Managing Stress: Long-Term Stress Problems

By Andrew John

If you are stressed regularly but don't do anything to fix it, you suffer from long term stress. Such situation is extremely dangerous both for you body and for your psyche. The chances are that at least one of the following problems will show up.

Everything begins with depression and outbursts of anger. Typically, these are the first visible effects of chronic stress. People stop caring for others, even if the very ones who do their best to help them. However, this is only a beginning. Soon after, the first health problems occur, usually related to high blood pressure. The chance of a heart attack goes up, average life expectancy goes down. If you are stressed the chances of blocking of heart arteries is slightly increased, especially if you are hit by a stress without prior warning.

If stress increased only chances for a heart attack, it would only be a moderate problem. However, stress is also able to decrease the effectiveness of our immunological system, giving millions of bacteria a chance they have never had: to invade our bodies with only minimal resistance. Also, as our digestive system is effectively shut down because of stress, we may suffer from unexpected stomach problems ranging from mild indigestion to severe diarrhea that can put you in a hospital for weeks.

Eating disorders are the next on the list of most dangerous stress-related problems. The psychological mechanism of stress can drive us to anorexia or to being extremely overweight. We cease to treat food as food - it inevitable becomes our enemy or dearest friend that can soothe our pain. Needless to say, that's not everything you can expect from long-time stress. As our ability to manage diet problems is reduced, such extreme cases as stress-induced diabetes are becoming more and more common among stress affected people.

Another problem brought by chronic stress is sleeping disorders, usually insomnia. All too often we find ourselves anxious and full fo thoughts just before we go to sleep. Oftentimes we can't relax all the night and this effectively prevents us from getting even a few minutes of sleep. This makes us even more tired and weary which in turn increases the stress level and creates a perfect example of an endless loop. You have to break it before it gets too far. However, remember that sleeping pills are known to cause problems you'd never expect them to. Addictions, nervous breakdown, stomach problems and accidental overdosing are a real problem to most people suffering from prolonged stress. - 29881

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