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How Stress Affects the Body©
Excerpts from Re-Defining Stress
to Prevent Disease
By
Steve Jaffe
 To
understand how stress affects the body, one has to be
familiar with the three types of stress that bombards
the mind and body: Acute, episodic, and chronic. Acute
stress is the most common form of stress. It comes from
demands and pressures that are connected to the past
and a perceived future. Episodic stress is an elevated
form of acute stress. People suffering this form of
stress are in chaos and crisis a majority of their daily
lives. Chronic stress usually originates from traumatic
early childhood experiences that become painfully internalized
and remain painful and with the person into adulthood
(Miller & Smith, 1997).
Acute
stress can be thrilling and exciting in small doses.
This form of stress does not have enough time to do
the extensive damage associated with long-term stress
(Miller & Smith, 1997). Some symptoms are: anger,
irritability, anxiety, depression, muscular problems,
back pain, jaw pain, stomach and bowel problems, heartburn,
acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, elevated
blood pressure, rapid heart beat, sweaty palms, heart
palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands
or feet, shortness of breath and chest pain (Miller
& Smith, 1997).
Episodic
acute stress is found in people who suffer acute stress
frequently (Miller & Smith, 1997). They are people
who are ceaseless worriers. The cardiac prone Type-A
personality fits into this category. Symptoms of episodic
acute stress are: episodes of extended arousal, persistent
tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain
and heart disease.
Chronic
stress, unlike acute and episodic, is more serious and
requires immediate intervention. This form of stress
wears away at people day after day. Chronic stress is
when a person never sees a way out of a desolate situation
(Miller & Smith, 1997). This unrelenting demand
on the body eventually puts a person in a situation
that prevents them from seeing a light at the end of
the tunnel. In most chronic stress situations all avenues
of hope appear eliminated (Miller & Smith, 1997).
The one distinguishing aspect of chronic stress is that
people can get used to it. Chronic stress kills through
suicide, violence, heart attack, stroke and perhaps
even cancer (Miller & Smith, 1997).
The
conscious mind can remain unaware of the different levels
of stress that it is experiencing, triggering the body's
defense mechanisms to silently fight off the effects
of stress. Without awareness, a person cannot take the
necessary measures to control stress. It is widely believed
that the brain controls every organ in the body during
a stressful event through the release of chemical hormones.
Chemicals produced by the brain during an emotional
crisis trigger the immune system to react, causing a
spiraling effect that begins to break down the body's
natural ability to seek homeostasis.
For
example, cancer is the third most common cause of death
in the Western world (Myss, 1997). Human beings produce
cancer cells daily (Myss, 1997). The question is what
triggers the cancer cells to become deadly (Myss, 1997).
There are strong correlations with chemical toxins,
genetics, excessive radiation, nutrition, viral infections
and depression (Myss, 1997). To most scientists and
clinicians, the evidence points to depression and how
it clobbers the immune system. It has been widely reported
that cancer often is diagnosed one to two years following
a devastating emotional crisis (Myss, 1993). Stress
has a powerful affect on the body. A person's full understanding
of the consequences that stress offers is something
people have to address, especially when fighting a life-threatening
illness.
The
two main biological systems involved in mediating the
stress response are the sympathetic nervous system and
the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system. The normal
role of the sympathetic nervous system is to mediate
the unconscious regulation of basic bodily functions.
In stressful situations it is also the chief mediator
of the body's immediate alarm reaction - the so-called
fight-or-flight response (Martin 1997). When the body
maintains a constant state of stress, this condition
will negatively impact the body's health. People need
to learn how to take a time out, to retrain those memory
cells by helping the brain reinterpret past stressful
events.
Stress
and tension are stored in the body, which results in
tight shoulders, a stiff neck, backaches, headaches
and more. If the physical tension is let go, a feeling
of calm will help to handle the stress. Just telling
the mind to let go is not enough. Reframing of cognitive
stress has to take place in order to reverse or reduce
stress. There are intimate links between our minds and
the healing capabilities that we all inherit at birth
(Miller, 1997). The exercise of journaling and addressing
negative thoughts can help to reframe the brains thought
process and in turn make significant positive changes
in one's emotional health.
The
relationship between thoughts, emotions, and the immune
system can be explained in physiological terms. When
one thinks a thought or feels a feeling, it communicates
itself to every cell in the body by way of small protein
molecule messengers called neuropeptides. In turn, the
hormonal level of the body fluctuates according to one's
emotional state.
Thoughts
are toxic, and can kill or cure (Siegel, 1989). When
humans experience mind-altering processes-for example,
meditation, hypnosis, visualization, psychotherapy,
love and peace of mind-humans become open to the possibility
of change and healing (Siegel, 1989). How a person perceives
stress has a dramatic effect on the production of immune
molecules in the bloodstream, as well as certain immune
cells via messages from the hypothalamus, the control
center of the brain. It does not distinguish between
positive stress and negative stress; thus the brain
reacts by releasing a chemical response. If people are
to heal themselves and others, it can be just as important
to identify certain mental factors as it is to identify
the physiological factors of illness (Miller, 1997).
