Understanding the Link Between Stress and Illness

Stress and Illness Everyone experiences stress, and the experience of stress is often temporary. Stress could possibly continue over a long period of time, and can be mild or intense. Stress varies between individuals, and could occur to individuals at different life stages such as childhood stress. Individuals also respond to stressors differently. Stress is circumstances in which a transaction leads an individual to perceive something inconsistent between physical or psychological difficulties in a situation. Biological factors, psychological factors, and social Factors play a role in how stress affects the body, and they all have a connection to each other. Stress can be physical, which involves bodily challenges, and psychological stress

A direct route results from the changes stress causes in the body’s physiology, and an indirect route which affects the individual’s health through their behavior. If stress affects someone’s behavior, it could lead illness, or cause their current condition to become worse. Life event stressors could potentially cause an individual to behave in ways that could someday cause them to increase their chances of becoming ill from the situation. Stress can also cause eating behavior changes. Someone who is dealing with high stress is more likely to consume diets high in fat, and consume less fruits and vegetables than people who are low stress. Individuals high in stress are more likely to smoke tobacco and consume higher quantities of alcohol. Behaviors like smoking cigarettes are associated with the development of chronic illnesses such as Lung Cancer. A study by Michael Lawless, Katherine Harrison, and others entitled Perceived stress and smoking-related behaviors and symptomatology in male and female smokers. (2015). the study was created to investigate the association between stress and smoking behaviors for stress reduction. The authors discussed how smoking for stress reduction varies between males and females. “A strong positive association was observed between perceived stress and nicotine withdrawal symptomatology in smokers of both sexes, with a larger effect seen in women. These findings emphasize the importance of stress reduction in smokers, which may lead to fewer withdrawal symptoms and more effective smoking cessation.” (Lawless M. Harrison K. et al). Stress can also affect how likely it is to become accident prone. People high in stress have a higher likelihood of having physical accidents whether its sport related accidents or accidents such as driving. Stress affects an Individual’s sleep, which can also play a role in accidents. Sleep disturbances by