The Physical Dangers of Stress
Following is a list
and explanations of the physical damage stress can cause
to all our different body parts.
The Brain
Stress begins in the brain, with a surge of hormones causing
intense alertness. In this hyped state, we cannot relax
or sleep. But our minds cannot function at this extreme
level for prolonged periods: Eventually the hormone surges
and exhaustion cause tension headaches, irritability, aggression,
inability to concentrate and memory loss. Unchecked stress
can also trigger depression, which strikes twice as many
women as men. Stress suppresses the hypothalamus, the emotion
control center in our brains, curbing the production of
the hormones that energize us and make us feel well.
The Ears
The surging hormones induced by stress
improve our hearing to help us react to danger. But better
hearing can actually be bad for the body: A Cornell University
study concluded that even moderate noise elevates heart
damaging stress hormones. Studies have also shown that a
lot of small noisy stressors added together -- honking horns,
ringing telephones and loud co-workers -- can be more dangerous
to the body than one major stressful event.
The Lungs
One of the first things we do when we feel stressed is hyperventilate.
It is part of the body's fight-or-flight response -- in
case we are in danger and need the extra oxygen in our bloodstream
to run for cover. Those quick breaths can cause dizziness
and sharp pains in the diaphragm. Sever stress can aggravate
asthma
and other dangerous respiratory conditions.
The Eyes
The adrenaline rush from stress dilates the eyes, improving
vision. But it also triggers eye ticks because eye muscles
become fatigued. Eyes may bulge if stress over-stimulates
the thyroid gland.
The Mouth
Dry
mouth, bad breath and difficulty swallowing occur when
stress makes us take short, shallow breaths. Under constant
stress, some people clench their jaws or grind their teeth.
The Hair
Considered a barometer of inner health,
hair is often the first to suffer. A body under stress burns
nutrients like the vitamin
selenium, and that can lead to dull hair and premature
graying. Chronic stress can trigger the autoimmune system
to attack hair follicles, causing hair to fall out completely
or in clumps.
The Heart
A heart under stress pumps fast and hard. Blood
pressure rises as the body produces the hormone epinephrine
as well as the hormone cortisol. That can lead to heart
palpitations and chest pains. In those with heart
disease, stress can prevent blood from clotting properly
and stimulate the formation of plaque
that plugs arteries. Researchers say that even thinking
about something stressful raises blood pressure. A Swedish
study concluded that stressful romantic relationships were
more damaging to a person's heart than work-related stress:
Those in troubled marriages were three times more likely
to be hospitalized for heart
problems.
Immune System
Did you ever get sick after a stressful event? Extreme and
constant stress lowers our white blood cell count, making
us more susceptible to disease and hampering our body's
ability to heal itself. One study showed that the pneumonia vaccine was less effective in people under constant stress.
Meanwhile, researchers are studying the link between stress
and autoimmune disorders like Graves
disease, in which antibodies attack the thyroid, eye
muscles and skin.
Joints, Muscles and Bones
At tense moments, our brain sends messages to the muscles,
tightening them and preparing them for action. Chronic stress
can aggravate rheumatoid
arthritis, cause sore muscles and make us prone to sprains.
Skin
Stress causes hormones to be released that make acne,
rashes and itchy patches worse. Some people blush, while
others go pale when the small blood cells in the skin contract.
Under extreme stress, people can become covered in hives.
Any skin
problem will get worse when you are under stress.
Digestive System
Under stress, the brain shifts blood
flow away from the digestive tract, which slows digestion.
The result: indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, incontinence and colon spasm. Stress increases acid production, aggravating
ulcers. It is also linked to colitis and irritable
bowel syndrome, a painful and sometimes debilitating
disorder.
Stress and Depression
There appears to be a complex relationship among stressful
situations, our mind and body's reaction to stress, and
the onset of clinical depression. It is clear that some
people develop depression after a stressful event in their
lives. Events such as the death of a loved one, the loss
of a job,
Related
Features |
| Articles |
|
| Books |
|
|
|
|
Websites |
|
or the end of a relationship
are often negative and traumatic and cause great stress
for many people. Stress can also occur as the result of
a more positive event such as getting married, moving to
a new city, or starting a new job. It is not uncommon for
either positive or negative events to become a crisis that
precedes the development of clinical depression.
Whether a stressful event itself can actually cause a person
to become depressed is not fully known. There are times
when we all must struggle with very painful situations in
our lives. More times than not these changes do not result
in a person becoming clinically depressed. In fact, sometimes
people become depressed even when there is little or no
stress in their lives and everything seems to be going very
well. And, no single stressful event will cause depression
to develop in every person. The same type of stressor may
lead to depression in one person, but not another.
