Stress and Physical Ill health

• Short and long term effects

  Effects of stress on health depend on whether the stressor is short or long term (acute or chronic). Short term effects are the product of fight or flight (autonomic nervous system/SAM system)
• Headaches

  When under stress, we become tense, particularly in the upper back neck and jaw. This can cause a tension-based headache.
• Stomach upset

  Hormones released during stress can affect the gut, causing stomach discomfort. It involves sickness, constipation and diarrhoea. Serious digestive disorders can be worsened by stress- Crohn's disease or IBS
• Fatigue

  Caused by fight/flight exhaustion, tension (which can lead to muscle fatigue). Psychologically, stress can also built a feeling of exhaustion fatigue, which can have a physical impact. Stress may be forcing you to behave in way that exhausts your body
• Indirect effects- sleep


  Physical effects of stress are not always directly caused by stress, more of an outcome. E.g: Insomnia is a symptom of stress, can lead to fatigue/exhaustion.
• Long term effects

  Occur in two ways:

  1. Chronic stressors that persist over long period of time
  2. Acute stressors, that occur repeatedly
• Long term stressors are controlled by HPA system- Cortisol
• Hypertension-permanently high blood pressure

  Stress can raise blood pressure temporarily.

  Unclear if stress alone causes blood pressure to remain high permanently, it is likely to be a direct outcome.

  Hypertension is a key risk factor for heart attacks and strokes
• Heart attack and strokes

  Stress contributes to narrowing of blood vessels

  Increased cortisol caused inflammation of blood vessel walls.

  Cholesterol sticks to blood vessel walls, giving blood less room to flow
• The Heart:

  If atherosclerosis  happens in a coronary artery (heart) a blood clot may partially block blood supply to the heart and deprive cardiac tissue of oxygen

  This can cause serious damage to the heart and cause a heart attack.
• Stroke

  If atherosclerosis happens in a celebreality artery (brain) a blood clot can deprive brain of oxygen and cause physical damage to the brain, this is a stroke.

  Symptoms include speech problems, movement problems or partial paralysis, depending on what part of the brain is damaged (localisation).
• Indirect effects

  Factors like smoking, alcohol intake, poor diet and lack of exercise can all be behavioural responses to stress.

  All these behaviours are also health risk factors and can lead to atherosclerosis.