How Stress Affects the Body
Stress is a physiological response that results from a stressor. Normally we associate stress with a hard job, difficult family problems, busy schedules, or hard exams, but we can also become stressed due to imbalances in the body not necessarily caused by those external factors. Nutrient imbalances, blood sugar increases, and low hormone levels can all lead to stress. It is important to understand that stress is not always just a product of a stressful lifestyle and that sometimes the stress you feel is an indicator that something is imbalance internally. When these imbalances occur our cortisol production is increased from the adrenal glands, which sets off a cascade of negative effects in our body.
This increase in cortisol will trigger your fight or flight response in the sympathetic nervous system which will cause a rise in blood sugar, blood pressure, and breathing rates. During stressful situations, digestion and reproduction take a backseat because they are not a priority for survival. When you are stressed for long periods, this can trigger adrenal fatigue because your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol which uses a lot of energy. Digestive issues and hormone imbalances can be a cause and a result of stress.
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Here are 13 ways stress can affect the body:
1. Gut Issues
Gut issues are one of the ways for how stress affects the body. Stress causes indigestion and or acid reflux in many individuals. This is because digestion is not prioritized during stressful circumstances, because our body would rather use stored carbohydrates for energy first in order to trigger the flight or fight response. Digesting food is a long process that uses a lot of energy in order to complete, so when you are stressed your body wants to use all of the energy it can to overcome the stressful situation and this will slow down the process of digestion. Indigestion symptoms can include constipation, bloating, and acid reflux. Acid reflux is a condition where the food in your stomach ejects back up your esophagus spontaneously. The ‘door’ between your esophagus and your stomach is typically closed but when you are stressed this door can become close and can open the pathway where food can come back up. Acid reflux is extremely painful and has a similar intensity to heartburn because the acid from our stomach damages the esophageal wall.
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2. Anxiety
Anxiety is this feeling of fear, worry, or unease. It can be tied to something specific like something stressing us out, or we can feel generalized feelings of anxiety. Anxiety can come about from periods of stress and adrenal fatigue, because the symptoms of anxiety are similar to stress it makes sense that they work in tandem. Research has found that stressful life events can trigger rumination or self-focused thinking which over time can lead to heightened levels of anxiety.
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3. Irregular periods
Irregular periods are caused by irregular ovulation and it is one of the ways for how stress affects the body. Ovulation is dependent on proper hormone levels especially progesterone which is heavily dependent on proper cortisol levels. When cortisol levels are high, progesterone can drop to very low levels because if you are stressed, your body does not want to prepare for pregnancy because that is energy taxing and not a priority. If you do not ovulate you won’t get a period and this is how stress affects the body and the menstrual cycle.
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4. Blood Sugar Imbalances
Blood sugar is one of the levels that rise with an increase in cortisol and is another one of the ways for how stress affects the body. When we are in fight or flight mode our body wants to maximize the amount of energy we have if we need to flight (run) or fight. The body controls this by releasing stored carbohydrates from glycogen in the liver into our blood so that we can use the glucose for energy in our muscles. Though, many times when cortisol increases we are not in a life-threatening emergency that would actually require that extra glucose. The glucose needs to be shuttled into the cells either as energy or fat, but either way, it will require insulin. Insulin is the carrier that is the key that unlocks the cell which acts as a lock. Large insulin spikes from increased stress levels over time can cause the cells to reject the insulin causing insulin resistance. This can lead to lower energy levels, increased hunger, estrogen and progesterone imbalances, and will also trigger a higher stress response.
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5. High Blood Pressure
Another one of the ways for how stress affects the body is by affecting blood pressure. When we are stressed, high cortisol will cause high blood pressure. The increase in blood flow evolved due to the fight or flight response because in a life-threatening circumstance it would allow for the muscles to receive the oxygen they needed to fight or run. Over time, this rise in blood pressure can put you at risk for heart disease. A healthy level of blood pressure is 120/80 and becomes hypertensive at 140/90.
