We live in a society where stress seems like it is part of our lives. For some, it is not even that they have a season of more or less stress, but that it is part of their every day. From waking up late to knowing that amount of work you are about to walk into, to the new boss that doesn’t like you, these are just a few things that we can carry each day. If you work in a high-stress job, it can be even more. We also tend to take on the stress of the people around us. When your child procrastinated on that school project, you watch them melt down, and you can just feel the tension rise in you. Or when your spouse had a particularly bad day, and unfortunately they are taking their frustration out on you. The stressors of life are plentiful.
We all handle stress very differently. But what you may not know is what the stress is doing to your physical, mental and emotional well-being. When your brain is always sending messages to your other organs with heightened stress hormones, your body eventually fails to respond well in actually stressful situations as well as everyday life. Two of the primary victims of constant stress are your heart and your lungs. Your heart is working extra hard to move more oxygen into your muscles, but in that same act, it is raising your blood pressure. Your lungs are working extra hard, but if you already have asthma this can make breathing that much harder. Your digestive system can also take a hit. Under stress your liver creates more glucose that your body may not need, leading you to develop type 2 diabetes possibly. Most people also have greater heartburn while stressed and where this doesn’t cause ulcers it can affect people who already suffer from ulcers. Stress also affects the way your body breaks down nutrients, meaning that your body is not getting all the nutrients out of your food leading to weight gain, constipation or diarrhea.
These are just some of the ways that stress can affect your body. If you want to know about some ways to help de-stress, stay tuned for our next blog.
