How Does Emotional Stress Play a Vital Role in Many Illnesses?
Healthful Vitality | 03/28/2023 | How Does Emotional Stress Play a Vital Role in Many Illnesses?
Emotional stress is a common experience that can have a significant impact on both mental and physical health. Studies have shown that chronic stress can contribute to various illnesses and diseases affecting the cardiovascular, respiratory, and immune systems. Mental health and emotional stress are closely linked, with stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline impacting our mood, sleep, and cognitive functioning. However, the effects of emotional stress go beyond just mental health. Over time, chronic stress can also take a toll on physical health, leading to inflammation, weakened immune function, and an increased risk of developing illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. This article titled “How Does Emotional Stress Play a Vital Role in Many Illnesses?” will explore the link between emotional stress and illness and discuss strategies for managing stress and promoting health.
Understanding the link between chronic emotional stress and common health disorders
Most people are living with chronic health disorders like heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, depression, sleep disorders, and so on. It appears that chronic emotional stress is one of the significant factors behind the rise of these health issues.
These days people are primarily engaged in mental tasks. They are physically less active. Thus, they are also more likely to experience chronic emotional stress.
Before we move on to understand how emotional stress causes various ailments, it is vital to differentiate between acute and chronic stress.
Acute stress causes a sudden adrenalin rush and initiates a fight-or-flight response. In addition, it prepares your body for threats by increasing energy and blood sugar levels, boosting blood flow, increasing blood pressure and heartbeats, and so on. However, such a stress response does not last for long and thus rarely causes severe health issues. On the other hand, acute stress may also cause a heart attack or acute exacerbation of specific ailments.
Chronic stress and neuro-hormonal response
However, most people are living with milder but chronic emotional stress. It is like pressing the help or alarm bell button all the time. It forces the body to release stress hormones with much longer effects. Thus, the body relies not on adrenaline but cortisol, aldosterone, and other hormones and neuropeptides.
Cortisol keeps your blood sugar elevated for a long, causes massive metabolic stress in response to emotional stress. It also retains water in the body, elevates blood pressure, causes insulin resistance, lowers immunity, and affects the working of the kidneys. It is vital to understand that, unlike adrenaline, cortisol is a long-acting stress hormone.
Add to this the influence of aldosterone that further retains salt and water in the body, influences the working of kidneys, causes vasoconstriction, and elevates blood pressure.
These and many other hormones are consistently elevated in those with emotional stress. This results in severe metabolic changes in the body.
How chronic stress affects the nervous system and contributes to health issues?
When we discuss emotional stress, it is also vital to understand that chronic stress causes changes in the working of the nervous system. For example, it increases the so-called sympathetic tone. Increased sympathetic activity affects sleep quality, increases blood pressure, and causes gastrointestinal distress and other health issues.
Chronic stress also causes the depletion of certain neurohormones like serotonin, which helps in mood regulation. Changes in serotonin pathways are among the most relevant mechanisms that increase the risk of mental health issues and cause various physical ailments.
As one can see, chronic emotional stress causes changes in almost every body function. The human body is made to tolerate such changes for short. However, it causes many health issues in the long run.
For example, a person with emotional stress is more likely to binge eat, have high cortisol levels, and thus risk insulin resistance. In addition, such a person is also more likely to develop anxiety or other mood disorders. Further, emotional stress leads to water retention and other issues, leading to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular health issues, neurodegenerative disorders, and more.
Conclusion
In short, emotional stress ultimately increases the risk of almost every chronic health disorder. This is why so many adults are living with chronic illnesses these days. Fortunately, there are ways to manage emotional stress and protect our mental and physical health as How Does Emotional Stress Play a Vital Role in Many Illnesses? article demonstrates. Mindfulness practices, regular exercise, and a healthy diet can help reduce stress and promote well-being. Seeking support from mental health professionals and using therapies like CBT and MBSR can also be beneficial.
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