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6. Sugar Cravings
Because stress can cause blood sugar imbalances and spikes, this can lead to sugar cravings. This is another reason for how stress affects the body. When blood sugar spikes occur in the body due to stress, the pancreas responds by releasing large bouts of insulin. The insulin will shuttle the sugar away at a very quick rate leaving your levels to be very low. Usually, your blood sugar will rise moderately when you eat food and then insulin will slowly shuttle the glucose into cells for energy. This allows for stable hunger and fullness cues. When your blood sugar gets super low though, we feel intense cravings because our body thinks it has been a long time since a meal, even though you might have eaten a meal only an hour ago.
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7. Salt Cravings
Salt cravings can be another reason as to how stress affects the body. Sodium in the body is important in regulating blood pressure, ion levels, and osmotic pressure. When sodium is low this can be a trigger for your craving of salt. Angiotensin II is a hormone that will result in aldosterone is another hormone to be released from the cortex in the brain. Angiotensin II is found to have an effect on stress from its relationship to lower cortisol.
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8. Fatigue
Fatigue is another result of how stress affects the body. Fatigue is a condition related to extreme low energy levels and tiredness. This is related to adrenal fatigue which is when cortisol is not secreted at normal levels causing dysregulation. The adrenal glands are connected to the brain in the hypothalamus - pituitary - adrenal axis (HPA). If the adrenal glands are producing extreme amounts of cortisol this puts strain on them which can exhaust you.
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9. Brain Fog
Brain fog is similar to fatigue, but it is more related to confusion and the inability to focus. This can occur also due to poor HPA axis function which can cause dysregulated cortisol. This is another reason for how stress affects the body.
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10. Poor Exercise Recovery
Poor exercise recovery can be another way for how stress affects the body. Symptoms can be from feelings of weakness, poor sleep, or lack of endorphins released during the workout. Usually when you exercise you feel happier, clearer mind, and energized after exercise. High stress levels can appear after over exercising by doing it too much, too hard, or not enough rest. This can have a fatiguing effect as a result which will cause excessive soreness and fatigue post exercise. Because too much high intensity exercise in particular stimulates cortisol and if you have things going on with cortisol imbalances this can be behind other hormone imbalances you may be experiencing. If you are experiencing any combination of these signs it may be time to check in with your exercise routine. What is my intention for exercise? What are my goals? Does it make me feel good or does it feel like a chore? Does it make me feel good? Is it fun? Incorporating strength training, pilates, yoga, walking, biking – these lower or moderate intensity movements can be helpful here.
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11. Insomnia or Sleep Issues
Another one of the ways for how stress affects the body is through sleep issues or insomnia. Usually, when we go to sleep, we want our cortisol to be at its lowest point in the day, this will help us feel tired, not alert, and most importantly, not stressed. In the morning, we need the motivation to get out of our comfortable warm bed to start the day, so this when cortisol will peak. Throughout the day this peak of cortisol should decrease and plateau at a normal level. When you have poor sleep this can affect when that cortisol spike starts, it can delay it in midday resulting in high levels at bedtime too which will further promote sleep issues. This can explain insomnia because cortisol levels are too high which inhibits restful sleep.
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12. Infertility
Infertility and ovulation are very reliant on stable stress levels which is another reason for how stress affects the body. Cortisol has an impact on many hormones in the body including progesterone and estrogen. Specifically, when estrogen is too high and progesterone drops low this is called estrogen dominance and can inhibit ovulation. Cortisol has an impact on causing estrogen dominance which can result in irregular ovulation and infertility. In addition, infertility can be a large stressor in one’s life in general too, so the stress from it can further cause cortisol to rise and progesterone to drop.
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13. Period Pain
Lastly, period pain is another one of the ways for how stress affects the body. Since cortisol is a hormone, if you have elevated levels of cortisol, this will imbalanced estrogen, and progesterone levels. As a result, stress can make period pain worse because it will promote the inflammatory response and will also deregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary axis response in the hippocampus. This is the part of the brain that releases hormones and that contribute to the reproductive system.
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