The Effects of Stress on the Human Body According to the Stress in America Survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, most Americans report feeling “moderate-to-high” stress levels with 44% of adults stating that their stress level has increased in the past 5 years (Stress, 2013). Stress is nearly unavoidable; a few major causes of stress include work, money, and the economy. Producing changes in many body systems, stress, in small amounts, is healthy, but excessive stress, when left untreated, can lead to anxiety and illness like increased heart rate and blood pressure and even altered immune function. Situations, pressures, and ideas that cause stress are called “stressors”. (Stress, 2013). Typically, stressors are thought to be negative, like a long day at work or a seemingly rocky relationship. However, anything that places high demand on a person or forces a person to adjust to a situation or idea can be considered stressful. Included in this are positive events like getting married, buying a new home, going away to college, or receiving a promotion at work. People …show more content…
When in a stressful situation, the human body goes through a process called the stress response that will allow the body to either fight or flee, as mentioned earlier (Stress, 2013). This stress response affects the heart, lungs and circulation. When in immediate danger, the heart rate and blood pressure increase instantaneously (Stress, 2013). Breathing automatically becomes more rapid, allowing the lungs to take in more oxygen. The spleen secretes additional red and white blood cells (Stress, 2013). This allows the blood to transport more oxygen throughout the body than normal. It has been proven that blood flow can increase 300 to 400%, readying the muscles, lungs, and brain for added demands in the stressful situation (Stress,
A stressor is an event or time period in which the family faces that adds struggles in their lives. Stressors can affect the family in many different ways depending on the ways that it is handled by each family. For example, the death of a
The circumstances that cause stress are called stressors. Stressors vary in harshness and duration. For example, the responsibility of caring for a sick parent may be an ongoing source of major stress, whereas getting stuck in a traffic jam may cause mild, short-term stress. Some events, such as the death of a loved one, are stressful for everyone. But in other situations, individuals may respond differently to the same event—what a stressor is for one person may not be stressor for another. For example, a student who is unprepared for a chemistry test and anticipates a bad grade may feel stress, on the other hand a classmate who stud...
Stress means different things to different people and stress effects people in different ways. Some people think stress is something that happens to them such as an injury or a promotion and others think that stress is what happens to our mind, body and behaviors in response to an event. While stress does involve events and how one responds to them these are not the critical factors, but our thoughts about the situation in which we are involved are the critical factors. Essentially, stress exists whenever homeostasis is disturbed or cannot be maintained (Stress and the Social System Course Guide, 2013). Homeostasis refers to the body's ability to keep the internal chemical and physical environments constant. As your body begins to react to stress several changes occur. These changes include increased heart rate, blood pressure and secretion of stimulatory hormones. Ones body prepares itself in stressful situations to either stand ground and fight or to flee from the situation. Walter Cannon called this stressful reaction the fight-or-flight response (Greenberg, 2012).
Stress can come from any event or thought that makes us feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. All of us experience stress and usually cope with it well. Stress is an omnipresent part of life and is a reaction to external stimuli that disturb our physical or mental equilibrium. It is a system in our body that helps us to deal with real danger and / or perform at our best. Any event or happening that induces stress is called stressor.
Because Stress can cause widespread damages to the body, it’s vital for one to know his/her limit. But how much is too much? This really depends on the people who deal with it; it differs from person to person. Some people favors high level of stress and seem to thrive on the excitement and challenges it brings. People’s ability to tolerate stress depends on many factors, including the health of the relationships they are in, the general outlook appearance of their life, their emotional intelligence, and family genetics. (Help Guide)
healthy can be difficult, it does help with stress. Exercising is an excellent way to stay healthy; although it can be dreadful at times it does relieve all of the effects of stress.
Stress is defined as “any circumstance that threatens or is perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However, stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).
A convenient way to think about stress is in terms of stressors and stress responses. Stressors are events that threaten or challenge people. They are the sources of stress, such as having to make decisions, getting married, and natural disasters. Stress responses are psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions to stressors. Anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and muscle tension are all examples of stress responses.
Stress is defined in the dictionary as “state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life”. Everyone encounters stress in their life caused by many different variables in life and we all cope with in different ways. The way one copes with the stress is how it can affect our body. Some take to working out, eating healthy, take breaks from what is stressing you out and getting plenty of sleep which are good ways to cope with it. Some take to other coping mechanisms that are not very great for the body. Some examples are stress eating, abuse of drugs and alcohol, bottling up the stress, and depression. These bad methods can cause serious damage to one’s health on the body.
Stressors are anything that causes stress. Any event, thought, or situation that cause stress is called a stressor (Feldman, 10). Modern life exposes people to many stressors. Some physical stressors may include natural disasters, illnesses, and noise. More emotional stressors can include certain life experiences, such as death of a loved one or...
Stressors initiate a response within the organism and causes changes in the body, specifically responses in the body’s autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic autonomic nervous system helps the body deal with the stress it encounters, initiating the ‘fight or flight’ response. Once the threat has passed, the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system will take over, relaxing the body. There is a balance between these two in a healthy person. However, when someone stays on guard, using the sympathetic autonomic nervous system, all sorts of physical effects can
When people think of stress, they usually think of all the times they were put on the spot and felt anxious, e.g., when they were late to an exam or late to pay their bills. However, eustress is what is known as “good stress.” It is the effect of positive reactions within a person related to stress that people need to promote their health and well-being (O'Sullivan, 2011). For example, when having a baby, it can be very stressful but exciting time in one’s life. Then, there is distress which is the effect of unpleasant and undesirable stressors. Nevertheless, people rarely feel eustress day to day. Distress takes the cake because it is felt much more often than eustress. Stress, in general, could come from many places, such as dealing with difficult college work to going through a family crisis.
The first type of stress is eustress which is a positive stress. Positive stress may enhance the good feelings of stressors. According to Meenakshisundaram (2012), eustress is an interesting stress and keep us more essential. Indeed, this type of stress can energize, motivate and raise stressors up in difficulties instead of improve their health. For example, events such as getting married, having a child may increase the motivation of the stressors to the pleasureable.
Despite that many don 't realize the dangers, stress is one of the most significant problems of modern times, causing serious problems on physical and mental health. Stress symptoms may be affecting a patients health, even though a doctor may not realize it. Don 't assume that an illness is to blame for that excruciating headache or your sleep deprivation. Let 's face it, everyone copes with stress. Sometimes stress is in our favor, but other times it could feel like stress is taking over. " Stress is a normal physical response your body uses to protect itself from challenges life throws at it each day"(Stress and Health: How Stress Affects Your Health) Stress affects everyone differently, so it 's important to understand what may be causing
Stress is in our everyday lives. We allow things such as the way we live, school, work, family, relationships etc to stress us out. Some people deal with stress way different from others. Some may know how to cope with stress better than others. We allow stress to take a major toll over our lives when we are suppose to fight it, but a lot of people can’t do that. Stress makes you act and do things that are not like yourself. Stress is a negative word; it comes in all different shapes and forms.