Positive And Negative Effects Of Stress

Introduction

In this hectic life, it is very obvious to feel stressed sometimes. Constant competition at workplace, commutation, increasing prices of food, big dreams to fulfill, recession, and exams are some of the reasons that can easily burn you out. Sometimes the stress is not all that bad. It can bring out the motivation in you to concentrate on your task. At other times, it can cause you feel overwhelmed and inability to concentrate on any single thing.

Stress impacts everyone in varied ways. It is mainly classified in two types: good stress that is motivating and beneficial, and bad stress that leads to health issues and anxiety. Let us learn more about stress and how it affects a person in a positive and negative way.

What is stress?

Stress is seen as a modification in the environment that needs body to react and deal with it effectively. The body responds to these modifications in the form of mental, emotional and physical responses.

Stress is considered to be a normal part of one’s life when it is in limited amounts. A majority of events that happens around you or to you or things that you perform on yourself can lead to stress on the body. This is experienced in both good and bad forms from the environment, thoughts, and the body.

Impact of Stress on Health

One of the important things that we are bestowed with is our ability to deal with the stress. Humans are given a power to experience stress as well as react to it. Stress can be “positive” like getting promoted in a job or offered greater responsibilities at home or work front.  This type of stress keeps one alert and well prepared to avoid any dangerous circumstance.

Stress is considered to be negative, or distressing, when such challenges continue to come in a never-ending series. This implies when a person faces challenges without any relaxation and relief in between. The outcome is that the person becomes exhausted. He feels drained, burned out. This results in building of stress-related tension in the body.

Negative impact of stress

Health issues

Distress is reflected in the body in the form of various physical signs such as head pain, body pain, upset stomach, high blood pressure, sleep issues and chest pain. This bad impact of stress can even worsen any underlying health issues such as cardiac issues, diabetes, migraine, etc.

Emotional stress is seen to weaken the ability of the immune system. It causes secretion of a lot of epinephrine chemical in the body that, in turn, causes high blood pressure, depression, fatigue, heart disease and anxiety. In particular, too much can be harmful to your heart. Emotional stress when stays for a long time can also modify the arteries and the way the cells regenerate in the body.

Substance abuse

Another negative impact of stress is that it makes people dependent on harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc. to get rid of it. On the contrary to the expectations of people, consumption of such harmful substances makes one addicted to them. It increases the buildup of stress in place of returning the body to its relaxed state.

Positive effects of Stress

How Stress Benefits The Body?

Help you reach the goal

Little amounts of stress can be vital for the body. It helps in motivating a person to meet set challenges and accomplish them more efficiently.

Saves the body from accidental situations

Stress generates more amount of norepinephrine, cortisol and epinephrine chemical in the body. It causes rise in heart rate and blood pressure levels in the person. The senses get sharpened so that stressful situations can be avoided.

Fortify immune system

Stress can also strengthen the immune system and enhance the working of cardiac system in the body. It also helps in protecting the body from varied types of infection. In some cases, it even makes the recovery faster in patients.

Signals of Too Much Stress

It can be difficult to tell the time when you feel good or bad about stress. Though, there are a few significant indications that your body provides to tell you whether you are struggling with a lot of stress. Keep an eye on these following warning symptoms:

• Inability to focus or accomplish tasks
• Get ill quite often
• Body pain
• Other ailments such as an autoimmune disease
• Headaches
• Mood swings and irritation
• Difficulty in falling asleep or staying awake
• Alterations in appetite
• Getting more worried or angry than normal

What Can Be Done To Treat Stress?

There are several things in our day to day life that can easily stress a person. Having an understanding about it is very important part of life. You can enhance the way in which you respond towards stress, avoid or modify a few situations that leads to negative stress.