The Impact of Stress on Health Essay

Stress is very well known for just what it means: STRESS. Its effect on human beings from a local and a global standpoint is far greater than any of us imagine. Stress can overtake one’s body physically, mentally, emotionally, as well as behavioral aspects. This is not something to take lightly. This is actually very serious. If you notice, it’s not just older people that die this day and time with heart attacks, suicide, and things of this nature. People of all ages. Older people, younger people, and even really young people. Children, yes, I said children. Don’t automatically think that stress only affects older people that have lived a longer

Stress has a profound effect on health becoming a topic under health psychology, a subfield of psychology dealing with ways psychological factors influence the causes, treatment of physical illness and maintenance of health. Stress has a multitude of sources from natural disasters to small annoyances that interrupts people’s daily lives. Research from Brown and McGill has also shown that positive events can also generate stress due to readjustment or unpreparedness. Unfortunately in life people will experience chronic stressors which are sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly. Accumulation of small stressors such as bullying and money troubles can lead up to distress and illness. These daily stressors are reported to have more psychological and physical symptoms which can have a greater and long lasting impact than major life

The definition of stress according to the Oxford dictionary is “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.”

In an acute stressor, the immune system is heightened. But is suppressed in a chronic stressor. In this situation the cortisol levels rise, and weaken the immune system. This weaken system can make the human body more susceptible to serious disease, infections

“Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances”. It is generally known as “pattern of disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to events that threaten the ability to cope” (Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2017).

Most studies of the relationship between stress and the immune system have focussed on acute(i.e. short lived) stressors and have found a decrease in immune cell function.

Stress is defined as the “non specific response of the body to any demand for change”. It was coined by Hans Selye in 1936. A highly subjective phenomenon. There are many signs of having/getting stress; Physical, Psychological, Behavioural and Emotional.

People with stress also engage in behaviors that are not good for their immune system. This is shown many times in Evicted when people get sick and get diagnosed with a disease after years of living in poverty, getting evicted, or being stressed. For example, Scott grew up in awful conditions and was in poverty as a child, but later was able to educate himself and get a good job. Unfortunately, after an incident at his nursing home that he worked at and his doctor retiring, he became very stressed out and started taking prescription drugs. He also began stilling drugs from people at the nursing home. This affected him a lot and he had to leave his job and live in poverty due to all the money he spent on drugs. After all of these events, he became even more stressed, which made his health even worse. Similar to what the textbook said, when people are stressed, they do things that are not good for their bodies, such as stop exercising, not sleeping well, not eating well, and turning to drugs and alcohol. For Scott, he turned to drugs and alcohol when he was stressed, which affected his life in a negative way. Another example was Ned, who had the stress of having to move his family after an eviction. The eviction was a huge stress on him. He began to miss work and make mistakes at work. This lead to him getting fired from his construction

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.

To try to understand stress better, we need to consider the psychological factors involved - emotional and cognitive (thinking) factors. Research has suggested that major stressors in our lives are life changes, for example, moving house, marriage or relationship breakdown. Work-related factors, including unemployment and boredom, are also common causes of stress. Differences in personality may also play a part.

Chronic stress has been confirmed by multiple studies to have an adverse effect on our bodies, reducing our immune system functions and the ability to fight off infection. Stress can reduce the response to pneumococcal, influenza, and hepatitis B vaccines and can delay wound healing. It can even speed up the aging process. In one study, spouses or children who provided constant care for a disabled family member shortened their lives by as much as eight years,

     First, stress is defined as an unpleasant state of emotional and physiological arousal that people experience in situations that they perceive as dangerous or threatening to their well being (Patel, 14). Stress is a universal feeling to everyone but the word stress means different things to

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,

Psychological and physical well-being and the overall quality of life are under a constant threat of stress and thus, psychological and medical sciences have long been concerned with studying stress response. Cox (1979) claimed that because of the poor understanding and defining it, the concept of stress tends to be rather elusive. The term, “stress”, commonly describes any physchological or physical alteration that deranges the organism’s homeostasis (or balance). This essay reviews some of the biological factors involved in stress and it has been organized in the following way. The paper begins by briefly introducing the concept of stress. It will then go on to discus and describe the automatic response (fight or flight reaction),

So what is stress? Stress is a normal physical response that happens when you feel threatened or upset. When you feel that you are in danger whether it is real or imaged. Your body has a response when stress occurs and it is a way of actually protecting you. Many times, stress helps people stay more focussed and energetic.