A Psychological Report on Stress and its Effects on Individuals

This report explores the multifaceted effects of stress on individuals, encompassing both physical and psychological dimensions. It begins by defining stress and its common manifestations, such as headaches, fatigue, and emotional distress like anxiety and depression. The report delves into the physiological mechanisms of stress, highlighting the roles of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and their impact on the body. It further examines the interconnectedness of stress, depression, and anxiety, emphasizing the brain's role in stress response. The report also provides practical strategies for managing stress, including mindfulness practices and the cultivation of positive thought patterns. This report utilizes references to support the findings.

RUNNING HEAD: SELF-EVALUATION AND INFORMATIVE SPEECH
Stress and its effects
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1Stress and its effect
A very common physical and emotional tension that every individual faces is stress. It has got
crucial effect on the health and well-being of an individual. It comes from thoughts, which
triggers negative emotions of nervousness, anger, frustration and so on. Some basic
symptoms of stress are Nausea, Low energy, Insomnia and several types of physical aches
and pains. When an individual is stressed many physiological changes occur to that person.
The hormones of stress like cortisol and adrenaline gets released. It elicits threatening
sensations such as rising of the blood pressure, faster beating of hearts, difficulty in
concentration, muscle tightening and so on. Depression, Stress and Anxiety are related to
each other. Hypothalamus generates the stress hormones inside the brain (Falconier et al,
2015). Cortisol hormones tends to minimize the ability of brain for proper functioning and
decreases its size. Stress is caused in the body, mind, emotions and behavior of human
beings. In the body it is caused through headaches, muscular twitches, skin irritation and
fatigues. In mind, it is caused by worrying, hasty decisions and negativity. In emotions, it is
caused by depression, lack in confidence, low self-esteem and apathy. In the behavior, it is
caused by over consumption of alcohol, excessive smoking, restlessness, losing appetite and
so on. Stress can be managed by a conscious practice of mindfulness daily. Meditation also
helps to cope up with it. The mind is a powerful place, an individual has to feed it fierce self-
love and develop a habit of thinking good thoughts whenever any negative one arrives (Rush
& Sharma, 2017).

2Stress and its effect
References
Falconier, M. K., Nussbeck, F., Bodenmann, G., Schneider, H., & Bradbury, T. (2015). Stress
from daily hassles in couples: Its effects on intradyadic stress, relationship
satisfaction, and physical and psychological well‐being. Journal of marital and family
therapy, 41(2), 221-235.
Rush, S. E., & Sharma, M. (2017). Mindfulness-based stress reduction as a stress
management intervention for cancer care: a systematic review. Journal of evidence-
based complementary & alternative medicine, 22(2), 348-360.