How Stress causes disease

What is stress?

Stress is primarily a physical response. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to 'fight or flight' mode, releasing a complex mix of hormones and chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare the body for physical action. Stress targets the weakest part of our physiology or character; if you are prone to headaches or eczema, this will flare up. If you have low levels of patience or tolerance for others, this will be the first area to present under times of stress. Stress isn't avoidable but it is manageable. A key action in order to minimize risk is to identify stress-related problems as early as possible, so that action can be taken before serious stress-related illness occurs.

Each person responds to stress in a different way, but too much stress can lead to health problems. Stress is the body's natural defense against predators and danger. It flushes the body with hormones to prepare systems to evade or confront danger. ... The more stressors we experience, the more stressed we tend to feel. So it would be wrong to over generalize when giving advice on how to identify stress in others. However, what we can say is that because stress has negative effects, it will usually manifest itself one way or another.

How stress affects your health

When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate or irritable for no good reason. Chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too. Stress can make existing problems worse. Chronic stress may also cause disease, either because of changes in your body or the overeating, smoking and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. In one study, for example, about half the participants saw improvements in chronic headaches after learning how to stop the stress-producing habit of "catastrophizing," or constantly thinking negative thoughts about their pain.

What Stresses Americans Out Most?

Unsurprisingly, the survey found that most Americans find themselves worrying about money. The survey, which was carried out by the American Psychological Association, shows that financial worries served as significant sources of stress for almost two in three American adults. Not far behind was work (60 per cent), followed by family responsibilities (47 per cent), and health concerns (46 per cent). Most affected by money worries: women, parents, and younger adults. Roughly three-quarters of all adults with children said they regularly worry about money. Everyone has different stress triggers. Work stress tops the list, according to surveys. Forty percent of U.S. workers admit to experiencing office stress, and one-quarter say work is the biggest source of stress in their lives. Life stresses can have a big impact on your health and life. Other examples of life stresses are:

The death of a loved one
Increase in financial obligations
Divorce
Loss of a job
Getting married
Moving to a new home

What you can do

Reducing your stress levels cannot only make you feel better right now, but may also protect your health long-term your relationships, and your quality of life.

10 Health Problems Related to Stress

What are some of the most significant health problems related to stress? Here's a sampling.

Heart Disease. Doctors do know that sudden emotional stress can be a trigger for serious cardiac problems, including heart attacks. People who have chronic heart problems need to avoid acute stress -- and learn how to successfully manage life's unavoidable stresses -- as much as they can.
Asthma. Many studies have shown that stress can worsen asthma. Some evidence suggests that a parent's chronic stress might even increase the risk of developing asthma in their children. One study looked at how parental stress affected the asthma rates of young children who were also exposed to air pollution or whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. The kids with stressed out parents had a substantially higher risk of developing asthma.
Obesity. Excess fat in the belly seems to pose greater health risks than fat on the legs or hips -- and unfortunately, that's just where people with high stress seem to store it. "Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol," says Winner, "and that seems to increase the amount of fat that's deposited in the abdomen."
Diabetes. Stress can worsen diabetes in two ways. First, it increases the likelihood of bad behaviors, such as unhealthy eating and excessive drinking. Second, stress seems to raise the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes directly.
Headaches. Stress is considered one of the most common triggers for headaches -- not just tension headaches, but migraines as well.
Depression and anxiety. It's probably no surprise that chronic stress is connected with higher rates of depression and anxiety. One survey of recent studies found that people who had stress related to their jobs -- like demanding work with few rewards -- had an 80% higher risk of developing depression within a few years than people with lower stress.
Gastrointestinal problems. Here's one thing that stress doesn't do -- it doesn't cause ulcers. However, it can make them worse. Stress is also a common factor in many other GI conditions, such as chronic heartburn (or gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Winner says.
Alzheimer's disease. One animal study found that stress might worsen Alzheimer's disease, causing its brain lesions to form more quickly. Some researchers speculate that reducing stress has the potential to slow down the progression of the disease.
Accelerated aging. There's actually evidence that stress can affect how you age. One study compared the DNA of mothers who were under high stress -- they were caring for a chronically ill child -- with women who were not. Researchers found that a particular region of the chromosomes showed the effects of accelerated aging. Stress seemed to accelerate aging about 9 to 17 additional years.
Premature death. A study looked at the health effects of stress by studying elderly caregivers looking after their spouses -- people who are naturally under a great deal of stress. It found that caregivers had a 63% higher rate of death than people their age who were not caregivers.