We all feel stressed at one point or the others. There is both positive and negative stress. When it is managed, it cannot have the dire effects on one's health. Stress can affect the physical, social, mental health or all at the same time. According Lovallo, (2015) stress can be defined as a state of psychological and physiological imbalance resulting from the disparity between situational demand and the individual's ability and motivation to meet those needs. When stress becomes like a motivation to do certain tasks at a specific time then it can be termed as positive but have it causes any emotional straining then its negative and will impact the individual's health negatively. Whether short term or long term stress both have effects on our health.
This paper will focus on health in three broad categories that are social, physical and mental and discuss the effects stress have on them. The physical health is majorly affected by stress when it's a chronic one and takes a longer time than the body can hold (Bellingham, 2016). Stress can cause the general functioning of the body to be weaker thus hindering the person to function normally. This is so due to the constant headaches and migraines. It is impossible to focus clearly on the headaches and the migraine (Schönfeld, et al., 2016). Additionally, it causes insomnia, with this an individual lacks rest yielding to poor performance during the working hours. Stress causes anger and the irritability. A stressed person is highly irritable and most times very angry. This will automatically destroy the interpersonal relations and also other relationships. When this continuous for a considerable time one is likely to lose friends leading to a lonely life that is very dangerous.
The entire body is affected negatively by stress. Even some organs or systems that do not seem to be affected they are affected either directly or indirectly. The digestive systems and reproductive are such examples. Chronic stress leads to indigestion and also since the body needs the energy to keep up with the metabolism rate that is always high, the liver may produce a high amount of glucose that can lead to diabetes. When the amount of glucose produced is more than the body requires it leads to body weight and when this happens for a long time it can lead to obesity. This is a predisposing factor to other health conditions like cardiovascular issues and also hypertension. With time if the stress is not dealt with it can lead to permanent health conditions. The different responses of the body to stress for a long time will inevitably reduce the immune system. When the immune system is lower, the body can contract nearly all diseases.
The mental health is also profoundly affected by stress. Some of the effects are anxiety and depression (Toussaint, et al., 2016). This is so since stress wears someone down emotionally and mentally. Insomnia and fatigue have significant effects on the mental and psychological health. The ability to think straight is reduced, and the individual is highly susceptible to mental problems. Stress can also other more severe effects on the brain like post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, it can cause bipolar disorder. In this, an individual lacks a stable mood and their mood, energy levels, and behavior changes dramatically from one extreme to the other. Such individuals can be very happy and excited at one time, and within a twinkle of an eye, they are very angry and hard to control. These effects will destroy the interpersonal relations and prevent them from relating with people accordingly. Nobody wants to have a friend whom they are not sure of their next reaction or behavior. The social health of a stressed person is very unproductive and have many issues as they cannot even maintain friends since most times they prefer to be in isolation. Stressed people are very hostile, impulsive and poor communication which hinders social health and good association with other people. Other emotional effects of stress are that it causes lack of a sense of humor and an increased sense of helplessness (Frost, et al., 2015). This not only has effects on the social health but will eventually have dire consequences on the physical health.
In conclusion, it's thus essential to work out strategies and approaches that will reduce stress. If the stress is chronic one should look for external help from experts to manage it. Cortisol and adrenaline which are hormones produced when one is stressed up should be maintained at the required levels. The above health conditions and problems are not the only health challenges caused by chronic or even short-term stress, but there are more. So although stress is inevitable, we should develop mechanisms for building a strong relationship that will be a better strategy to manage stress. Additionally, other stress managing approaches are avoiding stressing moments or individuals when possible and identifying what exactly is causing the stress and dealing with it.
References
Bellingham, K. (2016). Chronic Stress: A major driver of'dis-ease'. Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 22(3), 177.
Frost, D. M., Lehavot, K., " Meyer, I. H. (2015). Minority stress and physical health among sexual minority individuals. Journal of behavioral medicine, 38(1), 1-8.
Lovallo, W. R. (2015). Stress and health: Biological and psychological interactions. Sage publications.
Schönfeld, P., Brailovskaia, J., Bieda, A., Zhang, X. C., " Margraf, J. (2016). The effects of daily stress on positive and negative mental health: Mediation through self-efficacy. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 16(1), 1-10.
Toussaint, L., Shields, G. S., Dorn, G., " Slavich, G. M. (2016). Effects of lifetime stress exposure on mental and physical health in young adulthood: How stress degrades and forgiveness protects health. Journal of health psychology, 21(6), 1004-1014.
