How Stress Affects Your Health

Are you stressed and if so will it affect your health in the short run or later in life?

If you are under stress for any prolonged period, it will affect your health. To what extent it does so, will be determined by your capacity to handle stress, your constitution, your overall general health including your emotional health, and by many other factors.

Over time, however, even the strongest among us will eventually experience negative health effects from prolonged exposure to stress.

The way stress affects your health at first is usually subtle and barely noticeable. Later the signs are unmistakable and often manifest in chronic conditions or disease of some kind.

Some of these "barely noticeable at first" symptoms of stress may include mild depression, anxiety, panic attacks, emotional outbursts, sadness, insomnia, impotence, fluctuations in body weight, and changes in eating and drinking habits.

Over time the affects of stress on health can include severe depression, cancer, heart disease, skin disorders,hypertension, alcoholism, substance abuse, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, sexual dysfunction, stomach disorders, and many more of the so called "lifestyle" disorders.

There are also other issues. How does stress affect the health of your baby when you are pregnant? Research seems to indicate that happy and contented mothers have healthier babies. How does stress affect health in the work environment? Again, there are indicators that suggest the higher the stress level in the workplace, the less healthy the workers and the more "sick days" they take. How about parents who are stressed? Does that affect the health of children in that family? We are beginning to find evidence that it does.

So if stress is subtle at first, how do you know if you are stressed and what do you do if you are?

Try this simple question: "When was the last time you had real fun?"

If a smile immediately comes to your face as you recall a recent fun event, you are probably not too stressed. If you remember an event but it takes a while or it was a long time ago, check a little further to see if any of the "subtle" effects of stress mentioned earlier are present in your life. If you can't recall anything fun and got a little annoyed by the question, you might very well be under stress.

So if you decide you are stressed, what next? You could search for a quick fix on the internet. You'll find all kinds of advice and lists of tips on stress management. However, if you are going to beat stress in the long run and not make yourself more stressed trying, then you are also going to need to make some fundamental lifestyle changes.

You will also need to learn processes that will increase your awareness and help build the inner muscle you need to withstand stress. After all, you are not going to eliminate stress from your life. You will however, be able to learn how to deal with it if you take the time.

Look for resources that offer an integrated approach to stress management. Good programs include exercise, yoga, walking, meditation, diet, and introspection. The best programs are the ones that don't offer a quick fix, but engage you in learning about yourself and how to make lasting changes. Remember, it took a while to get stressed. It may take a while to unstress. Make the effort. You'll not only do yourself a favor, but the other people in your life as well. Good luck!

Article Source: http://www.neuro-vision.us/ad

Michael Lee is the author of Turn Stress Into Bliss and the founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. He writes a free weekly e-zine with lots of stories, information and tips. You can sign up at his website Turn-Stress-Into-Bliss

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