Stress is known mainly for its mental effects, how draining it can feel and in the long term how it can deplete your overall mental health. People often note that when under a period of stress, they experience headaches/ migraines or slight stomach pains. These bodily reactions are often undermined and brushed off as being normal, but what many people don’t know is that stress has severe physiological effects and if they aren’t realized sooner, people are at risk for developing severe health issues later on in life.
When studies were done on Crohn's Disease; it was found that a person with more psychological stress had a flare up with their disease. People who are less stressed or have better ways of coping with their stress are less likely to encounter these flare-ups. That is just in regard to gut health but what of the other body systems? It is noteworthy that another major body system affected is the Vascular system, with a potential effect being the arteries narrowing, restricting proper blood flow. The vascular system is affected due our bodies' stress responses of flight, fight, or freeze. Our brain releases norepinephrine which stimulates endothelial cells, leading to leukocyte adhesion. Endothelial cells are the layers of cells that line all of our blood vessels; regulating bloodstream exchanges. Excess stimulation of these cells caused by stress can lead to heart conditions, plague instability, and vascular inflammation amongst other health issues. For Crohn's disease, its patients often relapse, this relapsing not following a specific schedule. When research was done on this, a trend was found: periods of high psychological stress resulted in relapsing and gut inflammation.
An additional piece of information to keep in mind is that these were studies done not on every single human in the world and every human is different. Results may vary based on eating habits, or geographical location as well as how often said person or group of people are stressed. A person’s ethnicity or race and genetic history of diseases are some other factors that can explain why two people’s stress levels and how stress affects them can differ so greatly. With that to be said, just because a person doesn’t see any long-term effects of stress in their life, doesn’t mean that they will not show up in the future.
While talking about some of the physiological effects is important, it is equally as important to know how to prevent or lessen the effects of stress in the present and future. One major solution is medications, but there are more holistic solutions as not everyone can afford these medications. On top of that, a lot of these medications like Xanax or Klonopin have side effects that provide even more harm in the long-term. Some more holistic treatments are yoga and meditation, acupuncture, aromatherapy, massages or even hypnotherapy/ therapy in general. Exercising, regulating your diet, and making sure to get full nights of sleep have shown to lower stress levels as well as becoming motivators to continue pursuing a healthier lifestyle.
Being stressed is normal and it doesn’t matter how old or young a persona is, stress can happen to anyone at any time. What matters most is learning how to properly self-regulate, knowing the warning signs of decreasing mental and physical health and understanding that reaching out for help when you don't know what to do is never a bad idea.
Very informative and well written 👍