Even children know that stress is bad for the body. But many don know how far the effect of stress on health extends.
And often, when we knocking the thresholds of medical offices, we don't understand that the cause of our ailment lies not in poor ecology or nutrition, but in exhaustion of the nervous system.
But to defeat the enemy, you need to know his face. What is stress and how does it manage to destroy our health?
- The impact of stress on health and how exactly it does us harm
- How to understand that the cause of ailments is stress
- How to protect your health from the effects of stress
The effects of stress on health and how exactly it does us harm
Stress itself — the one that evolution intended it to be — it is a short-term protective reaction designed to save a life. With strong emotions, such as fear or anger, a shock dose of adrenaline and cortisol is released into the blood, which make the entire body work to the limit of its capabilities. These hormones cause the muscles to tone up, direct the maximum amount of blood to them, and increase the pressure and heart rate. This is necessary in order to flee or attack the enemy and thus eliminate the threat.
But in the conditions of modern realities, strong emotions arise at almost every step, and the brain has not learned» understand that a reprimand from a boss or a family quarrel does not threaten our lives, and each time activates defense mechanisms in response to anger, anxiety, shame or other strong emotion. But the endless adrenaline attacks quickly wear out the body and then health problems appear.
How to understand that the cause of ailments is stress
The greatest insidiousness of stress lies in the fact that its effects on health can masquerade as many "real" diseases. But still there are some signs pointing to excessive nervous tension as a possible cause of ailments:
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Sleep disorders. This complication of stress is one of the first to develop. At the same time, it doesn’t matter if you spend the whole night without sleep, or just can’t sleep for a long time — in the morning you wake up not rested, overwhelmed, and 1-2 hours after waking up, severe drowsiness appears.
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Emotional instability. Your mood resembles a swing that then raises the heights of joy, then lowers to complete despair. And you have also developed excessive irritability or tearfulness: you react with outbursts of anger or tears to situations that you would not pay attention to until recently.
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Tachycardia attacks. The heart begins to beat rapidly in the chest when there is no reason for it. Sometimes it is enough for you to change the position of the body in bed to feel how your heart has become faster. But at the same time, an examination by a cardiologist did not identify any problems with the heart or blood vessels.
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Vegetative disorders. Stress hits the vegetative nervous system hard, which makes you sweat a lot even in cool weather, worsens the functioning of the vestibular apparatus (this is the — cause of your frequent dizziness), makes you constantly to freeze or for a long time raises the body temperature to & nbsp; 37.0-37.5 ° C, although there are no signs of SARS.
It is important to understand that the listed symptoms require a mandatory visit to the doctor. And only in the event that no objective health problems are found, it is necessary to pay attention to the state of the nervous system and undergo appropriate treatment.
And this must be done without delay, since each subsequent stressful situation exacerbates the severity of complications, and sooner or later tachycardia will turn into angina pectoris and hypertension, and irritability — depression, anxiety or antisocial disorder.
Read also: Negative emotions: splash out or suppress
How to protect your health from the effects of stress
It is impossible to completely eliminate stress. Even locking yourself in apartment and turning off your phone, you will continue to be stressed, but already due to loneliness and lack of communication.
But the following tips will help you minimize the impact of stress on health:
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Monitor the quality of your night's sleep. It is at night that the nervous system recovers from stress and on the next day it is ready to withstand stress again. If you are unable to fall asleep quickly, and this is repeated systematically, take a course of treatment with herbal remedies that have a slight sedative effect (based on motherwort, valerian root).
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Set aside time for physical activity. When you're exercising, gardening (if you enjoy it), your body produces an "antidote." to stress. Serotonin, dopamine and endorphin allow you to relax, experience the pleasure of life and block the action of stress hormones.
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Take B vitamins and magnesium.These — pillar of the health of the nervous system. If you are often stressed, it is better to drink a course of a vitamin-mineral complex, which includes these substances.
These simple yet at and effective methods to increase your resilience will help you cope and will not let stress impact your health.
Read also: Psychosomatics of diseases: how emotions and thoughts affect our health
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