If a stressful experience causes a person to become depressed,
it may happen indirectly. In other words, if a young woman
with a family history of major depression suffers the death
of a loved one, she may become clinically depressed. In
this situation it is not necessarily the traumatic loss
itself that caused the development of depression, but the
combination of a genetic predisposition with the stressful
event that made her vulnerable to becoming depressed.
For those who struggle with more chronic depression, the
effects of stress may be more complicated. A stressful event
such as a job loss or the death of a loved one is more likely
to come before a first or second depressive episode. After
that, further depressive episodes may develop spontaneously.
It is not certain why stress may lead to depression in this
way. However, researchers have theorized an explanation
called the "kindling effect," or "kindling-sensitization
hypothesis." This theory surmises that initial depressive
episodes spark changes in the brain's chemistry and limbic
system that make it more prone to developing future episodes
of depression. This may be compared to the use of kindling
wood to spark the flames of a campfire. Since early episodes
of depression make a person more sensitive to developing
depression, even small stressors can lead to later depressive
episodes.
Some people may become depressed as a result of having to
struggle with chronic stress. These constant difficulties
may come in the form of having to juggle multiple roles
at home and work, making major changes in lifestyle, being
in an abusive environment, etc. They may also come with
important and normal transitions in life such as late adolescence
and early adulthood when many people separate from their
families to establish their own independence. Middle age
may require adjustment to changes in fertility and virility,
children leaving the home, concern about job advancement,
and a re-evaluation of accomplishments in life. Retirement
is another time of major change as some people struggle
with a reduction of position and finances. If a person is
under continuous stress, a single difficult event may be
more likely to induce a depressive episode. For instance,
if a middle-aged woman is in an unhappy marriage, she may
be more likely to become depressed after her youngest child
leaves home for college. The event of her child leaving
home may not by itself have been enough to lead to depression,
but the constant stress of an unhappy marriage combined
with this event may be enough to trigger clinical depression.
In studying how stressful events may lead to depression,
researchers have developed a theory called, "learned
helplessness." This theory states that when people
experience chronic or repeated stressful events, they learn
to feel helpless. This feeling of helplessness is strengthened
when a person believes he or she has no control over the
stressful situation. Although the research to support this
theory was initially done with animals, the effects of learned
helplessness may be seen in depressed humans. People who
are depressed very often have negative beliefs about their
ability to manage aspects of their lives based on perceived
failures in the past. For example, imagine an adolescent
girl living in a home with verbally abusive parents who
tell her that she is stupid and cannot do anything right.
Over time the young girl may believe her parents and come
to doubt her abilities and self-worth. She may begin to
feel helpless and believe that most things are beyond her
control. This feeling of helplessness may make her vulnerable
to developing clinical depression at some point in her life.
Work-related stress
can kill, study finds
By Michael Kahn Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008; 9:27 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Work really can kill you, according to
a study on Wednesday providing the strongest evidence yet
of how on-the-job stress raises the risk of heart disease
by disrupting the body's internal systems.
The findings from a long-running study involving more than
10,000 British civil servants also suggest stress-induced
biological changes may play a more direct role than previously
thought, said Tarani Chandola, an epidemiologist at University
College London.
"This is the first large-scale population study looking
at the effects of stress measured from everyday working
life on heart disease," said Chandola, who led the
study. "One of the problems is people have been skeptical
whether work stress really affects a person biologically."
Heart disease is the world's leading cause of death. It
is caused by fatty deposits that harden and block arteries,
high blood pressure which damages blood vessels, and other
factors.
The researchers measured stress among the civil servants
by asking questions about their job demands such as how
much control they had at work, how often they took breaks,
and how pressed for time they were during the day.
The team conducted seven surveys over a 12-year period and
found chronically stressed workers -- people determined
to be under severe pressure in the first two of the surveys
-- had a 68 percent higher risk of developing heart disease.
The link was strongest among people under 50, Chandola said.
"This study adds to the evidence that the work stress-coronary
heart disease association is causal in nature," the
researchers wrote in the European Heart Journal.
Behavior and biological changes likely explain why stress
at work causes heart disease, Chandola said. For one, stressed
workers eat unhealthy food, smoke, drink and skip exercise
-- all behaviors linked to heart disease.
In the study, stressed workers also had lowered heart rate
variability -- a sign of a poorly-functioning weak heart
-- and higher-than-normal levels of cortisol, a "stress" hormone that provides a burst of energy for a fight-or-flight
response.
Too much cortisol circulating in the blood stream can damage
blood vessels and the heart, Chandola said.
"If you are constantly stressed out these biological
stress systems become abnormal," Chandola said.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content,
including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited
without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall
not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or
for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the
Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks
of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
