity. And it’s just not limited to headaches. 

Depending on the type of stress and how long it continues to stay, stress can impair you mentally.

Psychological Effects Of Stress on the Brain

Unlike the physical effects of stress, the psychological effects of stress on your brain can’t be seen initially. 

The mental illness caused by stress and anxiety sometimes goes unrecognized. That is to say, many people even fail to comprehend that stress is affecting them mentally. It only comes to light when the situation goes out of hand. 

Here are some of the psychological effects of stress on the body:

#1. Frequent Mood Swings

Stress can play with your mood. Frequent mood swings, restlessness, and irritability are witnessed among people dealing with stress. 

The fact that stress affects the key mood-affecting neurotransmitters, serotonin, and dopamine, signifies that stress can affect your mood. 

#2. Leads To Depression

Depression is often the result of stress or some unresolved trauma. Prolonged stress can reduce your enthusiasm and can interfere with the ability to complete everyday activities. 

While many people take the ups and downs as a part of life, some fall into depressing feelings. 

Depression comes with underlying issues like lack of sleep, change in appetite, and concentration issues as well. 

Not only that but depression also results in suicidal thoughts. 

#3. Anxiety Disorders

Stressed people have shown mild as well as severe signs of anxiety. 

People with mild anxiety due to stress have shown signs like biting nails, fidgeting, and tapping feet.

Whereas, those people with high anxiety showed signs like heart racing, sweaty palms, nausea, and difficulty breathing. 

The thought process that results in stress can trigger anxiety feelings and sometimes drags people into worrisome conditions. 

#4. Can Alter Cognitive Functions

The continuous presence of stress can affect some aspects of the nervous system. 

To explain, stress hormones can damage the brain cells and can result in confusion, concentration issues, trouble learning new things, and decision-making problems.

#5. Stress Can Contribute To Dementia

Family issues, work pressure, and the stress to keep a balance between personal and professional life sums up the mid-life of every person these days. 

A high level of mid-life stress can result in loss of memory in the later part of life. 

In a study, women with mid-life stressors showed a 65% greater risk of developing dementia.

#6. Triggers Seizures

People dealing with epilepsy found stress to be a trigger for seizures. Chronic stress is among the common triggers of seizures among epilepsy patients. 

Also, continuous stress increases the patient’s susceptibility to seizures making it difficult for them to do their everyday tasks.

The psychological effects of stress during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood are even scientifically researched. 

STUDY

Objective: This study focused on the psychological, behavioral, and biological effects of specific stressors. 

Results: Lifetime exposure to traumatic events, stress, and trauma lead to PTSD, depression, anxiety disorder, cognitive impairment, and even substance abuse. 

Stressful behaviors and environments can only lead to more health risks and well-being issues. 

So, learning how to cope with stress is vital for mental, emotional, and physical health. 

How To Deal With Stress?

Some stressors like work pressure, traffic issues, and exam stress are part of a normal lifestyle. Moreover, this sort of stress keeps you motivated, alarmed, focused, and excited. 

But when stress starts to take over your life, it’s time to take steps to manage it and keep yourself away from the many negative effects of stress. 

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of all these measures.

#1. Spend Time With People

Simply spending time with people you love and sharing your problems can decline the level of stress. 

A brief exchange of kind words and a friendly look can soothe your nervous system and improve your mood. 

Talking to people and discussing problems encourage a secure feeling and confidence to deal with stress and anxiety.

#2. Learn To Relax

Stress is inescapable but the way you deal with it determines how it affects your life. 

Moreover, some relaxing techniques like yoga, self-talk motivation, evening walks, or something as simple as deep breathing can relax your nerves and help you calm down. 

#3. Improve Your Diet

Eating nutritious food can help you fare well in stressful situations. Whereas, convenience foods and junk foods can only exacerbate the situation. 

Adding to it, a nutritious and healthy diet can not only help release toxins but also neutralize what stress does to your body.

#4. Spend Time With Your Pets

Hanging out with your pets is a proven technique to release stress and relax. 

After a tiring and stressful day, simply playing with your pet could be the best stress buster. 

#5. Make Time For Your Hobby

Making some time for yourself and giving preference to what you like doing is great.

That is to say, hobbies can lessen the burden of everyday stress and problems and encourage joyful feelings. 

#6. Get Ample Rest

These days, lack of sleep or rest tops the list among the causes of stress. The need to do well in personal and professional life makes people encounter numerous sleepless nights. 

Taking even 6-7 hours of sound sleep can be of great help. 

#7. Keep Some Distance From Technology

Limiting the screen hours can be a game-changer in your stressful life. 

Making a routine for children regarding the amount of time they spend on phones, TV, and laptops can help them protect their mental health. 

It is also of considerable assistance for all ages of people. Rather than spending time on phones, interacting with nature can help you bounce back happily. 

#8. See A Counselor Or Therapist

Negative thoughts can leave you overwhelmed and can affect your thinking process. 

When chronic stress starts to play with your mental health, it’s time to see a counselor and seek professional help. 

What causes stress doesn’t matter as much as how you deal with it. 

Modern stressors like challenging relationships, financial issues, and exaggerated body goals are common these days. 

But if you let these stressors take a toll on your body and mind, it can negatively impact you.

Before You Go!

So, basically, stress is nothing but your body’s way of projecting that something is not right, and you need to take steps to take control of the situation. 

Consequences of too much stress are linked to depression, heart diseases, muscle sprains, joint problems, weight gain, memory loss, and even premature death. 

Hence, it is crucial to recognize the symptoms of stress and anxiety and combat its physical and psychological effects. 

Moreover, if at any point you feel the need to get professional advice, don’t hesitate and get help immediately. 

And as Andrew J. Bernstein rightly said,

“Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.”

We look forward to knowing your thoughts down in the comments section. And don’t forget to share the blog if it resonated with you.

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