By: Alleluia Reyes
Stress is a very common experience by a lot of people nowadays. As people’s lifestyles have started to become less simple, there are more stressors that each one must handle each and every day. Perhaps because the different stressors have become part of the everyday routines in your life, you have might been so used to it without having realized that this excess amount of stress might harm you because there are a lot of stress-related illnesses. In fact, studies say that fifty percent of medical consultations are suspected to be due to stress-related illnesses.
Stress can either indirectly or directly affect your health. That is why you must pause once in a while, and reflect if your activities at work or in school might already be leading you towards the road to stress-related illnesses. Because a stressful lifestyle is also equivalent to a very unhealthy lifestyle, it has an indirect negative effect to your body’s well-being. People who are very busy have the tendency to have less rest, deprived sleep and no time for exercise and leisure. Furthermore, very busy people resort more to eating in fast foods than preparing their own home-cooked meals. This kind of lifestyle may eventually lead you to stress-related illnesses indirectly.
Stress also can directly cause changes in your bodily reactions that might not be good for your health. When you are stressed, your body physiologically adjusts to be able to cope up with the demands of your condition. Your body tends to release stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline to be able to adapt to the stressful situation. However, the increase in release of these hormones might make your body more prone to stress-related illnesses because of the increase in stimulation that it does to your different organ systems, especially the cardiovascular system.
The following are the most commonly identified stress-related illnesses:
- Hypertension
- Coronary artery disease
- Cerebrovascular accident
- Asthma
- Tension headaches
- Migraine
- Fibromyalgia
- Acid peptide disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Stomach ulcers
- Insomnia
- Sexual dysfunction
- Irregular menstrual cycles
