The Effects Of Stress

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc380253532” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc380253532 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc380253533” Positive effects of stress PAGEREF _Toc380253533 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc380253534” Negative effects of stress PAGEREF _Toc380253534 h 3

Introduction

For every person under the sun, life is a matter of stages, where an individual graduates from one stage of life to another. Indeed, this may be seen in the fact that we will, hopefully, be achieving on the fundamental goals of our lives in not time; graduating from the university. This, of course, spells the end for the tough tests, the overbearing projects and the difficult papers that have characterized our lives in the University. It ushers us into another world where we will be looking for jobs, seeking career growth, promotion, catering for bills and even starting families. It goes without saying that these new responsibilities weigh immensely on the emotions and the mind of an individual. Of course, they come with varying degrees of weight. Nevertheless, this underlines the fact that irrespective of the stage of life in which an individual is, there will always be the risk of being stressed. While different individuals may have different understanding of stress, it may be defined as the anticipation or experience of a challenge or a threat in an individual’s goal-related efforts. As much as stress is understood as primarily negative in nature, it also comes with some positive effects.

Stress is the body’s technique for reacting to what it perceives as a challenge. In line with the stressful event, the body would respond to stress through the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, leading to flight-or-fight response. Scholars have categorized stress into three groups. First, there is the conflict type of stress where what an individual gets is different from what they would have wanted. Second, there is the pressure type of stress, which occurs in instances where an individual would want things to happen in a better or faster way. The third group is uncertainty, which occurs when an individual does not know or is not certain about the things that are going to occur. Underlining the negative aspect of stress is the medical perspective which sees stress as a psychological and/or physical stimulus that has the capacity to cause psychological reactions and mental tensions that may result in illness. Testament to its prevalence are the statistics that show that a large number of Americans experience moderate-to-high levels of stress. Indeed, 44% of American adults have reported an increase in the levels of stress in the past half decade, with the economy, money and work (especially concerns pertaining to loss of jobs) being the key sources of stress.

Positive effects of stressAs much as stress is primarily negative in nature, it comes with certain enviable or positive effects to an individual.

First, stress is credited with increased performance and creativity. There is an increase in the levels of stress in instances where individuals move to a new path, simply because of the uncertainty with which the new path comes, as well as the fact that they have no knowledge of the way in which they can deal with it. Research has shown that an increase in stress is usually followed by a breakthrough in individual creativity as people try to look into new ways of doing things. Indeed, stress is usually accompanied by a rush in adrenaline, which results in increased performance in individuals.

In addition, stress is often touted as useful to the immune system of the body. Studies have shown that short-wave stress would be beneficial to the body as it elicits the “flee” or “flight” reactions in the body. This reaction results in the secretion of “cortisol” or stress hormone that results in an increase in the level of immunity in the body, thereby allowing an individual to become healthy, passionate and strong. Indeed, studies have shown that stress has the capacity to enhance the performance of the heart and defend an individual’s body from infection. This was shown in the case of patients who experienced moderate stress they were shown to recover at a faster rate than their counterparts that had high or low levels of the same.

Moreover, stress comes as crucial warning system for an individual, producing the flight-or-fight response. In instances where the brain perceives some stress, it triggers a reaction where chemicals such as “Cortisol”, “norepinephrine” and “epinephrine” flood the body. The production of these causes varied reactions including increase in the heart rate and blood pressure. This often gives the senses a sudden laser-like focus that allows an individual to evade situations that would be physically stressful and be safe.

Negative effects of stressHowever, high levels of stress may come with immense damage to the psychological wellbeing of an individual.

First, stress has been associated with the occurrence of anxiety and depression, especially in instances where an individual is unable to adapt to stress. A study carried out on students at Yale University showed that two thirds of the subjects that underwent a stressful situation had close to six times the risk of getting depressed within the same month. Studies show that persistent production of the stress hormone triggers hyperactivity in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and causes a disruption of the normal serotonin levels. It is worth noting that serotonin is important for feelings of well-being, in which case, stress would diminish an individual’s quality of life through reduction of feelings of accomplishment and pleasure.