Are you feeling stressed? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
Nearly 80 percent of people feel stressed at least “sometimes or frequently” during the day.
We all live busy lives. Our work, family responsibilities and other pressures of life get in the way of a calmer mind.
We mostly think about stress as being psychological. But did you know that your body is physically affected by stress too?
Some of these impacts of stress take effect only affect your body in the short-term. While others have long-term consequences for your body.
Keep reading to find out more about the long-term and short-term effects of stress on your body.
1. Tiredness and Exhaustion
Did you feel tired and exhausted all the time?
You’re probably not getting a lot of sleep at the moment because your stress and anxiety keeps you awake at night.
When you’re stressed, your brain releases a hormone called cortisol into the bloodstream. This speeds up your heart rate to provide your brain with more oxygen. As a result, you receive an energy boost which allows your body to deal with the stressful situation.
However, if you’re suffering from stress on a regular basis, your brain gets used to the energy boost. The amount of cortisol released decreases. Instead, you’re left exhausted.
You can build up your capacity to deal with stress with regular physical activity.
2. Low Libido
There are a number of ways that stress can impact your sex life. One of the most important is by reducing your libido.
It makes sense that if you’re thinking about being stressed, it’s difficult to concentrate on the sexy mood.
However, the stress also influences how your body produces estrogen. This is the chemical which maintains the reproductive system in women.
If your estrogen drops, you’re going to be less interested in having sex. However, you can improve your sex drive by eating a healthy diet of vegetables and fruits.
3. Problems on the Toilet
Does your stress give you a knot in your belly?
That’s not just in your head.
Your chronic stress levels can influence the hormones in your thyroid glands. As a result, your normal metabolism could be out of sorts.
With your hormones all over the place, you might even experience constipation or diarrhea. And stress poops are really the worst.
The good news is that the knot in your stomach won’t last long. What you need to do is get yourself moving and drink plenty of water. Also, eat lots of bran cereal and brown rice to get the fiber you need to overcome your stress.
4. Your Skin Breaks Out
If you’re suffering from stress and anxiety, you’ll find that the sex hormones increase.
Do you have acne or eczema?
You’ll find that it’ll flare up pretty bad in moments of stress. You may even discover rashes and zits all over your body.
Women can use birth control to reduce the impacts. But there are also skin treatments you can purchase over the counter.
Chronic stress impacts your immune system, which makes it harder for your body to fight off skin infections.
5. Reduce Memory Capacity
Now we’re moving onto the long-term effects of stress on your body.
Have you felt a threat to your life? Have you experienced intense fear?
If you’ve experienced traumatic stress that could have a lasting effect on your body.
This experience of intense stress influences your hippocampus. In fact, stress actually physically reduces the size of your hippocampus.
So, why does this matter?
It matters because this refers to the part of your brain that stores your memories. It’s possible after traumatic stress that you forget entire events in your life.
This could have a long-term impact on your ability to collect new memories. And you may never recover the ability to remember what you lost.
6. Heavy Weight Gain
If you’re experiencing high levels of stress on a frequent basis, you might find that you’re gaining weight too.
According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, stress management allows people to reduce weight more effectively.
Partly, this is because when you’re stressed out, you’re more likely to over-eat. However, that’s not the whole story here.
According to studies, if you’re suffering from stress, your body increases the rate at which you produce fat cells.
That means an increase in fat in the body because of your stress. It’s down to the hormones called glucocorticoids which are also impacted by stress.
7. Severe Hair Loss
By living a stressful life, the hormones that result in your skin breaking out can also cause your hair to fall out.
You could lead a really stressful life for years and you won’t notice any hair loss. However, all of a sudden, you’ll find that the delayed effects of your stressful life have resulted in hair thinning and falling out.
You don’t have to give up on your lovely hair.
You can fight against your balding by ensuring you’re only putting healthy food into your body. You can always rebalance the hair follicles in your body to recover your hair.
8. Serious Back Pain
During moments of stress, your body increases your heart and blood pressure.
But while this may make it easier for your body to handle the demands of stress, as a result, you could suffer from backaches and pains in the aftermath.
Your blood pressure forces your muscles to tighten together. That’s why after some time, your back starts causing you problems.
The Long-Term and Short-Term Effects of Stress
Now you know about the long-term and short-term effects of stress on your body, you need to make sure you make some changes.
Many of us think that we’re handling the stress in our lives. However, the truth is that it’s seriously damaging your short and long-term health.
For more information about health and wellness, check out our blog.