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How Stress Affects Your Health

Stress: We’ve all felt it. Sometimes stress can be a positive force, motivating you to perform well at your

piano recital or job interview. But often — like when you’re stuck in traffic — it’s a negative force. If you

experience stress over a prolonged period of time, it could become chronic — unless you take action.

A natural reaction

Have you ever found yourself with sweaty hands on a first

date or felt your heart pound during a scary movie? Then

you know you can feel stress in both your mind and body.

This automatic response developed in our ancient

ancestors as a way to protect them from predators and

other threats. Faced with danger, the body kicks into gear,

flooding the body with hormones that elevate your heart

rate, increase your blood pressure, boost your energy and

prepare you to deal with the problem.

These days, you’re not likely to face the threat of being

eaten, but you probably do confront multiple challenges

every day, such as meeting deadlines, paying bills and

juggling childcare that make your body react the same way.

As a result, your body’s natural alarm system — the “fight

or flight” response — may be stuck in the “on” position, and

that can have serious consequences for your health.

Pressure points

Even short-lived, minor stress can have an impact. You

might get a stomachache before you have to give a

presentation, for example.

More major acute stress, whether caused by a fight with

your spouse or an event like an earthquake or terrorist

attack, can have an even bigger impact.

Multiple studies have shown that these sudden emotional

stresses — especially anger — can trigger heart attacks,

arrhythmias and even sudden death.1 Although this

happens mostly in people who already have heart disease,

some people don’t know they have a problem until acute

stress causes a heart attack or something worse.

Chronic stress

When stress starts interfering with your ability to live a

normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more

dangerous. The longer the stress lasts, the worse it is for

both your mind and body.

You might feel fatigued, unable to concentrate or irritable

for no good reason, for example. But chronic stress causes

wear and tear on your body, too.

Stress can make existing problems worse.2 In one study, for

example, about half the participants saw improvements in

chronic headaches after learning how to stop the stressproducing

habit of “catastrophizing,” or constantly thinking

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