Effects of stress on the body

Although in the short term stress is essential to sharpen memory, concentration and make the efforts made by a person more effective, when it is mechanism remains activated for long periods of time, it causes diseases whose consequences range from simple infections, allergies and arthritis to heart attacks heart and brain, going through depression, anxiety, sleep disorders or other psychosomatic pathologies that end up being disabling for the person who suffers.

In this Psychology-Online article, we explain what are the effects of stress on the body.

Index

1. Stress and survival
2. Consequences of emotional stress
3. Positive stress and negative stress

Stressed people are people who generally they live and go to bed in fear to what may happen the day or the following days, not to be up to the task, to continue to suffer continuous pressure, both physical and psychological, are people who are continually going around and around things, continually nervous and scared, continually presenting highly cognitive anticipations negative.

Stress, since man exists, has become the usual companion in our lives. And it is characterized because not only can we not avoid it, but on many occasions it will be essential to facilitate adaptation to any change that invades our environment. This way of reacting to problems, demands and dangers is predetermined by an innate attitude of fight and flight inherited of our ancestors: those who had the greatest capacity to activate their bodies in threatening situations survived for their physical integrity (see an enemy) as to inform about the possibility of obtaining greater benefit for the group (charge a dam).

Among the changes that gave our ancestors a clear advantage over their enemies and their prey, we can highlight: pupil dilation to increase peripheral vision and allow more light to enter in the dark, tensed muscles to react with greater speed and force, increased respiratory and heart rate to improve oxygenation and provide greater blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. The mechanism of stress has been responsible for our most distant ancestors being able to expose themselves, face and face the hostile environment in which they lived: the flight, the hunt, the struggle to gain a position within the hierarchy of the group, etc..., were fundamental. And that is precisely what has allowed, among other things, the survival of human beings.

This flight and fight mechanism called "Acute Reaction" is activated by any alarm signal, a hungry animal, a snake, a car that we approaching at high speed or taking a whistle, a tree that falls when we pass it, an exam, a family problem, the loss of the bus, a disease and in general any situation that we perceive as dangerous or anxious. The body's reaction is immediate, automatic (alarm, defense, flight, reaction) and unconscious and it will always follow the same pattern that is dictated by our brain.

Due to the sensory impulses (coming, for example, from the eyes) the neural networks are activated and give the signal "Alarm" which is first transmitted to the thalamus. If he thalamus and amygdala (central emergency of the brain) consider the stimulus as dangerous, automatically raise the general alarm and fear, rage or any other emotion comes on stage and spreads in tenths of a second throughout the organism through of brainstem.

• The heart and respiration speed up, the heart rate and blood pressure rise.
• The cutaneous blood vessels are narrowed so that less blood flows through them and the internal organs benefit mainly.
• The immune system mobilizes additional battalions of defensive cells to face the consequences caused by the threatening situation. The immune system is responsible for fighting germs that invade the body causing diseases, therefore When stress is chronic, the person can get sick much more easily because this immune system is weakened. -
• The adrenal glands activate the release of adrenaline that will ensure that the brain and muscles have an additional supply of energy.
• The body is now ready to flee or to defend itself. Once this first reaction phase the sign of "Danger" arrives to the cerebral cortex where he resides conscious thought and that's where the situation is analyzed. If the brain through thought also qualifies the signal as "danger" (a threatening situation for us, for example) the reaction intensifies. And it is from this moment that the hormonal race through the brain and throughout the body begins. The goal is once again in the Kidney glands that now they are going to segregate cortisol. This hormone further sharpens the body's reaction and is responsible, among other things, for maintaining the stress response by mobilizing sufficient reserves for the energy supply to be the suitable. Later, once the perception of danger has passed, it will be cortisol itself that is responsible for giving the signal stop and the immune system returns to its normal situation, ending the situation of stress.

Acute stress helps our body to take action, to mobilize and get up in the morning: after hours of relaxation, the body must be activated and the circulatory system needs an increase in pressure provided by the hormones of the stress. In healthy people, the cortisol concentration peaks upon awakening and prepares them for the day.

With acute stress, anxiety, increased heart rate, dilated pupils and, in general, preparation of the organism to act and execute an alarm response, rapid flight, which are signs of stress. Although throughout the existence of man, as a species, the activation of this system has meant its survival, when it occurs during prolonged and continuous periods little by little diminish the health of the person, because being continuously in a state of alert, there is a decrease in the defenses.

This complex adaptation mechanism has been perpetuated to this day thanks to natural selection. And although today the dangers have completely changed, we continue to use this resource to guarantee adaptive success to the constant changes in the environment. A greater physiological and cognitive activation It allows us to perceive the situation better and more quickly, select the most adaptive behavior and carry it out as quickly, appropriately and intensely as possible.

However, the disadvantage of this fabulous adaptation mechanism is that it generates an important wear and tear of the organism and high energy consumption, so it is necessary to develop resources and a recovery period that we are not always aware of and do not carry out.

As we are seeing, stress in principle is a necessary and normal physiological phenomenon, it is the answer that an organism emits before those stimuli that it perceives as threatening or before which it has to act.

Hence good stress is positive and necessary: as it helps not only to withstand demanding situations but also to react to the demands that the environment demands at all times.

Conversely negative stress and therefore harmful: it appears when the body is not able to adapt to certain situations or give adequate responses to the demands required by the environment. It occurs, in this case, an over-activation and excessive anxiety, accompanied by blockage and inability to focus effectively on the performance of tasks. The juggler performs his juggling with three balls, then four, then five; but when incorporating the sixth, all the balls fall out, the same happens with the guitar strings, they have to have the tension fair neither more nor less, if they are too loose it will sound bad but if they are too tight it will not work properly and it will even will break. Something similar happens with stress, the rope of our organism tightens until it finally breaks.

All people, to a greater or lesser extent, have a limited capacity to work and respond to the situations that arise, day by day. When we are forced beyond our means, we can block ourselves in such a way that we do not even we can perform the simplest tasks and that in other less stressful circumstances would hardly represent difficulties. However, to respond to both daily demands and extraordinary situations we need a certain degree of activation and tension. If it is insufficient, we will not respond well, but if the tension is excessive, we may be unable to perform the appropriate response.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Effects of stress on the body, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.