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How does stress effect the mind and body?

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Stress is a strain that disturbs us physiologically, emotionally or psychologically. Whenever we have to face stressed situation our body response in a way called “fight or flight”. During stress hypothalamus in our brain releases hormone called cortisol, norepinephrine and adrenaline that flows in whole of the body. Heart beat and blood flow increases which make us to fight hard against some situations. Stress affects in many ways physically and mentally.

EFFECTS OF STRESS ON BODY:-

Reproductive system
Dr. Chrousas says that stress weakens the reproductive system. A hormone called gonadotropin is prevented by CRH as gonadotropin is the hormone that gives signal to the other hormones for reproduction. In the same way cortisol hormone prevents gonadotropin and luteinizing hormone which is very much required for the sex hormones estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. Also extreme stressful exercises both by men and women cause less production of reproductive and sex hormones.

Growth
More stress causes more HPA activation which prevents the release of growth hormones. Glucocortcoids is produced during extreme stress which unable the body tissue to give response to the growth hormones. The children who have the high level of glucocorticoid will be 7.5 to eight cm less height than it would be if they were in normal state. Premature babies go through the stress to cope up with the surroundings to which they are not suited at that time. So they may have to face growth retardation due to stress as compared to the normal child.

Gastrointestinal tract
Stress can cause problems in our digestive system too. CRH prevents the secretion of stomach acid which does not allow food to get properly digested. Sometimes a person starts eating more due to the increased level of cortisol and results in gaining fats and weight.

Immune system
Stress badly affects the immune system of our body. It lowers the ability of body to fight against many diseases, infections and allergies. Dr Chrousas says that it may happen that because of stress white blood cells get deactivated and leads to cancer but proper study about this is still had not conducted.

Cardiovascular system
Stress has bed affects on cardiovascular system. Stress causes fight and flight response which increases heart rate and blood pressure. Extreme and regular activation of it can even cause heart attack and many other diseases like blood clotting problem, increase in blood pressure, arteries get hardened. It also causes pain in back, neck and shoulder.

Stress sometimes increases the problem of acne and other skin diseases.

EMOTIONAL EFFECTS
Stress is not only bad for physical health but also disturbs your mental health. It can cause harm to the emotions and create more pressure on brain. Some of the problems caused by stress are depression, anxiety etc. some people can come out of the stress after a certain time period but for others it is too difficult and they may remain under its effect for a long time or lifetime.
By thinking about bad experiences we make the path for stress to come in future too. So it is better to take a deep breath and try to remove all stress from our daily lives. Because of frequent stress our brain release the chemicals like adrenaline and neradrenaline etc even at a petty stressful situation.

Stress causes melancholic depression in which person cannot fight with the negativity and increased level of cortisol, continuous anxiety, and over reaction to the situation lead to a state in which the person feels totally helpless and loses all his motivation.

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