Stress has beome a part and parcel of our lives today. Both adults and children these days suffer from stress due to a number of reasons. And not all people can handle it well.
The inability to cope with stress can cause many health problems. These can range from physical health troubles like diabetes, obesity, heart problems, asthma, gastrointestinal disorders and headaches, to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. Stress can also accelerate ageing, increase a person's risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and cause sleep troubles. These are also often linked. Depression can lead to overeating and hence cause obesity or excessive cholesterol. Sleep deprivation and depression can cause anxiety and panic attacks. Diabetes is also often linked to obesity.
If you child or teenager is overly strained or tired, it can interfere with her school performance and also her overall well-being. She can become irritable, lose her appetite and have trouble sleeping. While answering a question on how to control stress-induced weight gain, in mayoclinic.org, Dr. Edward T Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine states, "Stress itself isn't abnormal or bad. What's important is how you deal with stress. If you're having trouble coping, chronic stress can wear you down and overwhelm you. You may frequently be in a bad mood, your productivity may decrease, your relationships may suffer, you may develop sleep problems, and you might even find it difficult to go about your normal daily routine."
Good diet, regular exercise, a positive attitude and timely treatment can help people deal with stress in a healthy manner.
For more on this topic, you can read through the articles in the ClipBook.
Stress is our response to daily life. It affects us emotionally, physically, and behaviorally. The right amount of stress can be a positive force that helps us do our best and stay alert and energetic. Too much stress, however, can make us tense a...
Depression has many possible causes such as genetics, brain chemicals and your life situation. Chronic, stressful life situations can increase the risk of developing depression if you aren't coping with the stress well.
A tension-type headache is the most common everyday headache that many individuals experience. It may feel like a constant ache that affects both sides of the head. You may also feel the neck muscles tighten and experience a feeling of pressure be...
When stress activates the "flight or fight" response in your central nervous system, digestion can shut down because your central nervous system shuts down blood flow, affects the contractions of your digestive muscles, and decreases secretions ne...
When you're under stress, you may find it hard to eat healthy. Also, during times of particularly high stress, you may eat in excess as an attempt to fulfil emotional needs leading to phenomena referred to as emotional eating.
While feeling stressed out isn't good for your overall health, it can trigger asthma attacks just as much as smoke, pets, polluted air and anything else that causes your asthma to flare.
When stress occurs, the body gears up for a fight-or-flight response. In such instances, the levels of many hormones shoot up. Their net effect is to make glucose and fat available to cells. In people who have diabetes, the fight-or-flight respons...
More research is needed to determine how stress contributes to heart disease. But stress may affect behaviors and factors that increase heart disease risk such as, blood pressure, cholesterol level, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating.
The connections among stress, physical and mental health are undeniable. According to recent research, stress also appears to be related to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Although more research is still needed on the exact mechanisms by which psychological stress contributes to biological aging, what we do know is that stress can be a contributor to premature aging.
