Body Damage Caused By Stress

Any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain can be termed as stress. Stress occurs when we feel unable to control or helpless to avoid any event or situation in life. If it is not taken care of on time, stress can cause severe body damage for life.

Most of the stress that we take is mental such as the worries and the tensions that occupy our mind. However, this tension and stress has a direct effect on our body resulting in illness, injury and other problems. It also weakens the immune system and makes one vulnerable to various diseases.

How Stress Affects the Body

During stress the brain is activated and the hypothalamus gland situated at the base of brain secretes fluid called Corticotrophin Releasing Factor (CRF). CRF coordinates the stress by initiating a series of mental and behavioral reactions.

It gets transported into the blood and triggers release of adrenocorticopin hormone, which leads to secretion of glucocoticiod hormones or steroids that play a major part in stress response.

Effects of Stress on Body

Stress can affect body’s normal secretion of hormones as well as the working of glands. It can increase or decrease the heartbeat and bring a change in blood pressure. It may also bring mood changes and affect the appetite and behavior pattern of an individual.

In many of the cases, these effects become apparent immediately but some of them may remain hidden. With continued stress these problems might result in something serious. Some effects of stress may result in damage to various body functions or parts. They may include:

Hair Loss

Undue stress can result in falling down of hair or whitening of the hair. Hair can lose their shine and luster and feel dead.

Weight Loss or Gain

Some people lose their appetite due to stress while some people eat more when stressed. Loss of appetite results in loss of weight while overeating causes weight gain. This weight gain further leads to many different problems such as obesity and high cholesterol.

Heart Diseases

Too much stress can lead to heart damage. It increases the risk of heart attack as constant stress causes thickening of blood as result of psychological changes in the body.

Diabetes

Too much stress causes diabetes. It can affect the body’s ability to produce insulin in the right proportion to use sugar or glucose derived from food the body consumes.

Ulcers

Too much stress can cause irritation of ulcers. Due to indigestion and imbalanced diet, ulcers form in the body and stress can only irritate and provoke them.

It can be said that stress not only causes mental problems but it can also lead to severe body damage that is very hard to reverse. If any of these problems occur as result of too much stress, people can suffer greatly for a long time before anything can be done to help them.