The effects of stress are many and varied and, it is now known,
they are almost all entirely bad. Stress weakens the system,
tears down the body and mind, and causes long-term health
problems that have been documented in numerous studies and
reports. Thus, stress is ultimately a bad thing that should be
avoided. By keeping stress away, you can help ensure a lifetime
of health and keep yourself from overloading your body and mind.
Of all the effects of stress, first and foremost is the "fight or
flight" response that it brings to your body. As soon as stress
hits, the body starts churning out the hormones that set your
body on edge and ready it to either fight or run. Obviously,
this is pretty pointless when the stress is how you are going to
get your report into the boss on time, but it is still there.
Your mind only knows that it is under the gun and threatened and
it has the same response for workplace stress as it does for a
tiger coming at you. The human body and mind is still designed
with physical danger in mind and any stress is taken to be a
physical threat. Thus, the body begins churning out these
hormones as though you were about to be set upon by a pack of
wolves.
What does the fight or flight response do? First, it sharpens
the awareness and confuses the mind. Of all the effects of
stress, this seems the most contradictory. However, it is also
true. The body pumps in adrenaline, which heightens mental
sharpness, and noradrenaline, which causes the mind to be
confused. This is a bad thing because your mind is
simultaneously receiving messages to stand up and fight while it
receives messages to get the heck away from there. Thus, the
mind is clouded with indecision and this will not help you focus
on what you need to get done.
This response to stress also causes the heart to speed up in
order to pump more blood. This rise in blood pressure allows the
body to react stronger and more quickly in order to either fight
or escape. Unfortunately, the stress of everyday life is not of
the same sort as that of a person out in the wilderness and it
tends to stick around longer than the threat of physical attack.
Thus, what should be a short rise in blood pressure is actually
dragged out over a long period of time, making the heart work way
too hard for long periods. This causes a rise in blood pressure
which can result in increased risk of stroke or heart attack in
the long term.
Also, the effects of stress include the body's tendency to break
down white blood cells when it is stressed. Unfortunately, white
blood cells are used to fight disease and breaking them down
causes immune system depletion and makes people more vulnerable
to disease. Thus, if you do not slow down, your body will be
slowed down for you with a cold or a bout of the flu. This
explains why many people tend to become ill when they are under
pressure for long periods of time.
Finally, the body bumps up the production of platelets in order
to help seal wounds one might receive from a physical attack.
However, you are not going to receive wounds working in the
office late -- paper cuts excepted -- and thus these platelets
are not really doing anything productive. However, what
platelets will do is stick to the sides of your blood vessels and
cause blockages. This means an increased risk for stroke or
heart attack in the long term if you are stressed too much or too
often. Of all the effects of stress, this can be the most
dangerous; especially in older folks who are more susceptible to
heart attack and stroke.
The effects of stress are many, but they are almost universally
dangerous. Thus, you need to manage your stress in order to keep
your body healthy for a long time. So take care of yourself by
keeping your mind uncluttered with stress and one of the more
dire effects of stress will not happen to you.
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