Having a “stress shot” before an important deadline happens to everyone. When anxiety becomes everyday, it can have physical and psychological consequences.
Hot flashes, rapid heartbeat, difficulty in falling asleep: these are symptoms of a state of stress. While it is perfectly normal when it is occasional, it becomes worrying when it is daily. Anxiety as a disorder can be expressed in different ways: generalized anxiety disorder, tocs, post-traumatic stress, phobia or even hypochondria. All of these forms of anxiety are bad for your health in the long run.
Prehistoric reflexes
Signs of anxiety are leftovers from our prehistoric ancestors. These are the brain’s reactions to a danger or a threat, which allowed us to have the right reflexes to survive. It’s all tied to a part of the brain called the amygdala, which sends signals to the rest of the body when a stressful situation arises.
With stress, the heart clinks
According to French Federation of Cardiology, an isolated anxiety attack can increase the risk of cardiac arrest, especially when combined with other factors: very low or very high temperatures, smoking, intense physical exercise, etc. When it comes to chronic stress, the risks are not immediate, but cardiovascular health is degraded in the long term. For example, high blood pressure can be worsened, the production of bad cholesterol (LDL) increases, it can also make you fat, make the person more sedentary and promote smoking.
All of this can increase the risk of an event or heart disease. The Lancet published a study on the links between vascular health and stress in early 2017. Carried out with 293 people followed for 4 years, research shows that high stress leads to a 1.6 times higher risk of cardiovascular accident .
Disrupted digestion
When you are stressed, your appetite usually changes: some people have a knot in their stomachs and cannot swallow anything, others are very hungry. Either way, your stomach and intestines react to stress. It is linked to the action of cortisol, this hormone will block all the functions in the body that are not essential for self-defense, including digestion. In addition, adrenaline reduces blood flow and relaxes the stomach muscles. All these phenomena put together are responsible for appetite disturbances and can cause nausea or diarrhea. In India, a study showed that among patients with irritable bowel syndrome, between 30 and 40% were anxious or depressed.
When anxiety lasts, the affected person is more likely to be prone to insomnia, to have dark thoughts, to be affected by alcoholism or drug addiction. In the most serious cases, it can lead to suicide.
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