Imagine it; your bus hasn’t arrived on time, meaning you are running late for an important work meeting, and you are left watching the minutes tick by on your watch. This is when your brain decides to send in the stress hormones, causing your heart to race and your breath to quicken. In other words, your body has gone into fight or flight.
If you are regularly exposed to this response, your body can begin to feel the effects. Your physical health could decline in a variety of different ways, and not all of them are well-known. Fortunately, this post has outlined three of the key ways that chronic stress affects your physical health.
It Can Lead to Fatigue and Sleep Problems
When you are suffering from severe stress, you could experience chronic fatigue and disruptions in sleep. This could cause decreased energy levels. In fact, it was found that 43% of people between the ages of 13 and 64 had experienced at least one sleepless night due to stress. Stress can go even further than just one sleepless night, though, as it is also known to cause insomnia.
Sleep problems are the result of the body’s “fight or flight” response, which releases stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol to keep the body and mind alert. This makes it nearly impossible for the body to relax into restorative, non-REM sleep. Unfortunately, a vicious cycle can be created here, with fatigue and poor sleep exacerbating stress, which further impairs your rest and recovery.
With a lack of restorative sleep, your body and brain do not get a proper opportunity to recover, and this is what leads to feelings of exhaustion. You might even find that you are more likely to get sick after being exposed to the common cold or other viruses because of sleep deprivation, and it could take you longer to recover from sickness.
It Can Cause Metabolic Disorders
The release of stress hormones, primarily cortisol, can have other effects on the body. Cortisol can elevate blood glucose, promote the accumulation of harmful visceral fat, and reduce insulin sensitivity. All of these hormonal and metabolic changes can contribute to several disorders, including atherogenic dyslipidemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, and obesity. These metabolic shifts can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, which is especially concerning.
Although it is less well-known, chronic stress is also believed to be one of the causes of mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are responsible for producing energy that is used for cell function and metabolism, and mitochondrial DNA can be damaged by stress. This can result in various metabolic issues, such as decreased energy production, impaired fat metabolism, and oxidative stress. Neurodegenerative diseases, obesity, and type 2 diabetes have been linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.
It Can Worsen Existing Skin Conditions
Increased inflammation, due to the adrenaline and cortisol released by chronic stress, can be triggered in the body, further aggravating inflammatory skin conditions. This means conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea are worsened. However, prolonged exposure to these stress hormones can even disrupt the skin’s natural barrier function, meaning it is more vulnerable to infection, irritants, and pathogens.
Not only can stress directly lead to a decline in your skin’s condition, but behavioral factors should also be considered in this context. Stress is known to lead to changes in behavior, with some people picking, rubbing, and even scratching their skin as a response. This could cause further damage, increase inflammation, and begin an “itch-scratch” cycle that worsens existing conditions.
Similar to sleep, the visible symptoms of a skin flare-up can increase anxiety and stress, forming a cycle where the skin condition fuels stress and vice versa.
To conclude, there are various ways that chronic stress can impact your physical health. In many ways, this can create a vicious cycle where stress exacerbates the physical condition, and the physical condition in turn worsens the stress. Such effects have been explained in this post.
