The Effects of Stress on Your Health

Modern society provides more and more sources of stress every day. Family issues, problems at work, unemployment, the pandemic, the danger of war are all reasons to feel stressed. Unfortunately, stress is not merely an unpleasant sensation that will pass, it has profound effects on our health and we should be able to identify its symptoms in order to manage them and reduce their impact on our bodies. Stress can imitate the symptoms of other diseases. For example, if you have headaches, you may consider that you suffer from a cold or flu, but that is not the real cause. You may feel chest pain and mistakenly blame it on heart disease. Stress influences behavior and feelings and leads to long-term problems, such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure if left untreated.

The behavior suffers multiple changes due to stress, such as getting angry outbursts, misusing tobacco or alcohol, undereating or overeating, exercising less often, and withdrawing from society. Your mood will change and you will feel anxiety, a lack of motivation, anger, depression, restlessness, or an inability to focus. Other symptoms may also be common, such as an upset stomach, insomnia, muscle tension, headaches, or chest pain.

There are different ways how you can fight stress and prevent ruining your health due to its action. First, you should try to get plenty of sleep, and reduce the consumption of caffeine, which makes you more alert and thus can increase the level of stress your body perceives. Avoid the use of tobacco and drugs and try to have a balanced diet, avoiding overeating or undereating. If you feel hungry all the time, try to focus your attention on another activity, go jogging, or practice yoga to keep your thoughts off the sensation of hunger.

Avoid sedentary activities such as playing internet games or watching TV. Being active will help you more because physical activity generates endorphins. These are neurotransmitters that interact with the receptors in your brain, and trigger a positive sensation that helps fight stress. The effect of endorphins is similar to that of morphine.

There are several healthy ways of combatting stress. Practicing meditation, yoga, or deep breathing can help you relax and focus your thoughts. Massage is also a very good way to relax. As I have already mentioned, stress can lead to muscle aches and tense muscles. Massage helps by reducing this soreness and tension. It also lowers the heart rate and blood pressure. In time, tachycardia, or a heart rate of over 100 beats per minute, can lead to heart diseases if your stress is left untreated. Another benefit of massage is the fact that it improves immune function, protecting your body from diseases.

Spending time with your friends and family helps you socialize, move your thoughts away from the problems that make you worry, and relax.

Concentrate on your hobbies. Perhaps you like cooking or making handmade decorations. Spend some time preparing your favorite food and create a corner in your house where you can store the tools and accessories so that you can work on your handmade items. Listen to music or read a book.

Setting realistic goals in life is also a very important way of managing stress. In certain cases, stress is triggered by the fact that we are unrealistically expecting to be able to achieve more than we actually do. Understand what you can achieve in reality and accept the things that you can't do. You must understand that you don't have to always meet the expectations of others. Live by your own values and not the values of others. Everything you do in life must reflect your own values and your personality. Trying to live as others are telling you will make you feel deeply unhappy and lead to stress.

The best way to fight stress is to identify the exact source of this stress and work on removing it from your life. In very many cases people have too many demands in life and too little time to accomplish all the tasks. Examine those demands and separate them into two categories, demands that you created yourself and demands that are requested by others. Write them down and analyze them to see which are necessary and which you can skip. Do not avoid asking for help when you are overwhelmed, try to talk about your problems with people who are close to you, set priorities, and pace yourself.