Cortisol Secretion: The Importance Of Stress In Our Lives

Stress Is the body’s way of responding to the hectic lives most of us live, whether good or bad. The body releases chemicals into the bloodstream, which creates a rush of energy and strength If an individual is feeling stressed. This energy can prove useful if an individual is in physical danger. Because it enables a person’s survival instinct kicks in; it is often described as ‘fight or flight.’ In addition, stress can also have a negative effect on the body, for example: suffering from stress and leaving it unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Stress affects health in a number of ways. It is defined by James (2011) as pressure or tension that comes in many shapes and forms and furthermore the body and mind in particular reacts psychologically and even emotionally.

Most people have heard about cortisol and that it is related to both stress and to weight gain, but not a lot of people understand much about it beyond that. It is actually a hormone that is released naturally by your adrenal glands. This happens naturally when you are under stress. The point of it is to help your body respond to what is going on around you. The trouble occurs when the levels stay high for too long. When people remain in a constant state of stress, they have increased cortisol levels. This, in turn, can cause health problems. Some of the problems that this can cause or exacerbate are weight gain, disrupted sleep, high blood pressure, low energy, and a bad mood.

Jacquelyn Ferguson’s article “Does Cortisol Cause Weight Gain, Depression and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?” in Corporate Wellness Magazine explores the negative side effects of chronic cortisol levels on the body. The first negative effect of cortisol is an increase in weight. Since cortisol acts to recharge your body after you encounter stress, it sends a hormone signal for you to replenish your nutritional storage, causing hunger. Unfortunately, when you are stressed, you tend to crave foods that are high in carbohydrates and sugars because that is the fuel that your muscles use during the fight or flight response. This usually leads to weight gain and storage of “visceral fat” around your midsection.

Stress is one of the number one causes that contribute to people’s health problems. According to Weber.edu, “in Healthy People 2000, a report from the U.S.

Chronic stress is a long-term stress. I’ve recently experienced chronic stress at my workplace. I have been working at a movie theater for a few years now, and the pressure of it has been building up. At my work place, we are constantly pushed to upsell to the customer, and it has been getting more and more stressful. As much as we understand that the customer does not want to purchase something other then their chosen concession snacks, it is obligatory for us each to offer and attempt to upsell as much as possible. Working in this high-pressure environment, has often caused me to feel psychologically and emotionally drained. Physiologically, l come home from work extremely tired from standing up and running around all day. Sometimes, my

In addition to the acute response to stress that is generated by the sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is activated during initial onset of stress. The HPA axis relies on the hypothalamus to stimulate the pituitary gland to release an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) before it signals the adrenal cortex to secrete a glucocorticoid, also known as the stress hormone cortisol, resulting in increased blood sugar and metabolic activity within the body. Although the HPA axis initially responds slower than the sympathetic nervous system to stressful events, the HPA axis becomes the more dominant system the longer undergoes sustained stress and anxiety (Kalat, 2013). When periods of stress persist, both the sympathetic nervous system and the HPA axis continue to secrete additional glucocorticoids, as well as catecholamine hormones, both of which activate the receptors of immune cells. The motor vagus fiber then is able to secrete additional catecholamines, specifically noradrenaline and adrenaline, which initiate change to cytokine functions in the immune system as well. “It is suggested that the chronic stress inhibits proinflammatory cytokines secretion which mediate the cellular immunity, while the stress can also activate

. Stress is not always necessarily harmful (especially in small amounts), sometimes it helps us stay motivated and determined toward our goal. Nowadays, stress has become a common problem in the modern life. Everybody seems to be stressed out since the modern life is fast paced and competitive. Stress is either physical or mental, and is generally caused by external stimuli called stressor. Many research have been conducted on the cause, response, consequences and remedies of stress. However, there is still a controversy regarding the exact process of stress. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate these queries related to stress and explain about the ways to tackle with it including advantage and disadvantage.

work, or slams on the brakes of their car to avoid an accident. The stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol are stress hormones that act as a messenger for these effects. In addition to these effects, the individual’s body will also allow their blood vessels that direct blood to the large muscles and the heart to dilate (Tovian, 2017). This will increase the amount of blood that is pumped to certain part of their body, therefore elevating their blood pressure. This is commonly known as the fight or flight response. After the stressor has gone away, all of these symptoms will typically subside, but this is not always true with chronic stress.

Stress forces humans to cope, adapt, and adjust to the world around us. It is the body’s way of responding to demands that occur all around us and is apart of how we evolved. The fight or flight instinct is an example of this. There are two types of stress, eustress and distress. Eustress is defined as being more positive. It motivates people to reach a goal or do well on a test, while negative stress, distress, causes prolonged anxiety and can inhibit pleasure. Stress can place strain on ones body. It affects the immune system by preventing white blood cells to create antibodies by spending the energy producing steroids for stress. Stress also increases the risk of heart disease and cancer (Psychology). Not only does stress affect the body, it also affect the mind.

In psychological terms relaxation is the expressive state of a human being that is in low stimulation from inside and out side effects like fear, anger, and anxiety. Your body is able to cope with this kind of triggers and is capable of living a healthy lifestyle on the other hand, if unable to deal with this triggers the human body can start to get sick.

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as “An excess of demand made upon the adaptive capabilities of the mind and body”.(Joseph 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are some things that put certain demands on us. The effects of stress should not be limited to unpleasant emotional states. Many studies have concluded that the effects on our physical health from stress can be extremely detrimental. These adverse physical effects include heart disease and formations of cancer. There are also some societal issues that psychological stress can hamper.

    Stress today can be described as "that which disturbs a person's mental and physical well-being" (Morrison 1).  Common symptoms of stress include chronic fatigue, changes in appetite, drug and/or alcohol abuse,  difficulty sleeping, body aches, and changes in emotions (Cooper 1-2).  And although stress is something that is inevitable, it can be controlled.  Just about everything we do today creates stress, both good and bad.  In the face paced and technological world we live in, stress management is key to survival as well as sanity.

Stress is a killer. There is doubt that stress can cause health problems. Daily stressors lead into major health problems. Therefore if you can manage your daily stress you can promote a healthier life. The American Medial Association defines stress, as being any disruptions of a person’s mental and physical well being. (4.) My position is that if you balance the stress in your life you can live healthier and prevent certain sicknesses.

Stress is also linked low fertility in one’s reproductive organs, and can cause problems during pregnancy or one’s menstrual cycle (www.everydayhealth.com). This happens when one is overwhelmed with the stress he or she is going through in their lives. No one person is the same, meaning stressors as well as stress levels differ for each individual. This is why it is hard for scientists to reach the core because it is a subjective sensation related with a variety of symptoms that differ for each of us. Because of this, stress is not always a synonym for distress. Situations like a steep roller coaster ride that cause fear and anxiety for some can prove highly pleasurable for others (www.stress.org). Each person also responds to stress differently. There are numerous physical as well as emotional responses to stress. Stress can cause an ocean of different emotions that are often times unpredictable. It can have wide ranging effects on people’s emotions, mood and behavior (www.stress.org). Stress has said to have been America’s number one leading health problem. It has been shown that stress levels have escalated in children, teenagers, college students and the elderly for reasons that of which have lead to: increased crime, violence, and other threats to personal safety; pernicious peer pressures that lead to substance abuse and other unhealthy life style habits; social isolation and loneliness; the erosion of family and religious