The six ways you didn’t know stress affects you

348

Every individual, at some time in their life, questions the purpose of their existence. And when that question does not have a satisfactory answer, it leads to many psychological issues – the most prominent of them being stress. Stress is perhaps one of the most common forms of psychological anomaly amongst students and professionals alike. And while it is a problem, it is pretty normal to feel stressed out.

Stress can occur in the most common of situations. What to wear to work? What to make for dinner? What excuse to use in order to avoid meeting a friend? Stress comes in all shades and colors. Therefore, there is no escaping it. And besides this, stress isn’t all that bad; it can be good too. It can keep you motivated and helps you tackle challenges effectively.

However, then again, like they say ‘too much of anything can be harmful’.

Being stressed out constantly can affect your health and can make you have physical symptoms, such as headaches, upset stomachs, high blood pressure, chest pain, and problems with sex and sleep. Stress also leads to emotional problems, such as depression, panic attack, and other forms of anxiety.

Stress affects men and women differently. If one is aware of this difference, one can then possibly focus on coming up with a solution. Stress tends to activate the male mind towards being aggressive and in a fighting mode, whereas for females, they fall in to the category of being needy and wanting a shoulder to cry on.

Ways stress affects men:

  1. Stress can change your preference in women:

Men tend to go aside their usual preference when under stress. This intends to trigger a form of attractiveness towards heavier women, when men are in a high-stress activity. Studies prove that men tend to change their decisions very easily when under high level of stress.

  1. Men take stress more severely than women:

People think that since men are stronger physically, they can be emotionally stable as well. However, recent researches have proven that women cope with stress in a much better way than men. Men are more likely to suffer major depression if under stress. Also, men suffering from high levels of continuous stress are reported to having been diagnosed with high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, and heart diseases – which leads to heart attacks at a young age.

  1. High anxiety levels can be life-threatening:

According to research, major life events such as job loss, particularly those in early or middle portion of their career lives, has a higher risk for becoming fatal for men, as compared to other events. Men take up major stress when they come across job loss, marital separation, natural disasters, personal illness, or death of a loved one; all these impact a man’s mind with serious physical and mental consequences. Causation of heart diseases is more likely to occur in such major stressors.

Ways stress affects women:

  1. Irregular menstruation periods:

Stress can easily affect a woman’s health. Severe long lasting stress is the fundamental cause of fluctuating the body’s hormone balance, which leads to missed, late or irregular periods. Women in stressful jobs are at 50% risk of having a shorter cycle than women who are in less stressful positions.

  1. Acne breakouts:

Stress raises levels of cortisol in the body which can cause excess oil production leading to those nasty little pimples and development of acne. It is important for female college students to relax during exam season if they want to avoid the stress acne breakout.

  1. Weight gain:

Women tend to eat more when under stress; it’s not only pregnancy that leads to major cravings. Higher levels of cortisol increases weight around the belly area, as well as decreases metabolism.

So it is pretty clear that stress can be problematic. Understanding the issue is the first step towards coming up with a solution. Take it easy, relax, take deep breaths and know that there is nothing that you cannot handle.

 

Comments
Loading...