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The Physical Symptoms and Effects of Stress on the Body

Stress is the human body's reaction to a mentally or physically challenging situation. As soon as we come into a stressful situation, our bodies' natural physical response is to produce more adrenaline as our hearts beat faster and our blood moves faster through our bodies. While this physiological response is immediate and subsides once the initial onslaught of the stressful situation has subsided, prolonged contact with high stress has physical effects that linger and chip away at our health.

Physical Symptoms of Stress
Although most people can easily determine whether or not they feel stressed out, they have a harder time noting the physical manifestations of stress they suffer from. While some of these symptoms of stress are overt, such as sleeplessness, others are far subtler. Often, these more muted symptoms are the most dangerous ones due to the fact that these are the ones that go untreated. Over time, failure to treat them may cause the development of serious conditions that significantly damage health.

Here are some of the physical symptoms of stress:

• acid reflux
• arrythmias (irregular heartbeats)
• asthma
• back, shoulder and neck aches
• cramps
• extreme tiredness
• extreme weight gain or loss
• high blood pressure
• intense headaches
• irritable bowel syndrome
• jaw pain from grinding teeth
• muscle tightness
• sexual dysfunction.

While there are many more physical symptoms associated with stress, the ones listed above are the most common.

Another reason the symptoms of stress can be so damaging is that often people focus on the source of stress, rather than its effects on them. For example, if a person is stressed out by his job, his energy and attention is focused on work, rather than the effects of the stress on his body.

Consequently, he may grind his teeth while he sleeps, slowly be increasing his blood pressure and, every now and then, get terrible headaches. However, as these physical symptoms eat away at his health, he only prolongs his stress by focusing on the source.

The Long-Term Physical Effects of Stress
Over time, the combination on the symptoms of stress will create permanent damage to a person's health.

As symptoms such as high blood pressure and arrhythmia persist, some of the seriously detrimental health effects include:

• heart attack
• immune system damage
• infertility
• insomnia
• organ failure
• stroke.

While some of these long-term effects may be resolved over time, others cause permanent, irreparable damage. At times, these effects can be fatal.

Occasionally, some of the incredibly debilitating physical effects of stress arise because the stressed out individual is abusing drugs and alcohol to cope with his or her stress. If (s)he turns to these substances, (s)he is open to suffering from other serious physical ailments, including:

• cancers of the colon, esophagus, liver
• cirrhosis of the liver
• impotence
• jaundice
• kidney failure
• liver damage
• lung disease
• pancreatic issues.

As a result, knowing the physical symptoms of stress and learning how to decrease the levels of stress in your life is the best way to prevent it from seriously affecting your health.