10 Health Problems Related to Stress
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."
Diabetes.
Stress can worsen diabetes in two ways. First, it increases the likelihood of
bad behaviors, such as unhealthy eating and excessive drinking. Second, stress
seems to raise the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes directly.
Headaches.
Stress is considered one of the most common triggers for headaches -- not just
tension headaches, but migraines as well.
Depression
and anxiety. It's probably no surprise that chronic stress is connected with
higher rates of depression and anxiety. One survey of recent studies found that
people who had stress related to their jobs -- like demanding work with few
rewards -- had an 80% higher risk of developing depression within a few years
than people with lower stress.
Gastrointestinal
problems. Here's one thing that stress doesn't do -- it doesn't cause ulcers.
However, it can make them worse. Stress is also a common factor in many other
GI conditions, such as chronic heartburn (or gastroesophageal reflux disease,
GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Winner says.
Alzheimer's disease.
One animal study found that stress might worsen Alzheimer's disease, causing
its brain lesions to form more quickly. Some researchers speculate that
reducing stress has the potential to slow down the progression of the disease.
Accelerated
aging. There's actually evidence that stress can affect how you age. One study
compared the DNA of mothers who were under high stress -- they were caring for
a chronically ill child -- with women who were not. Researchers found that a
particular region of the chromosomes showed the effects of accelerated aging.
Stress seemed to accelerate aging about 9 to 17 additional years.
Premature
death. A study looked at the health effects of stress by studying elderly
caregivers looking after their spouses -- people who are naturally under a
great deal of stress. It found that caregivers had a 63% higher rate of death
than people their age who were not caregivers.
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