Stress has been linked to a variety of chronic health problems. We don’t always know we are under stress sometimes, until a health issue develops. Stress can affect one or all systems in our bodies so it’s important for us to always manage our stressors. When your body is stressed, your brain, heart, stomach and tissues can be triggered.
Here are some of the common responses from some of our organs when the body is stressed:
Brain: Under stress, your brain releases cortisol. With chronic stress, flow of cortisol becomes steady and this can cause damage to short-term memory and even reduce the brain’s gray matter.
Nose: Stress can cause consistent tension that can cause allergy flare-ups because stress induces inflammatory immune responses.
Mouth: Chronic stress hormones can send energy to the muscles in the mouth. At night, while you’re asleep, this can result in teeth grinding and cause headaches and jaw pain.
Heart: When you are feeling very anxious, stress hormones are released and these hormones can narrow the heart arteries and increase your heart rate. As this continues on a regular basis, this can increase your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
Stomach: Under stress, the digestive system slows down. Absorption of food slows down and inflammation increases. Increased gastrointestinal inflammation can cause pain, gas, diarrhea, bloating. The beneficial bacteria colony reduces and the immune system gets weaker.
Back and Neck: Stress can induce adrenaline. This alerts the muscles to tense up and get ready for action (flight, fight or freeze). Constant tensing can cause neck and back pain and spasms.
Reproductive: Chronic stress can change the hormonal signals from the hypothalamus to the pituitary and the rest of your reproductive hormones. In women, these changes can affect egg production and release, and cause fertility issues. In men, the changes can affect sperm motility and mobility and cause fertility problems.
Waistline and Visceral Fat: Stress can cause you to overeat, eat the wrong foods, seek out high fat foods, and store fat around the internal organs. Over time, this can contribute to a host of health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
You don’t have to be at the mercy of your stress. Meditation, deep breathing, massage and lymphatic drainage have shown tremendous benefits for stress management. Engaging in one or more stress management practices regularly can help your body cope with unavoidable stressors and keep you on your healthy path.