Başlık DüzeniALT BAŞLIK

by İrfan Meriç

Stress is mostly defined as the mental and physical reaction and adaptation that our bodies show.These responses are evolved in order to adapt to changes and challenges in our lives.

Life conditions, especially in modern World, are different than the life conditions a thousand years ago.

The human race needed to react quickly to threats in order to stay alive.

The human race in modern World has to react quickly, too.

The difference is that the modern people have to react thousands of stress factors in a day.Because relationships and lifestyles are far more complicated than our ancestors experienced.

So, the stress we struggle is actually extremely harmful for our physical and psycological health.

The stress hormone, cortisol, triggers a series of reactions in our bodies that causes abnormal conditions in our systems.

These conditions create a great danger for both our physical and psychological health because they break the normal mechanism of our bodies.

If we consider the frequency of stressful experiences in one day, we can see that our bodies stay on alert continuously.

This makes stress permanent and causes negative effects on our systems.

A) BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF STRESS

a) Effects on Nervous Systemb) Effects on Cardiovascular Systemc) Effects on Digestive Systemd) Effects on Immune Systeme) Effects on Metabolic System

EFFECTS ON NERVOUS SYSTEM

When you see a threat, nerves carry signals to your brain, then hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine are produced.

These hormones alarm all cells in your body, then you are ready to react to the threat.

When you are continuously under stress, these reactions take place over and over again, and this cause many negative effects such as;

aches, paralysations on mechanical functions of muscles, etc.

Researches from Columbia University prove that orphans who experienced their childhood in institutions could have abnormally large amygdalae and physical changes.

These effects continue even when they are adopted.

EFFECTS ON CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM

Even though scientists do not know how exactly stress affects our cardiovascular system, It is known that stress has fatal effects on it.

The American Heart Association claims that stress may affect our cardiovascular system by raising blood pressure.

There might be other reasons why stress breaks the mechanism of cardiovascular system.

Some of them occur after sudden shocks such as a death of a close person or a disaster.

These kinds of stress factors create instability on hormones then affects directly our cardiovascular system and may cause even death.

Throughout the history, dying after a great shock

is called “Broken Heart

Syndrome” among people.

EFFECTS ON IMMUNE SYSTEM

Probably the most vulnerable system against stress is the

immune system because stress damages the system’s

delicate mechanism.

When you are constantly stressed, your immune system develops resistance to cortisol and starts to ignore it.

On stressful conditions, our bodies synthesize cortisol.

Cortisol helps suppress *inflammation.

This ignorance causes several problems on the system.

One of them is that some disease-causing proteins get into your body unchecked because your immune system ignores it.

Another one is that high cortisol levels cannot be fully controlled because of the system’s ignorance.

With all these stress caused problems in the system, our bodies get undefended to diseases.

Researches from Ohio State College of Medicine proves that when we are stressed;

It takes wounds longer to heal.Vaccines are less effective than usual.

When we are stressed, our bodies synthesize cortisol, adrenaline and many other hormones which can alert our livers to produce carbohydrates and other nutrients.

EFFECTS ON METABOLIC SYSTEM

These nutrients help us to overcome stressful conditions by providing energy.

However, when we are constantly stressed, our livers synthesize these nutrients even though we do not really need them.

Over-synthesized nutrients cause instability in our body and damages every cell.

The most damaged part of our body is hippocampus which produces the main hormones that our systems need.

B) PYSCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF STRESS

a) Effects on mood

I) Anxiety

II) Lack of focus

b) Effects on behaviors

I) Eating problems

i) Overeating

ii) Undereating

II) Addiction

ANXIETY

Psychological damages that

stress causes is very harmful for

our mental health and one

of them is anxiety.

When you are stressed, your performance of coping with situations decreases automatically.

You may not get the expectations you wish to achieve because of your low performance.

Your performance stays under your expectations and this condition cause anxiety on your psychology.

Anxiety downs your mood, makes your emotions instable, affects your social life negatively.

LACK OF FOCUS

Stress also causes lack of

focus which can be damaging in the long term.

It can make you think that you are not capable of achieving, you are not sufficient and can cause anxiety.

Lack of focus decreases your work performance and as a result of it, it can damage your self-confidence.

EATING PROBLEMS

Stress may also change

your habits of eating.

When you are under a stressful condition, hormones such as insulin, leptin, NVY are synthesized.

OVEREATING

These hormones lower sugar in

your blood. Your brain receives a

signal that you are hungry.

Every time you are stressed, you feel a

need to eat.

Overeating can cause

obesity and can make you lose your self-

confidence

UNDEREATING

Undereating is another problem that stress causes.Hormonal imbalance and anxiety can affect your eating habits negatively and cause undereating.

ADDICTIONS

Addictions to drugs, smoke, alcohol, etc. can be the most dangerous result of the effects of stress.

When you are stressed, you feel a need to relax.The first thing

you choose to do is using

addiction-causing

chemicals.Your reward

system in your brain is alerted every time you

take these chemicals.

Your body automatically finds a way to cope with the effects of stress by making you need to these chemicals.

These chemicals are highly harmful for your body health by causing fatal diseases such as; kidney failure, heart attack, etc.

Addiction may damage your social life and your personality by making your emotions instable.

Today stress is considered as a highly dangerous disease and institutions, clinics are open all over the World to help people cope with the effects of stress.

If you think you suffer from the effects of stress, you can take help from; institutions, clinics, communities, and from doctors.

SOURCES:*Borel, B. (2015, March). The Science of Stress. Popular Science, s. 40-47.

*Derrik, D. (2009). The Broken Heart Syndrome: Understanding Takutsuba Cardiomyopathy. 1.

*J. Eugene Knott, G. K. (2003). Coping With Stress and Anxiety. 6.

*Tanja C. Adam, E. S. (2007). Stress, Eating and The Reward System. 1.

*www.acas.org.uk. (2014). www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/1/m/B18_1.pdf (received from)

*www.pearsonhighered.com. (n.d.) www.pearsonhighered.com/donatelle1einfo/myhealth/assests/images/other/Donatelle_Ch03.pdf (received from)