The Effects Stress Has On The Human Body

"The term “stress”, as it is currently used was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as the “non-specific response of the body to any demand for change" (What is Stress?). In my opinion, stress is very relevant to psychologists because it shows them how it affects our bodies, minds, and well-being. By studying what stresses us and how we handle it, they are able to determine certain health effects and behaviors. Stress plays a big role in our lives because it mostly defines the way we approach situations, it determines the way we act, talk, and see things; everyone reacts to stress differently.

Stress can get bad enough to where it starts to affect your body system. Things like depression, heart attacks, diseases, rashes and a low immune system can all occur to people dealing with stress bad enough. The number of common signs and symptoms is outrageous and is depressing to see that there are so many people dealing with this and how it’s such a common thing in this world. On stress.org, they talk about the different body systems and how they’re affected. The nervous, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastro and reproductive systems are all affected in some way and in many ways to say the least. If your stress ever gets so bad, I consider seeing a doctor or specialist seeing how dangerous this can get.

For instance, stress can cause infertility, a weakened immune system, heart attack, and much more. The effects of stress on the body are truly serious and can change a person’s life forever. Similarly, chronic stress can affect

A way one can manage stress is to build their physical reserves. This includes exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging), eat well-balanced, nutritious meals, maintain your ideal weight, avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants, mix leisure with work, take breaks and get away when you can, get enough sleep, and finally be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.

“A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.” (Google) As a young person, this definition seems quite intense but in reality this is apart of many young peoples lives. It seems that in more recent years that young people today have so much more stress than in the past. We are always saying to ourselves, “I wish I could go back to elementary school” and this can start as early as middle school. It’s unbelievable how young “stress” starts to effect us on a daily basis. However if we took more time to learn about what stress can do for us we can let it effect us in a positive and beneficial manner.

As we learned in class, stress is any force that changes the body’s natural state, known as homeostasis. Stress does not always have to be viewed as a bad thing. For example, stress can motivate someone to study for an exam or plan ahead in his or her agenda to stay organized. Its only when stress manifest out of control and is not addressed properly that it can have very negative effects on both our mental and physical health. Reflecting on the document we watched in class, Stress: Portrait of a Killer, I was surprised to learn more about baboons correlating to human beings stress management and how you position as individual in the hierarchy of life has in effect on the levels of stress you may endure.

Stress is the body’s reaction to internal or external stimuli that upset the body’s normal state. A stimulus that causes stress that can physical, mental, or emotional. The term stress is used to refer to both the body’s reaction and the stimuli that caused it. The body’s reaction to highly stressful situations is known as the flight or fight response. Under stressful circumstances, quantities of adrenaline, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands that are released into the bloodstream. This stimulates the liver to provide the body with stored carbohydrates for extra energy. It also results in quickened heartbeat and respiration, as well as increased blood pressure and muscle tension. The body is getting prepared for extraordinary exertion does not materialize, the frustrate readiness may cause headache, upset, stomach, irritability and a host of other symptoms. Stress affects mental and physical by causing problems with cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, immunology and psychiatric. Some experts say that stress alone probably does not cause illness, but it contributes to circumstances in which diseases may take hold and flourish. Stress weakens and disturbs the body’s defense mechanisms and may play a role in the development of hypertension, ulcers, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Stress exists in all aspect of our lives and careers, but certain professions have higher stress rates than others. A police officer is one of the these professions that has

Stress affects everyone differently. For a teenager, unnecessary stress can affect them in so many ways. Stress affects their ability to form friendships, it affects how they think about themselves, it affects the learning process, let’s not forget the emotional stress that comes with all of these when one feels like they are less than what they really are. “Go with the flow” is a group that will help to deal with the stress many teenagers can relate to. The group will help to identify the way stress affects them, and learn to identify different coping skills.

Memory performance can often be hijacked by a given load of stress on the body. Stress is both a versatile agent that disrupts the human body’s normal mental, physical, and emotional state, and the body’s natural reaction to change (Staal, 2004). The effects of this amorphous phenomenon have been studied from a number of angles including but not limited to stress-related sleep pattern disturbances, mood swings, attention spans, weight gain, long-term illnesses, and cognitive function. This review will focus on the effects of psychological stress on people’s ability to encode, store, and retain memories.

Psychological stress is pressure placed on a person to adapt, cope, or adjust to a situation (Rathus, 2016, p.284). The result of prolonged stress can affect a person’s mood, pleasure experience, and have harmful effects on physical health (Rathus, 2016, p.284). Society in the twenty first century places high demands on people. Technology makes it very difficult to separate work life, school life, and home life. Today, society places a high value on a busy lifestyle for individuals. For example, many places of business are open twenty-four hours a day. In addition to societal pressures, attending a university adds to the stressors a person may experience. Going to school not only includes classroom time but it also includes homework,

The presented research examines the impact of stress on the human body with a specific focus on the immune system. There is an essential need to examine, analyze and review surrounding theories and studies regarding psychological stress on the immune system. The occurrence of catastrophic events and global disasters over the last seventeen years have put a focus on life expectancy in the twenty-first century. The impacts of these events have led to widespread adversity and have a high correlation with the reduction of stress management and induction of illness and death. Due to those factors, the aftermath of such traumatic changes have shown light on the aspects of deterioration, interaction and relationships of stress on physical and mental health. Revival of the studies and reviews presented years after events provide longitudinal contributions to this research. Theories formulated were combined based on existing psychological and chronic stress studies, reviews and theoretical approaches to stress during and after these events and their aftermath, newly found data, and alternatives to proper coping mechanism and strategies. The new presented theory focuses on the increase in life expectancy through maintaining proper stress mechanisms and strategies. Presented are the fundamental theories which have been the basis for understanding the effects of

Current methods for handling stress include managing our body, managing our situation and managing our mind. Managing our body has to do with trying to regulate our response to stressors with practices like meditation, relaxation, and exercise. Managing our situation involves our social support through relationships with our loved ones and friends. It can include religious groups we might belong to or a practice of spirituality that enables us to deal with the stress in our lives. Managing our mind is done through coping mechanisms, some of which are automatic and

Yet the stress experience is one we can all relate to and which has shared qualities. Stress is the tension that we feel within us whenever we feel threatened. When we see something outside of us that is threatening, we tense up in reaction. Imagine yourself as a spring. When everything is going well and you feel safe and secure, your spring is relaxed. But if something unexpected happens that weren 't counting on, you react by tensing up your spring. This creates a tense feeling within. A tense reaction occurs both in our mind and in our emotions. In our mind where we observe what is happening, we interpret what we see as threatening. Our perception of a threat triggers an emotional reaction. The emotion that we often feel is fear.

Everyone has stress, but not everyone realizes the impact it has on their lives. Most people don’t realize or understand the amount of stress they are under. What used to be considered extreme levels of stress has become normal in today’s society. Most people, adults especially, don’t realize that teens largely experience these high levels of stress. Before talking about the stress that teens experience, though, it is best to understand what stress is and why one has it. Stress is a natural response and reaction the body experiences to things that occur in life, both to and around a person. Humans have had stress since their first creation. It is a survival instinct, enabling our flight or fight mode, only nowadays it has

Being a nurse, I know that continual stress is harmful to your health. Stress can result in headaches, stomach aches, gastrointestinal problems and also mental problems, just to name a few. It is important to keep stress at low levels to prevent it from harming your body. Stress can be tolerated if managed properly. People need to know when stress becomes too much to avoid the harmful effects to their bodies. Some stress is unavoidable, but some types of stress are not unavoidable. We all have some type of stress in our lives on a daily basis.