Destruction Effects of Stress - Research Paper Example

Effects of stress Stress is a non-specific response of the human body to a certain demand for change. Responses due to stress may take either an emotional, mental or physical form. Stress can also be defined as a reaction of the body towards harmful situations. When a person feels threatened due to unfriendly conditions, a chemical reaction takes place in the body to allow a person to react in a manner that would prevent the danger or injury. Such a reaction is called a stress response and can be either a flight or fight. During such stress response, the heart starts to race, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, and breathing quickens. When a person perceives stress, the nervous system responds by discharging a flood of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. Stress can be positive negative or positive depending on the existing situations. A positive stress keeps a person very alert and ready to evade or avoid danger. On the other hand, stress is negative if a person faces stress related problems continuously without relaxing. Stress that affects the physical body is referred to as a negative stress factor. Moreover, stress can either be short-term or long-term stress. Long-term stress can lead to chronic stress related disorders if not managed earlier enough. In the life of an individual, stress can arise from various areas. Stress can be due to workplace pressure, family conflict, personal health, financial problems, unfriendly relationship and any life threatening danger. In line with emotional symptoms, stressed persons can also develop a bad feeling about themselves in a way that lowers their self-esteem. Such a person feels worthless, lonely and depressed. According to various studies by psychologists, effects of stress can be exhibited through various ways. A stressed person can have various emotional symptoms. Such a person becomes easily frustrated, agitated and moody. A person also feels overwhelmed – a feeling of losing control to personal responsibilities. Self-esteem and sense of control affects how much a person feels. Workers that feel more in control of their jobs experience less stress. On the other hand, persons with low self-esteem tend to produce more cortisol when pressurized to do things that are not easy. Further, a stressed person has a difficulty to relax and calm the mind. The mind keeps on racing or shifting from one idea to another in relation to the cause of the stress being experienced. In regard to physical symptoms, a person with stress looks weak with low energy. The person also experiences headaches of varying pain at different times. Sometimes a person experiences fatigue with tensed muscles and loss of appetite as well as sexual desire. The feet and hand of such person may become sweaty or cold. The mouth of a stressed person is always dry. In this regard, the person experiences difficulty in swallowing food. Also, the jaws of a stressed person tend to clinch as teeth grind. Sometimes the person looks nervous and shaky and does not speak freely. In summary, pains and aches dominate so much during emotional form of a response to stress. In line with a cognitive form of response, stressed persons have racing thoughts. They lack concentration or focus in one direction. A person keeps thinking about various things at the same time. Such a person has inability to focus and make sound judgement. They have low ability to think critically on issues before them. The decisions they make are not good. Further, stressed persons have constant worrying and forgetful aspects; they exhibit a high level of disorganization. They also handle things on a pessimistic point of view – they see only the negative side of things. In respect to behavioural form of response, a stressed person shows more nervous behaviours like fidgeting, nail-biting and pacing unnecessarily. Additionally, a person keeps procrastinating as well as avoiding responsibilities. Such a person tends to have a high craving for the use of substances such as drugs, cigarettes and alcohol among others. Another common symptom in line with behavioural change is that a stressed person has either low appetite or eats too much. The person also experiences sleep problems. A stressed person has sleepless nights that can lead to insomnia if the condition prevails for a long time. Sleep deprivation affects a person’s ability to control moods and make sound decisions. It further throws stress hormones off balance in the body. Cortisol and blood pressure do not go down in case of sleep deprivation (Thorn, Pence, et al. 943). If the stress cannot be controlled and handled in time, it can lead to chronic stress - a stress condition arising from prolonged stress. Chronic stress can cause various health problems like anxiety, depression, and personality disorders. It can also cause cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, heart disease, and abnormal heart rhythms (Krantz & McCeney 347). In case the stress causes an increase in appetite, a person may end up eating too much and can cause obesity as well as other eating disorders. Chronic Stress can further cause sexual dysfunction like premature ejaculation and impotence in male. It can also result to loss of a desire for sex in both genders. It can also cause hair and skin problems such as psoriasis, eczema, acne or premature hair loss. Prolonged stress can also cause menstrual problems and gastrointestinal problems such as ulcerative colitis, gastritis and irritable colon. According to various studies of psychologists, stress can affect the body’s immune system. When people are stressed, they become more susceptible to any infection. The aptitude of the body’s immune system to fight off antigens in the body of a stressed person is reduced. During the stress, a corticosteroid hormone is produced, and it affects with the effectiveness of the body immune system. Large amount of the hormone reduces the number or amount of lymphocytes in the body. Short term stress stimulates the immune system to gear up and get ready to health problems such as wounds. However, long term stress (prolonged stress) makes quick healing of the wounds to backfire. Therefore, the wound of a person suffering from chronic stress heals slowly. In conclusion, various responses to stress can also affect the digestive system. The activity of the digestive system increases when a person is stress-free and decreases during stress periods. Such interference with the digestive system affects its health and can cause ulcers. Also, the release of adrenaline in response to stress may as well cause ulcers. Stress responses also increase the rate of heartbeat that increases strain, in return, upon the circulatory system. Great amounts of stress can also raise the blood pressure and affect the immune system. A person who suffers from great stress is more likely to catch cold or flu more especially if the stress has interfered with the immune system in the body. When such a person takes vaccines to protect the rest of family members from getting flu or a cold, the body may not respond. Work cited Krantz, D.S. & McCeney, M.K. “Effects of psychological and social factors on organic disease: A critical assessment of research on coronary heart disease.” Annual Review of Psychology, 53, (2002):341-369. Thorn, B.E., Pence, L.B., et al. “A randomized clinical trial of targeted cognitive behavioural treatment to reduce apostrophizing in chronic headache sufferers.” Journal of Pain 8, (2007): 938-949. Read More