Key takeaways:
Stress can cause mind and body symptoms, like problems concentrating, headaches, body pain, and trouble sleeping.
Ongoing stress can put you at risk for many different mental and physical health conditions.
Learning to manage your stress can help keep your symptoms under control and protect your long-term health.
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably felt stressed at some point in your life. Maybe you can remember feeling stressed during a scary or frightening experience. Or maybe you have day-to-day stress that’s part of your job, work, or home.
The truth is: Stress is a normal part of being human. In small doses, stress can actually help you stay safe — or even motivate you to perform better in a stressful situation.
If you’ve ever been stressed, you know that it can feel overwhelming. But you may not know that stress can also have a major impact on both your mind and body. And ongoing stress can even affect your long-term physical and mental health.
Read on for more information about what happens to your body when you’re stressed and common symptoms of stress. We’ll also talk about how to manage your stress, so you can minimize the wear and tear it can have on your mind and body.
When you encounter a stressful situation, your body responds automatically. Your brain sounds an “alarm bell” that tells your body to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline into your bloodstream.
As these hormones circulate, they help your body get ready to respond to a threat:
Your blood begins to pump more quickly and forcefully in your body.
Your lungs work harder to bring in more oxygen.
Your body makes more energy (glucose) available.
Your muscles get ready to spring into action.
Your body diverts resources from systemic functions that won’t be needed in that moment, like digestion and reproduction.
When these stress-related changes happen in your body, you might notice:
Your heartbeat and breathing speed up
Your muscles feel tense
You feel warm or flushed
Your mouth goes dry
Your palms get sweaty
You have a hard time thinking clearly
These automatic, physical changes are sometimes called the “fight-flight-freeze” response. This response is your body’s reaction to perceived danger. It’s a survival mechanism that probably evolved to allow humans to stay alive when faced with a threat (like running away from a saber-tooth tiger).
Short bursts of stress can keep you safe and even help you feel motivated. For example, the stress response could help you react quickly in an emergency situation, like avoiding a falling tree or a possible car crash.
But ongoing stress — also called “chronic stress” — can take a toll on your mental and physical health. This is because our bodies aren’t designed to hang out in the fight-flight-freeze zone for long periods of time.
Ongoing stress can lead to many different symptoms, including:
Headaches
Dizziness
Trouble sleeping
Body aches and pains
Appetite changes
Upset stomach, constipation, or diarrhea
Problems concentrating or thinking clearly
Anxiety or irritability
Mood changes
Low energy
Trouble having an erection or an orgasm
Low libido (loss of interest in sex)
Yes. Ongoing stress can have an effect on your long-term mental and physical health.
There’s evidence that chronic stress can worsen, or put you at risk for major illnesses such as:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Chronic stress can also increase your risk for getting a mental health condition, or it can make a preexisting condition worse. These conditions include:
It depends. Not everyone feels stressed about the same things. There are certain things that might be stressful for you but might not bother someone else. For example, some people feel stressed about driving a car, while others might find it relaxing and enjoyable.
All the same, certain things can make you more vulnerable to stress. You might find that you get stressed more easily if:
You are hungry, thirsty, or tired
You don’t have a good support system
You have a lot of challenges in your personal life
You have mental or physical illness(es)
Your money situation isn’t stable
Your housing situation isn’t stable
Stress can also come from certain types of events, including:
Experiencing death
Losing your job
Going through a divorce or separation
Being diagnosed with a new health problem
Having a serious accident or injury
Moving to a new apartment or home
Losing your apartment or home
Experiencing race-based trauma
Childbirth
Reducing stress can help ease the effects of stress on your mind and body.
There are many strategies for managing your stress, including:
Getting regular physical exercise
Practicing mindfulness or meditation
Spending time with friends and family
Eating nutritious foods
Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night
Talking to a therapist, counselor, friend, or family member
Joining a support group
Stress is a normal and expected part of being human — and it can even be helpful in small doses. But when stress is ongoing it can affect you from head to toe, and it can put you at risk for certain health conditions.
Learning to manage stress is an important step toward relieving your mental and physical symptoms. And putting stress-management strategies into practice can lessen the impact that stress has on your mind, body, and long-term health.
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For additional resources or to connect with mental health services in your area, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357. For immediate assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, or text HOME to 741-741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.