In some cases good stress can also be problematic. The
body recognizes both eustress and distress as change,
and it is change that causes the problem. The pace of
change is so fast in today's society that few are untouched
by it.
Some
changes may appear beneficial on the surface, yet have
negative aspects that become apparent later. A common
example is the rapid increase in personal communication
devices such as cell phones and pagers. At first glance
they seem like marvelous devices that can enhance productivity
by enabling more convenient communication with others.
This may also work against a person's emotional health.
As a society this modern convenience can become invasive.
Employers may expect their workers to be "on call"
constantly, and it becomes difficult to find quiet time
to think, plan, or even to do the primary part of the
job. Customers may not respect the difference between
the workday and private time, and a person's family
life feels the effect.
Stress
can also come from physical and emotional sources. Physical
causes can include-but are not limited to-overwork,
over exercising, excessive partying, jet lag, toxins
(such as air pollution and chemicals encountered at
work or home), allergies, sleep deprivation, illness,
injury and hormonal disruptions in the premenstrual,
postpartum and menopausal phases of women's lives. When
stress happens in a person's life, it is automatically
assessed mentally. The body will not become imbalanced
until the brain gives the orders to react. Thus, the
brain first tries to determine if the event is threatening,
the beginning stages of the stress response.
There
are people who have good coping skills and will move
through the stressful event easily. It is when a person
believes that the immediate stressful event is beyond
their coping skills that harmful chronic stress will
take over. The key to controlling stress is to be able
to see it clearly and understand the reactions the body
is making during an emotionally disturbing event.
For
the brain to cope with stress, a reappraisal of the
problem needs to happen. For example, when a person
feels a headache coming on they could take a moment
to think about what is going on in their lives at that
moment. They will more than likely see the stress that
is affecting their body. By just recognizing it, giving
it acknowledgment, they will begin the reversing process
helping the headache to subside. This simple technique
can be incorporated through the journaling process,
meditation, deep breathing exercises, or slow relaxing
walks.
Stressful
situations can come from many every day sources such
as marital, family or peer relationship difficulties.
Office politics, financial problems, moving or remodeling,
juggling schedules of busy family members, taking care
of aging parents or disabled children can also contribute
to losing touch with the inner self, causing a host
of other problems to ensue. Positive emotional events
such as falling in love, getting married, having a baby,
getting a raise or a new job, and graduating from school,
all add to the difficulty of finding joy and happiness,
which is a key ingredient toward reducing stress. All
of these factors can contribute to long-term stress
and cause or exacerbate many physical ailments.
There
is a saying "if it is not broken, don't fix it."
Unfortunately, humans live by that creed when it comes
to taking care of their health. "What I don't know
won't hurt me," has become a belief system for
many hard-charging individuals. Unfortunately, when
a person encounters stress, the body's own belief system
automatically generates a biochemical reaction. Adrenalin
or cortisol is then produced to enable the body to have
the energy needed for the appropriate defensive action,
which is selected from the well known Fight or Flight
Response. (This is actually comprised of five choices:
fighting, fleeing, and freezing, feeding or mating.)
This is intended to be a temporary state of affairs.
The
human body is designed to function best under conditions
of predictability and consistency, known as homeostasis.
The normal body rhythms and sleep cycles are part of
this equilibrium state. Stress, with its accompanying
hormonal changes, disrupts the natural balance, and
the body then has to work overtime to return to a state
of stability.
In
times of continuing stress, the body has to work harder
and longer in its attempt to seek balance, and it will
soon manifest a number of symptoms. The first to appear
is usually some sort of sleep disruption. Other symptoms
include decreased energy, increased aches and pains,
(especially in the head, neck, shoulders and back),
increased sensitivity to pain, and a vague sense of
feeling unwell. Humans may also experience gastrointestinal
problems such as an upset or nervous stomach, diarrhea
or constipation. Anxiety, agitation, and panic attacks
are also relatively common.
In
attempts to cope, a person often instinctively resorts
to counterproductive strategies such as an increase
intake of simple sugars, caffeine, alcohol or tobacco;
compulsive work or exercise patterns may also be developed.
All of these strategies actually tend to increase the
stress instead.
Stress,
like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What acts
as a stressor for one person may simply be a motivator
for another individual. Everyone has a unique tolerance
level.
Some
stress is good for everyone-though that amount will
vary for each individual. With no stress or very low
levels, people become lethargic and lackadaisical-often
performing at very low levels. Too much stress, however,
also results in poor performance as people concentrate
more on the stress and often become overwhelmed. With
moderate levels of stress, people are generally spurred
on to higher performance and are more motivated to produce
at higher levels. That "moderate level" is
unique to each person.
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