Ten Health Problems Caused by Stress
Fix Health Problems Created by Stressful Thoughts
Stress is not just a matter of your mind and how you think about what is going on in your life.
Stress is also directly involved in what happens to your body when you are feeling stressed-out. Your stressed-out thoughts, emotions, and actions can result in a wide range of health problems. The more stressed-out you are, the greater the probability that you will have more health problems.
The most important question is: What can you do about health problems created by stress? You can begin by thinking about how you think about stress and health problems in your life.
Consider the possibility that you have far more power over your health problems than you realize. When you realize the connection between your health problems and stress in your life, you have discovered this life-changing truth about your life and health:
You can create better health by changing your thinking about stress and stressors in your life.
If you have children, your stress-related health problems can also create health problems in them. This realization about the connection between stress and health can also have a powerful impact on their lives.
What is most important to realize is that you can fix many of your health problems by changing how you think about stress in your life.
What are some of the most significant health problems related to stress? Here's a sampling.
- Heart disease. Researchers have long suspected that the stressed-out, type A personality has a higher risk of high blood pressure and heart problems. We don't know why, exactly. Stress can directly increase heart rate and blood flow, and causes the release of cholesterol and triglycerides into the blood stream. It's also possible that stress is related to other problems -- an increased likelihood of smoking or obesity -- that indirectly increase the heart risks.
Doctors do know that sudden emotional stress can be a trigger for serious cardiac problems, including heart attacks. People who have chronic heart problems need to avoid acute stress -- and learn how to successfully manage life's unavoidable stresses -- as much as they can.
Asthma. Many studies have shown that stress can worsen asthma. Some evidence suggests that a parent's chronic stress might even increase the risk of developing asthma in their children. One study looked at how parental stress affected the asthma rates of young children who were also exposed to air pollution or whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. The kids with stressed out parents had a substantially higher risk of developing asthma.
- Obesity. Excess fat in the belly seems to pose greater health risks than fat on the legs or hips -- and unfortunately, that's just where people with high stress seem to store it. "Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol," says Winner, "and that seems to increase the amount of fat that's deposited in the abdomen."
Find out how you can fix 7 more health problems caused by stress at WebMD News. By R. Morgan Griffin
[Original Post March 20, 2017]