Analyzing the Effects of Stress on Health: A Comprehensive Overview

This essay examines the multifaceted impact of stress on human health, detailing how stress, defined as the body's response to demanding situations, affects individuals emotionally, physically, and psychologically. It highlights that while stress doesn't directly cause illness, it compromises the immune system and overall well-being. The essay outlines various stressors, including life changes, chronic conditions, work-life imbalances, and academic pressures, and discusses how these stressors manifest in behavioral, emotional, and physical symptoms. It further elaborates on the effects of stress on specific organs like the brain and heart, leading to conditions like depression, heart problems, and fertility issues. The essay concludes that managing stress is crucial for maintaining overall health, referencing studies and research that underscore the importance of stress reduction techniques for improved well-being. Desklib offers a range of resources for students seeking to further understand and manage stress.

How stress can affect our health
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How stress can affect our health 1
How stress can affect our health
Stress can be describes as the state where the individuals experiences a number of difficulties in
order to cope up with the various situations. The individuals lack capabilities to manage the
uncertain situations which in turn develop stress or anxiety. All these situations are considered as
the stressors and the manner in which people react are known as stress response. There is no
direct ill-health or infections caused by stress but have a huge impact on the health of the
individuals. Instead, the various things produced in the course of stress interrupt with the daily
functions of the immune system (American Psychological Association, 2018). There are several
researches or studies which have established that the stress has an immunosuppressive impact,
which illustrates that the operations of the immune system gets reduced when people experiences
stress. People across the world experiences a lot of stress in their daily lives and routine work
and the stress directly have a major impact over their health. There is difference in the types of
reactions given by the individuals who suffer stress as they possess different emotional, physical
and psychological aspects (Glanz, K. and Schwartz, 2008).
Stress is regarded as one of the most important problem for the human health. Individuals face
numerous issues in their lives and all these problems upsurge the level of stress. It ultimately
reduces the quality of life. In the opinion of authors, researchers and scholar, stress affects the
health in various negative ways. Firstly, there is a major impact upon the psychology of the
individuals, their social life which ultimately damages the health of the people. Stress makes the
individuals feel angry, nervous and upset and to overcook such situations, people started taking
help of various drugs which ultimately deteriorates the health of the individuals (McEwen,
2008). Usually, it has been analyzed that the people suffering high stress level take more number
of medicines for decreasing the stress levels but on the other side all these medicines have some
or other side effect which negatively impacts the health of the people. Due to the consumption of
the medicines, people started feeling drowsy and tired. It may result in a number of physical
problems and health issues. The individuals started to lose weight and also excessive hair fall.
The stressed individuals are more prone to illness ad they tend to get ill quickly. For example,
the stressed individuals have high risk of panic attacks and depression and thus such individuals
cannot live their life in a happier state (WebMD, 2018).

How stress can affect our health 2
There are several traits of stress that comprises of sleep disorder, violence, pressure, annoyance,
incapability to relax, high blood pressure, prickliness and chronic worry. The individuals who
have high Individuals who have high stress level usually suffer from muscle tension, headaches,
more addictive towards drinking and smoking. The various indications of mental pressure as
moodiness, annoyances and sleepiness may lead the individuals hooked on various other
problems such as excessive smoking and worse body snags. There are different traits of stress
and mental pressure which comprises of social, bodily, mental and emotive (Schneiderman,
Ironson and Siegel, 2005). The various mental indications results in memory problems, constant
worrying, worried thoughts, negative thinking, deprived decision making and incapacity to
focus. In respect with the emotive or emotional aspects, the individuals suffer with health related
issues such as depression, sense of isolation, short-tempered, irritation, agitation, moodiness and
usual unhappiness (Healthline Media, 2018). In the respect with bodily aspects, the individuals
suffer with health related issues such as frequent colds, diarrhea or constipation, rapid heartbeat,
nausea or dizziness, aches and pains and chest pains. Lastly, the behavioral aspects of stress, the
individuals suffer with health related issues such as deteriorating health by the intake of drugs,
cigarettes and alcohol to relax, neglecting responsibility, procrastinating, isolation, sleeplessness
and inexact food habits (McEwen, 2007).
There are few key and major sources of stress such as conflicts, frustration, burnout, chronic
stressors, hassles and changes in life, work life imbalances, academic pressure and personal
issues. All these various stressors are defined in particular ways. Firstly, the life changes are
considered as things which disrupt the quality of the lives, secondly the chronic stressors can be
regarded as the things such as living at areas with high noise pollution, bad personal experiences
of relationships and the major is high work load (Khamisa, Oldenburg, Peltzer and Ilic, 2015).
Thirdly are hassles which are the small issues of routine lives which look to stack up. The
situations of emotional drained out and chronic stresses lead to conflict among the people, high
level of frustration and excessive burnouts. Fourth is the work life imbalances that is the pressure
of stress the individuals face and experience due to imbalance in the personal lives and work
lives of the people (Healthline Media, 2018). There are a number of cases when people have
attempted suicidal acts and have psychological illness due to work pressure. The work life
imbalances related stress not only impacts the health of the people but also impacts the overall
growth and development of the people at both their individual and personal levels. The last is the

