The Definition of Stress and Its Impact on Your Health
What is the definition of stress? How does it affect your overall health? Are its effects always negative? Or does it have a good side?
Stress is actually your body’s innate physical response to a challenge, a perceived or real threat or a demand. It is your body’s natural defense or survival mechanism to protect itself.
Have you heard of the “flight-or-fight response”? Its medical term is neuroendocrine response.
It is how your body reacts to a stressful event, whether it is depressing or wonderful.
When you are stressed, do you know what happens inside your body?
How stress affects your overall health?
Your adrenal glands release a bigger amount of neurotransmitters which are known as adrenaline and non-adrenaline.
In addition to these neurotransmitters, your pituitary gland also releases the stress hormone called cortisol.
All these chemicals have physical effects on your body. They...
stimulate your heart to beat faster,
push your muscles to become tensed and be prepared, and
activate your senses to be alert.
These physiological effects of stress help your body to perform to its best ability or protect itself in a dangerous or challenging situation.
To have a better, in-depth understanding of the definition of stress, below are related articles:
There are 3 main types of stress: eustress, distress – acute and episodic acute - and chronic stress.
Do you know that not all stress is bad? Eustress has beneficial effects. The types that cause harmful effects on your health are the episodic acute and chronic kinds.
Do you know that your health also benefits on cortisol? Yes when only a small amount is released. A larger amount of cortisol causes harm thus its prevention is imperative.
How does cortisol harm you?
It encourages inflammation and leads to a weak immune system which allows cancer cells to thrive. This is explained further in...
Experts still can’t agree on the definite link between stress and cancer. But the National Cancer Institute concurs that long-term exposure to your body’s neuroendocrine response adversely affects two important processes:
the repair of any mutation in the DNA, and
the regulation of cell growth.
When these two processes are messed with, tumor development is encouraged. Thus it is really important that you learn prevention or...
How do you deal with stress? There are many ways on how to. An example is not to take responsibilities beyond your capacity. It’s alright to say enough already.
Understanding the definition of stress and its implications on your health is one of the ways on cancer prevention because it is a disease of the body and the mind.
