How Does Stress Affect Health?

You may be wondering how does stress affect health, because like a growing number of people you are starting to hear in the media that stress kills.

A person who feels ongoing and unresolved stress may go on to develop significant medical illnesses or such emotional illnesses as anxiety disorder and clinical depression.

Ironically, even though a person may be, on one hand, asking themself how does stress affect health, they may on the other hand be unaware that the demands being made them are in fact STRESS - because they are demands that greater than their ability to cope. Often we don't recognize the forewarning signs of how does stress affect health, and don't realize that our stress levels are dangerously high until we experience some kind of health breakdown.

STRESS CONTRIBUTES TO SERIOUS MEDICAL DISORDERS

There is growing evidence that stress contributes to physical illness such as cardiovascular disease (although controversial, research is ongoing). Whatever the disease or its cause, stress management can be used to support health, recovery, and any medical treatment.

STRESS CONTRIBUTES TO SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISORDERS

Anxiety and stress go hand in hand. Almost everyone experiences some anxiety. This is normal. Anxiety disorders are different from everyday situational anxiety because they are more severe, can persist and may interfere with a person’s daily function and their life.

The good news is that anxiety disorders can be successfully treated, and stres management plays a big role in that.

Common anxiety disorders are:

Panic disorder – is a condition where a wave of sudden panic overtakes the person for no apparent reason. The person experiences many physical symptoms. People tend to avoid situations that they fear might trigger an anxiety attack.

Specific phobias – fears of particular situations or things: for example, a fear of heights, open spaces, spiders, snakes or blood. This also leads to the person avoiding situations.

Agoraphobia – fear of a public place, such as a shopping centre or park, or of being away from a place of ‘safety’ such as one’s home. This is based on a fear that escape from this place may be impossible and anxiety will become overwhelming.

Social anxiety disorder – a fear of the scrutiny and judgement of others, including a fear that the person will behave in a way that is embarrassing or causes others to think negatively of them, such as when speaking, eating or writing in public.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – experienced as ongoing distress and intrusive re-living of experiences as ‘flashbacks’ or nightmares months after experiencing or witnessing a real and very distressing event such as a disaster, accident, war or torture, violent death or assault.

Other anxiety disorders include

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – experienced as uncontrollable intrusive thoughts, fears or images and a compulsive urge to repeat certain often irrational behaviours to lessen the anxiety.

Acute stress disorder – a form of posttraumatic stress disorder that happens soon after experiencing or witnessing a very distressing event.

Generalised anxiety disorder – a disorder in which a person is constantly worried, often about irrational things, and cannot be reassured. Most commonly they worry unnecessarily about their health, the safety of members of their family or their finances.

Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders can have a variety of symptoms including: