Dingledine 1

Hadlea Dingledine

Dean Leonard

English 1201.2V7

6 May 2022

How Does Stress Affect the Human Body?

How does stress affect the human body? Well, that’s a complex question, isn’t it? For

starters, anxiety, muscle tension, cramps and sickness are all common symptoms of stress. I used

to think that panic attacks were something that people made up until I found myself on the floor

unable to breathe, shaking and crying uncontrollably. Nothing happened in that moment to

trigger the attack, it was more a combination of things that were going on in my life. The second

time it happened, I was working on homework and out of nowhere my heart started beating fast.

I felt frustrated, I couldn’t hear much, I started sweating, and I was struggling to breathe. I

started crying again, I was unable to talk. I found myself soaking wet from my sweat. I was

shaking in the floor for what felt like eternity. To this day, I struggle with severe anxiety and

panic attacks and struggle to manage the stress in my daily life. With that being said, I can’t

function when I don’t have much going on. Like most people, stress helps me stay on track but

it’s also what causes me to breakdown and go into self-destruct mode. I was diagnosed with an

anxiety disorder in 2019 and since then I’ve worked hard to learn how to identify the triggers and

work through them. When people hear “stress”, they think about the negative effects, but stress

can also work in our favor. The human body processes stress in many ways and it’s different for

everyone. Stress can affect the human body physically, mentally, and emotionally in many

positive and negative ways, but the negatives outweigh the positives.
 Dingledine 2

As seen in figure 1 proposed by Newton, there are many different regions of the body

that can be affected. Some of the effects can be very serious and harmful. Others, it’s just the

natural effect of stress. Either way, it’s very important to take care of your body.

Figure 1

The term stress wasn’t used until the 1920’s. According to physics, stress is the force that

puts strain on a physical body (CESH/CSHS). This is where Dr. Hans Selye borrowed the term

“stress” from. Dr. Selye is a Canadian endocrinologist and one of the fathers of stress research

(General Adaptation Syndrome, CESH/CSHS). He started using the term when he completed his

training at the University of Montreal. Dr. Selye realized that no matter what patients were
 Dingledine 3

suffering from, they all looked like they were under physical stress (CESH/CSHS). He said that

“stress was a non-specific strain in the body caused by irregularities in normal body functions”

(CESH/CSHS). It released stress hormones. He later called this the General Adaptation

Syndrome (GAS) also known as the short-term and long-term stress reactions (CESH/CSHS).

Unfortunately, most people don’t truly understand the effects of stress until it’s too late. When

someone has multiple assignments due and they didn’t have enough time to get them done or

they were running late and didn’t have gas in their car, maybe they have a first date, or they are

preparing for a big game. Maybe they experienced periods of time when they couldn’t focus, and

their concentration level declined. Stress that is unrelieved in time can result in GAS.

“Our bodies are well equipped to handle stress in small doses, but when that stress

becomes long-term or chronic, it can have serious effects” (Morrison). The effects include

musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and

reproductive systems (Stress Effects on the Body). The affects that stress has on a person’s body

depends a lot on the length of time the person is trying to manage the stress and their genic

make-up. We all tolerate stress at different levels, but stress is real, and the symptoms should

never be taken lightly. The human body is made to react to stress in certain ways to keep us safe

and our body treats the day-to-day minor hassles as threats. For example, someone getting rear

ended while sitting at a stop sign on your way to school. Their body sets off a signal in a small

part of their brain called the hypothalamus. As the nerve and hormone signals activate, the

hypothalamus prompts the adrenal glands, located on top of your kidneys, to release the

adrenaline and cortisol hormone. Adrenalin raises your blood pressure, heart rate, and boosts

energy supplies (Mayo Clinic). The primary stress hormone cortisol increases glucose into the

bloodstream which, in turn, enhances your brain’s use of glucose and increases the availability of
 Dingledine 4

substances to repair body tissue (Mayo Clinic). Cortisol also shuts down non-essential functions

which would affect our fight or flight mentality (Mayo Clinic). It reduces immune system

responses, suppresses the digestive and reproductive system, growth processes and

communicates with the part of the brain that controls mood, motivation, and fear (Mayo Clinic).

Once the stressor is no longer present, the body's stress response system is designed to

turn off and your hormone levels return to their normal state. As this happens your heart rate and

blood pressure will return to normal levels (Mayo Clinic). But when you’re living a lifestyle

where your body thinks it’s always being threatened and you constantly feel under attack, the

fight-or-flight reaction remains on. When the reaction remains on, its known as the long-term

activation of the stress response system. Which causes the over-exposure to cortisol and other

stress hormones that put people at an increased risk for chronic health problems such as anxiety,

depression, digestive problems, headaches, muscle tension, pain, heart disease, heart attack, high

blood pressure, stroke, sleep problems, weight gain memory and concentration impairment

(Mayo Clinic). Prolonged stress can be debilitating and literally cripple a person and because the

effects are a result of our bodies natural chemical and neurological response, we don’t always

have control of the results. That is why people end up in the hospital with nervous breakdowns or

in the morgue, dead. When the issues or stressors are identified at the early stages, most are

manageable. The worst part is when they go unidentified or undiagnosed for prolonged periods

of time and your body tries to compensate longer than it’s built to withstand, and a person finds

themselves in a life-threatening condition or situation (The positive effects of Stress).

