What is chronic stress?
It’s long-lasting stress that affects both your body and mind.
Here, doctors share key signs of chronic stress.
Yep, stress is a normaland unavoidablepart of life.
In a single stressful moment, these hormones surge, then return to their normal levels.
This leads to an always-on state for your bodysstress-response system.
a board-certified family medicine physician and District Medical Director at One Medical in North Carolina
Heres what the experts had to say.
How can you tell if youre chronically stressed?
When we are hit with stress, it typically causes that fight-or-flight response.
Chronic stress presents as that, but to a lesser degree.
Chronic stress has been shown to lead to heart disease, strokes, and high blood pressure.
Heres Exactly How It Can Affect Your Poop
Stress in and of itself is not a bad thing.
We think of stress as a mental thing.
But in fact, when people are chronically stressed, it really tends to manifest in a physical way.
Alexa Mieses Malchuk, MD
We think of stress as a mental thing.
a board-certified family medicine physician and District Medical Director at One Medical in North Carolina
But in fact, when people are chronically stressed, it really tends to manifest in a physical way.
So people might betired all the timedespite how much sleep theyre getting.
Or the opposite may be true: They may have a hard time sleeping.
it’s possible for you to also have mysterious aches and pains, and really just feel worn out.
If someone is having physical symptoms and they cant really pinpoint them, chronic stress could be the cause.
The harder question is: Can we quantify the impact of stress?
We know stress can raise blood pressure.
Stress can change the way your body metabolizes cholesterol.
I cant emphasize enough that stress really reaches every function of your body.
There are two things to look at with stress.
Theres a psychological and a physiological component.
A good way to look at it is:Am I burnt out?
To determine that, you could ask: Is my sleeping disturbed?
Do I havebrain fog?
Am I less interested in the things I was interested in before?
A lot of the symptoms of chronic stress mimic depression.
Is my irritability higher?
Am I more inclined to snap at my friends and family when I wasnt before?
Am I seeking solitude more often?
Is my performance in work and my personal hobbies or endeavors below my average?
Do I feel more tired?
Another thing is chronic pain, which can be a manifestation of chronic stress to a more severe degree.
It can be joint pain, fatigue, being prone to injury and then just general pain everywhere.
You could have other physiological manifestations like irritable bowels, meaning youreconstipatedmore, or youre having more loose stools.
And in the long run, your overall health can suffer.
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