How Does Stress Affect Our Health?

The impact of stress on our health is difficult to measure . Firstly, because stress cannot manifest itself in just one way. Secondly, because the physiological symptoms of stress can be produced partially or almost entirely by other emotions.

On the other hand, we have to take into account that stress is a natural process that responds to our need to adapt to the environment , and therefore, in the short term it plays a very positive role in our survival. However, it is harmful if it is very intense or prolonged over time.

In our daily lives we often encounter situations that trigger a stress response . This stress response is mainly caused by situations characterized by their unpredictability or lack of control, and can be caused by external factors such as a traffic jam, a threat, a loss, etc.; or by internal factors such as self-demand, competitiveness, etc.

However, in all cases the way we interpret or deal with it influences , since there are different types of tolerance to problems and different thresholds, depending on the person, for which stress can be a danger to health.

How does stress affect our health?

Stress is not only related to emotional states, but also to health status, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems, sexuality , and disease behavior through psychophysiological pathways. That is, stress has branches with different variables that largely condition our quality of life .

The changes that occur in response to stressful situations in our health are mediated by psychophysiological pathways of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system (HPA) represented in three phases.

Phases of stress

• The ANS acts in the 1st Phase of stress called the alarm or flight phase through its sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) branches, where the SNS activates the body in situations of stress  on our health in order to cope with it and the PNS inhibits it, thus allowing us to overcome the situation and end the stress response.

Activation of the SNS causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, release of glucose , increase in plasma cholesterol, successive reductions and recoveries of gastric secretions, dilation of the bronchi, reduction of immunological competence, increase in the size or activity of the thyroid, increase in muscle tension, sweating, increase in respiratory rate, hyperventilation, and stimulates the adrenal glands that release adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream.

• The HHS acts in the  2nd Phase  of adaptation or resistance to the maintenance of the stress situation on our health. This pathway is slower and requires longer exposure to the stressor, but it also has longer lasting and less positive effects on the body.

Activation of the HHS causes an increase in the level of glucose in the circulation, fluid retention, inhibition of the secretion of hormones linked to reproduction and growth and insulin. In addition, there is a suppression of the activity of the immune system, an increase in gastric irritation and the development of depressive feelings, due to glucocorticoids that prepare the body to withstand stress on our health .

• Finally, the 3rd Phase of exhaustion occurs when the activation of the organism in response to the stressor does not decrease and continues over time. The resources lose their ability to adapt and we begin to perform below our physical and mental capacities, that is, we force ourselves, thus increasing the risk of contracting or accelerating the progression of the disease.