The biological response to stress was developed in humans when our ancestors faced life and death situations. Modern life however is more about emotional stress than physical. And the strange part is that despite the fact that psychological stress is much higher than that in the Stone Age, the human body has not been able to adjust to constant psychological stress.

Constant or severe stress leads to a situation where you are on high alert every time you come across a problem. This happens irrespective of whether it is a simple matter of getting late for office due to a traffic jam or some serious health condition that you are facing. Stress in such conditions is like a fire alarm that is always on and keeps you awake all the time. Hormones released during a stress response bring about physical changes in the body and keep the body tense. Ideally the body should return to its original normal state after a brief period of stress but continuous stress and the consequent persistently high level of these hormones cause physical stress symptoms.

It is commonly known is that severe stress causes cardiovascular problems and tension headaches but the fact is that stress affects your overall health and can various other physical symptoms can appear anywhere in the body. This happens because blood is diverted from the systems that are not necessary for immediate survival, towards other organs of the body that need to face the stressor. The reduction in blood supply to these organs negatively affects these vital organs over time.

Severe stress has been associated with peptic ulcers, skin problems like hives, asthma, infertility, post menstrual syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and migraines. Severe stress also affects the immune system and unresolved stress leads to a situation where it starts working against the body instead of protecting it. Chronic stress makes you more vulnerable to opportunistic infections like common cold and influenzas and much more.

Some amount of stress is necessary to egg you on to perform better. A stressor by itself does not lead to the debilitating stress symptoms. The strongest evidence in support of this is that the same stressor that brings about a strong stressful reaction from one person may not produce any reaction from another individual. Irrespective of how severe a particular stressor may be, stress is caused only if you consider the stressor to be a problem in your subjective judgment. Managing stress becomes easy if you focus on the positive aspects and shed negativity.

Reference:
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/

http://ezineartic...Stress&id=571975

Originally posted 2008-10-28 19:25:15.

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