How stress can affect our health 3
academic pressure of stress due to pressure related to educations. This type of stress is mainly
among the school and college going individuals. In the modern education sector as well as in the
traditional academic eras, there has been one thing which is common i.e. high level of stress
faced by the individuals (Lupien, McEwen, Gunnar and Heim, 2009).
The increased stress or mental pressure have a direct impact upon the health of the .individuals
which could be better understood as the impact of stress led down on various organs of the
human body. The human brain is considered as the most sensitive and the level of stress
fluctuates and impacts the brain the most. Such as the health issues in respect with the human
mind are headaches and increased level of depression as the chronic stresses impacts the human
mind and turns them emotionally down which in turn results an increased level of depression
(Healthline Media, 2018). The second key organ which is suffered from health issues due to
stress is the human heart. There are a number health problems related to heart because of stress
are heart burn, risk of heart attack and pounding heart. The higher level of stress may results in
upsurge level of stomach acid which directly causes heart burn. The development of stress
hormones in the human body makes the heart pumps a little faster which results in pounding
heart and lastly the increased tension, stress level and high blood pressure due to stress results in
heart attack (Healthline Media, 2018).
There are various other risks or threats to the human body due to increased level of stress which
completely deteriorates the health of the people. The other issues are such as insomnia, fertility
related issues, tense muscles and various other day to day issues. In various studies, researchers
have argued that the increased level of stress causes high fertility related issues in both men and
women by interfere in the reproductive systems with stress hormones (Chiesa and Serretti,
2009). As well as the human muscles also tensed because of tension related heartaches as well as
chronic stress. Due to the muscle tensed, individuals are unable to perform their routine work
which ultimately causes the, more stress and health problems. Thus, it can be conclude that the
individuals face a number of issues and situations which develop stress level among them and
have a direct affect upon the human health.

How stress can affect our health 4
References
American Psychological Association, 2018. How stress affects your health. Accessed on: 23rd
February, 2018. Accessed from: http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress.aspx
Chiesa, A. and Serretti, A., 2009. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for stress management in
healthy people: a review and meta-analysis. The journal of alternative and complementary
medicine, 15(5), pp.593-600.
Glanz, K. and Schwartz, M.D., 2008. Stress, coping, and health behavior. Health behavior and
health education: Theory, research, and practice, 4, pp.211-236.
Healthline Media, 2018. The Effects of Stress on Your Body. Accessed on: 23rd February, 2018.
Accessed from: https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body#1
Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K. and Ilic, D., 2015. Work related stress, burnout, job
satisfaction and general health of nurses. International journal of environmental research and
public health, 12(1), pp.652-666.
Lupien, S.J., McEwen, B.S., Gunnar, M.R. and Heim, C., 2009. Effects of stress throughout the
lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nature reviews neuroscience, 10(6), p.434.
McEwen, B.S., 2007. Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: central role of the
brain. Physiological reviews, 87(3), pp.873-904.
McEwen, B.S., 2008. Central effects of stress hormones in health and disease: Understanding the
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pharmacology, 583(2-3), pp.174-185.
Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G. and Siegel, S.D., 2005. Stress and health: psychological,
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WebMD, 2018. The Effects of Stress on Your Body. Accessed on: 23rd February, 2018.
Accessed from: https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/effects-of-stress-on-your-
body