The Links Between Stress And Disease

The word stress is commonly heard of especially in the health and medical circuit. What is stress? What causes stress? How does the body react to stress? And what are the health ill consequences of stress? Stress is a state of ill being of the mind, body and soul.

It is a sort of dissatisfaction about something and it has an effect of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being of the body and soul.

Stress is cause by disappointment that something is not going the way you want it to and constantly thinking or worrying about that situation adds to it’s build up. Your body produces a hormone called cortisol when stressed. Now it is alright for this hormone to be produced occasionally in small amounts but when the body is under stress for long then a large amount of this hormone is produced which leads to many negative conditions. It has been proven today that untreated stress can lead to many health problems and can even be fatal when deadly diseases develope due to stress.

Stress is known to cause or at least deteriorate many illnesses. A brief overview of the connection between stress and a few major illnesses are:
Diabetes- diabetes is a condition when the body produces insufficient amount of insulin to process the sugar consumed by the body. When too much sugar builds up then you will experience conditions like excessive thirst, weight loss and headaches. If diabetes is not treated early then it can lead to kidney problems, heart disease, eye and nerve damage and many other health problems.

High blood pressure- also called hypertension is often called the silent killer because people don’t understand the symptoms of this condition until it’s too late. High levels of stress are known to bring on this disease and it can lead to coronary heart disease, aneurysm, damage to the brain, enlarged heart and many other illnesses.

Weight gain- people with high stress levels have often found their weight to fluctuate. This is due to the indulgence in fatty comfort foods like candy bars while under stress. When you are obese you stand at a greater risk of developing cancer, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, liver and gall bladder disease among others.

Depression- constant and high amounts of stress can lead you to believe there is no way out and this is the end of it all. Feelings of entrapment, hopelessness and depression make way. Depression is a serious physiological condition and it should be treated as soon as possible.

Heart disease-people with Type A diabetes are at a greater risk of developing heart attack or heart disease. Stress is known to increase build up of plaque in the arteries making then even narrower. This makes the heart to pump even harder to ensure proper blood flow throughout the body thus increasing the pressure on the heart.

Cancer- although there has been no proven connection between cancer and stress it is an accepted fact that exceeding amount of stress can increase the risk of contracting cancer. Stress generally weakens the immune system hence leaving the body susceptible to cancerous cells which also flourish in the body.