Stress can be beneficial when exposed for short periods of time and under the right

circumstances. It can increase an individual’s motivation to complete tasks, examinations, or

projects in a manner where they utilize their time effectively to prepare, plan, or fix a given
 Dingledine 5

situation. Stress increases our cognitive ability. It allows us to focus on the current stressor,

assess the situation, and make decisions and execute the actions necessary without having

distracting thoughts not pertinent to what is happening. It has also shown to increase our memory

and recall abilities due to the increased levels of cortisone produced. Physical performance and

endurance are also positive attributes from stressful events. The body’s adrenaline level is raised

which will result in an increase in heart rate and metabolism. There is an increase in your body’s

reaction and reflex capabilities allowing you to run longer, increase your strength, and reduced

tiredness and fatigue (Knowlton). This is the modern days “superhero”. This power is what

allows mothers to rescue their children from car recks and more. Without stress, a lot of people

would have more serious injuries from accidents. Stress prepares the body for what is worst to

come, so when someone is unaware there is a car about to crash into them, this is when people

get hurt.

Stress can go as far as affecting the way you think and comprehend things. It has as much

mental strain as it does physical strain. As said many times before, depending on genetics and

personal experiences, someone may start smoking, misusing drugs, or drink unrecommended

amounts of alcohol. This can lead to self-harm and more. As the strain on the body increases it

can make it hard to make decisions, concentrate, and cause someone to be unable to remember

things (Causes of Stress). This can hinder someone’s ability to perform everyday activities. On

the other hand, stress can be what creates excitement and drives us forward. Under the right

circumstances such as a positive change, stress can be what creates challenge, suspense, and

excitement and if a person has no stress in their life that might suggest that they are not

challenged and not moving forward (Knowlton). If someone doesn’t have at least some

interaction with stress, it means they are excluding themselves from the outside world. Which in
 Dingledine 6

time, can be very unhealthy and unsafe for someone. Stress is a part of life, it pushes us, helps us

learn and more. It’s just a matter of how we handle it and for how long (The Positive Effects of

Stress).

According to figure 2 proposed by Hrubenja, the number one cause of stress in the United

States today is from the pandemic. This is an issue for people's mental health. People were

secluded from their friends and family. They couldn’t go to the gym or socialize. They couldn’t

participate and execute their daily coping mechanisms for stress, which put a strain on their

mental and physical health (Mayo Clinic Staff). Stress tends to change the way people act. It

causes moodiness, frustration and irritability (Hrubenja). It can cause someone to have angry

outburst, to overact, and to underreact (Mayo Clinic Staff). Overall, it causes them to be

unpredictable with their actions. As time went on the pandemic still has had a lot of effects on

how people interact with the world. Some still haven’t gone to social gatherings, work, school,

and more. For these people they are causing more health problems to themselves then they would

be if they just went to school or work.

Figure 2
 Dingledine 7

Stress is harmful to our body, but it has positive effects also, some may say that it has

more positives than negatives. For example, the fight or flight response. It is activated by

stress. It's what gets us out of trouble, it’s part of our bodies natural defense system. It is also

known as the adaptation stage of GAS. GAS has three stages, alarm, adaptation (Fight or

Flight), and exhaustion. But as mentioned before, if our bodies remain in the adaptation and or

exhaustion stage for a prolonged period of time, we can cause damage to any one of the

systems that work together to maintain the human body. Each one of those systems has a

crucial part of maintaining the health of our body. It’s critical that we learn to manage our

daily stress in order to live a well-balanced life.

Stress is in everyone’s daily lives, its unavoidable; it depends on how you cope with it. If

you find a healthy way to cope, there's nothing to worry about. If a coping mechanism isn’t

working, just try another one. People's coping mechanisms are different based on their life

experiences and genetics, just like how stress effects are different for some people. If people are

unable to find coping mechanisms, it can have a serious impact on their future. They either end

up straining themselves mentally, physically, or emotionally. If people ignore what their bodies

need, they end up hurting themselves more. People need to find a therapist, a gym, a hobby, a

skill, a sport, or something to cope with stress. No matter what, stress has a lot of negative

effects, either on your body, mind, or emotions.

 Dingledine 8

Works Cited

“Causes of Stress.” Mind, Mind, Nov. 2017, www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-

mental-health-problems/stress/causes-of-stress.

CESH / CSHS. “History of Stress.” CESH / CSHS, CSHS,

humanstress.ca/stress/what-is-stress/history-of-stress. Accessed 26 Mar. 2022.

“General Adaptation Syndrome - Stages (Phases), Symptoms, Treatment, Causes.” Syndrome,

Syndrome, syndrome.org/general-adaptation-syndrome. Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.

Hrubenja, Aleksandar. “41 Eye-Opening Stress Statistics and Facts for 2022.”

MedAlertHelp.Org, MedAlertHelp, 8 Feb. 2022, medalerthelp.org/blog/stress-statistics.

Knowlton, Susan. “The Positive Effects of Stress | HealthGuidance.Org.” HealthGuidance.Org |,

HealthGuidence.org, 21 Jan. 2020, www.healthguidance.org/entry/15537/1/the-positive-

effects-of-stress.html.

Mayo Clinic. “Chronic Stress Puts Your Health at Risk.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic, 8 July 2021,

www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-

20046037?reDate=20032022.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Stress Symptoms: Effects on Your Body and Behavior.” Mayo Clinic, mayo

Clinic, 24 Mar. 2021, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-

depth/stress-symptoms/art-20050987?reDate=08042022.

Morrison, Stuart. “What Effect Does Chronic Stress Have on Our Bodies Quizlet?

[Comprehensive Answer].” Answeregy, answeregy, 5 Dec. 2022,

answeregy.com/what/what-effect-does-chronic-stress-have-on-our-bodies-quizlet.php.

Newton, Matt. “Mental Health Month.” AR Alert Response, AR, alertresponse.com/mental-

health-month. Accessed 14 Apr. 2022.

 Dingledine 9

“Stress Effects on the Body.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological

Association, 1 Nov. 2018, www.apa.org/topics/stress/body.