What is Chronic Stress and why is it fatal?

Yes, Chronic stress can be fatal !! Let’s discuss why

Stress has now become a major problem in the health of a big chunk of people. Almost every other person now working at a workplace, school, university, or any other organization suffers from stress. As it has more or less become inevitable in today’s world. And I am not saying it, the FACTS ARE!!

So, first things first. What is chronic stress?

See, chronic stress is the stress that someone is feeling for a long period.

I presume that you know about its common symptoms and results. But, do you know about its very dangerous side effects if it stays with you for long? In fact, because of these very dangerous effects, chronic stress has become a fatal disease in people’s lives.

So, what are these very dangerous effects of chronic stress?

Now, let’s discuss some major ill-effects of chronic stress.

See, when our brain perceives stress, many hormones are released in our body.

Two such hormones which are released are adrenaline and cortisol.

This adrenaline then increases the heart rate, elevates your blood pressure, and maximizes blood glucose levels (energy) by altering the body’s metabolism levels. It also enlarges the size of our pupils and distributes blood to our muscles.

And cortisol, the main stress hormone, as MayoClinic has said in one of their posts “increases sugars (glucose) in the bloodstream, enhances your brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Curbs functions that would be nonessential or harmful in a fight-or-flight situation. Alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system, and growth processes.”

And all this is normal when someone is suffering from stress for a short time. As all the hormones come to their previous levels after one has overcome the stress.

But here we’re talking about chronic stress. The stress is for a longer time. Thus all these stress responses of the body also remain for a longer time in our body. And these prolonged changes are the reason why chronic stress can be called fatal. This prolonged encounter between our stress-response system and our body results in disrupting almost all our body’s processes. And after all this, you are more than ever prone to various problems like –

• Heart diseases, heart attack
• High blood pressure levels
• High blood sugar levels
• Deprivation in sleep
• Weight gain
• Weaker concentration and memory
• Headaches
• Depression
• Muscle pain or tension
• Digestive problems

And I think most of these problems in the above list are either direct or contributing factors toward death by a cardiac arrest. And this is the reason why chronic stress can be fatal.

Preventive measures for chronic stress

Now you may be thinking, how could one prevent normal stress from converting to chronic. Well, good question.

There are many by which you can prevent this like –

• Consulting a professional for medical advice. As sometimes, just talking with your doctor can convince you to change your lifestyle.
• Sports can be a very good tool to ease stress. See, when we go outside to play, our body releases endorphins, the chemicals in our brain which relieve pain and stress.
• Don’t carry stress for long. If you manage to do this, you are uprooting the main cause of chronic stress itself.
• Have a good sleep. It is a very important thing that needs to be noted while managing stress. Because having a good sleep helps you concentrate much better, regulates mood, and sharpens decision making.