How stress affects your body .

How stress affects your body.

Stress is a threat real or perceived to homeostasis the body's normal functional equilibrium this pervasive phenomenon elicits a physiological response which if disproportionate either in magnitude or duration sustained can be detrimental to the body, the body has mechanisms in place to repair the resulting damage once the stressor has passed but chronic stress disrupts these mechanisms as we age the delicate balance between damage and restoration progressively tips and impairments accumulate prolonged.

Stress can affect how quickly we age and when we begin to show signs of pathology nearly two-thirds of diseases are thought to be triggered by stress and daily stress can increase an individual's risk for developing non-communicable diseases or NCDs an NC d is a disease that is not infectious and not communicable as it is not caused by an infectious agent example of such diseases include heart disease, obesity, and osteoporosis, the body regulates the extent of the stress response via three systems:

• First, the autonomic nervous system is the pathway of communication between the central nervous system and the viscera.
• Second, the neuroendocrine system secretes stress hormones.
• The third is the voluntary nervous system which allows conscious control of skeletal muscles.

One study found that financial stress over a prolonged period increased an individual's risk of becoming obese by 20% another found that nurses with work schedules at unfavorable hours were more likely to practice unhealthy behaviors including alcohol consumption and smoking, these nurses especially those that were female were also more likely to eat due to stress and these meals were less likely to be nutritious unsurprisingly, the author's major finding was that nurses with unfavorable schedules were more prone to obesity persons experiencing chronic stress are also more likely to take up smoking and ingest more alcohol however research suggests that these lifestyle aspects while detrimental to health are not the primary cause of an increased risk of stroke and transient ischemic attack.

Stress is that primary cause there has been little evolution in the body's stress coping mechanisms over the past several thousand years, despite changes to society and demands from individuals as a result a person's physiological response to the stress of being late for an appointment worrying about their mark for a test or losing their job, resembles that which occurred in a time when stress was acute and very extreme potentially involving risk of death from a predator or from starvation in developed countries such as the USA in Canada and CDs are the most common cause of death and countries around the world that are shifting from agrarian to post-industrial societies are witnessing increasing prevalence of these disorders curiously almost 80% of deaths due to NCDs occur in countries of low to mid-level incomes perhaps this is a result of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and rapid urbanization more than half of the world's population lives in cities and this number is increasing studies demonstrate that individuals brought up in cities have a different response to stress compared to those brought up in a rural environment even if these people move to cities as adults city dwellers have a relatively large amount of firing in the amygdala and cingulate cortex when presented with a social stressor indicating a stronger emotional response possibly this difference could mean the individuals who grew up in cities are more prone to mental disorders given the lag in the evolution of the stress response it cannot be expected that individuals will experience less activation of the stress response systems in the face of adversity this fact highlights the importance of work-life balance and taking care of one's mental health.