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HomeHealth TopicMental Health

How Does Stress Affect Your Mind and Body?

Sarah Gupta, MDSophie Vergnaud, MD
Written by Sarah Gupta, MD | Reviewed by Sophie Vergnaud, MD
Published on January 21, 2022

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.

A stressed out person holding their head in pain.
Riska/E+ via Getty Images

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. 

What happens to your body when you’re stressed?

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

What’s the fight-flight-freeze response?

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). 

What are some symptoms of ongoing stress?

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)

Can ongoing stress affect my long-term health?

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 stress can also increase your risk for getting a mental health condition, or it can make a preexisting condition worse. These conditions include:

What type of life experiences increase your risk for stress?

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

How can I relieve the effect of stress?

Reducing stress can help ease the effects of stress on your mind and body. 

There are many strategies for managing your stress, including:

The bottom line

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. 

References

American Heart Association. (2016). Managing stress to control high blood pressure

American Heart Association. (2021). Stress and heart health

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American Psychiatric Association. (2020). What is postpartum depression?

American Psychological Association. (2020). Mindfulness

American Psychological Association. (2018). Stress effects on the body

American Psychological Association. (2019). Stress won’t go away? Maybe you are suffering from chronic stress

Diabetes UK. (2022). Stress and diabetes

Hormone Health Network. (2018). What is adrenaline?

Hormone Health Network. (2018). What is cortisol?

Lex, C., et al. (2017). Does stress play a significant role in bipolar disorder? A meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders. 

MedlinePlus. (2022). Stress and your health

Moitra, E., et al. (2011). Impact of stressful life events on the course of panic disorder in adults. Journal of Affective Disorders.

National Cancer Institute. (2012). Psychological stress and cancer

National Health Service. (2019). Stress

Schneiderman, N., et al. (2005). Stress and health: Psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 

Van der Valk, E., et al. (2018). Stress and obesity: Are there more susceptible individuals? Current Obesity Reports. 

GoodRx Health has strict sourcing policies and relies on primary sources such as medical organizations, governmental agencies, academic institutions, and peer-reviewed scientific journals. Learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate, thorough, and unbiased by reading our editorial guidelines.

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.

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