Stress is your body’s reaction to overwhelming emotional or physical demands. These demands also known as “stressors” could be related to a specific situation such as death of loved one, loss of job, or even moving to a new city. College students face a great deal of stress on daily bases. A deadline on a class project, pop quizzes by your teacher, or preparation for your exams could all make stressful situations for you. Stress can affect both mind and the body. You can tolerate only so much stress before it leads to permanent damage to your body. On the other hand, when you get sick, it can lead to stress. Stress can negatively affect one’s experience. Without the ability to handle it appropriately it can lead to disturbances in your body. Stress is a personal experience. Everybody has a different point of view about what is stressful. You might find an experience very stressfull today, but the next day it might not seem as stressful to you. Men and women react to stress differently. When faced with stressful situation, a man might become angry, whereas a woman might become sad or depressed.
Types of Stress:
Stress can be experienced in several ways, with some positive and some negative. Eustress is referred to a type of stress that is exciting and could be fun. If you ever felt excited when when you were skiing, or when you rode a
roller-coaster ride; you have experienced Eustress. ”Acute Stress” is referred to a very short-term type of stress.
Our day to day stressors in life, are often referred to as Acute Stress. “Chronic stress” is type of stress that
exist for a long time. Chronic stress can have many harmful affects on your body including: heart disease, depression, and possibly cancer. “Fight-or-Flight” Response When you are faced with stressful situation, your body goes through changes also known as the “fight-or-flight response system.” During this reaction, your body reacts by producing chemicals known as “Adrenaline” and “Cortisol” to speed up your heart rate, and slow the breakdown of food, to redirect your energy and strength toward facing the stressor. This system has been designed so that you can fight or runaway from a dangerous situation. When you are no longer faced with the dangerous situation, your body is designed to return to it normal way of functioning. When people are faced with long term stress, the “fight-or-flight response” can have very negative and harmful affects on your body.
In the long run stress can affect your body in the ways as listed below:
- Cardiovascular System
- Heart attacks
- Increased Blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Immune System
- Infections
- Allergies
- Skin rash
- Other
- Headache
- Backache
- Arthritis
- Ulcers
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Stroke
- Cancer
References:
Arnold, C. E & Boggs, U. K. (2007). Interpersonal relationships: professional communication skills for nurses. (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO.:Saunders
