How Stress Affects Your Health: Causes and Solutions

How Stress Impacts Our Physical & Mental Life

According to The American Institute of Stress, over 70 percent of people report experiencing stress which adversely impacts their physical and mental health. Of those experiencing such stress, 33 percent describe their stress as extreme.

2022 stress statistics

According to polls conducted by the American Psychological Association, the top sources of stress include:

• Prices of everyday items due to inflation, such as gas prices, energy bills, and grocery costs
• Global supply chain interruptions in oil and food supplies
• Geopolitical uncertainty, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and potential retaliation from Russia

Americans are among the most stressed

According to Stress.org, the current stress level experienced by Americans is approximately 20 percentage points higher than the global average, and for a good reason. Consider the following causes and statistics:

• 35% of US workers say their boss is a cause of their workplace stress
• 80% of US workers experience work stress because of ineffective company communications
• 54% of Americans want to stay informed about the news, but following the news causes them stress
• 42% of US adults cite personal debt as a source of significant stress.
• 1 in 4 American adults say discrimination is a significant source of stress.
• Mass shootings are a significant source of stress across all states

The reasons and statistics for stress establish an alarming and growing trend. But this is only half the story. We must also understand the deep-rooted biological and psychological causes, as well as the evolutionary past from which our fears and stress have their roots.

We will first cover the physical, biological, and psychological causes of stress and how we can distinguish between stress and anxiety.

Distinguishing between stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety are both emotional responses but are distinguishable in the following important ways:

Stress

Stress is caused by specific and actual external triggers that the experiencer considers threatening. For example, triggering causes of stress can come from having a heated argument with your employer, going through a child custody battle with a former spouse, or facing financial hardship that resulted from a disabling injury.

Anxiety

Anxiety usually does not involve a clear and present external threat. Instead, it comes from excessive worry and overthinking about what might happen, even without the presence of an actual threat.

Fear-based stress to potential threats

The most common forms of stress are caused by conflict that is perceived as a potential threat to your well-being. Specifically, a potential threat that has not materialized but, if it should, can be a life-changing event, such as the loss of your job, your spouse filing for divorce, or your family falling into a state of financial hardship. Feeling threatened by such possibilities, especially in our current culture, is a common cause of stress and is a normal emotional response.

Stress manifests both physically and emotionally

Most stress is caused by fear. The more intense a perceived threat becomes, the more traumatizing its impact will have on the nervous system and the more likely it will cause adverse residual physical and emotional effects. Not only can you develop an ulcer, but if the emotional impact is significantly traumatic, it can develop into a chronic anxiety disorder.

Symptoms of stress

• Irritability
• Increased Heart Rate
• Muscle tension
• Tightness of Body
• Episodes of Insomnia
• Changes in appetite
• Breathing Rhythm Changes
• Mild-Moderate Headaches

Brain’s limbic system fight or flight

Stress is the way the brain warns us of impending danger. It manifests in us as fear. It comes from our deep past and is the part of the brain neuroscientists refer to as our “animal brain.”

More specifically, our brain’s limbic system and amygdala. Together, they regulate our emotional responses to potential danger by sending hormonal activators signaling danger and fear, which biologically prepare us for immediate “fight or flight” action.

Primal fears of being left behind

In our deep past, survival of the fittest meant you were either the hunter or the hunted. Humans lived in tribal packs moving from one location to another in search of food and shelter. The tribe was the primary source of protection, safety, and connection. The possibility of losing this source of security and protection was a primal fear and posed an existential threat to one’s survival.

There existed a profound fear of being wounded and unable to keep up with the tribe. This can mean being left behind by the tribe and alone to fend for oneself. This fear still terrifies us because deep inside, we know that without the protection of one’s tribe, one becomes easy prey.

This ancient part of our brain was indispensable when we faced conditions that literally threatened our physical survival daily. The state of “hunt or be hunted” was a constant and daunting threat.

This concept is still with us in modern life, but the triggering events have changed in their appearance.

Modern-day fight for survival

While the types of threats that activate our “fight or flight” impulse today are different in character and more complex, make no mistake, the “fight or flight” adrenalin-driven impulse is still there. Only, instead of a tiger chasing you in the wild jungle, it’s your boss chasing you through the office hallways carrying your pink slip.

For the ego-centered animal brain in us, the world is still perilous, and with it comes an almost constant stream of stress.

Today, even the possibility of losing your economic and social status can threaten your survival. For example, financial threats such as losing a job, marriage, and home are sufficient to cause a fight or flight survival impulse, resulting in rapid hormonal changes that result in stress and anxiety.

Threats to our physical survival now include events like losing a job, losing the stability of a safe and stable relationship, losing your home to foreclosure, and even the stress that tightens your neck every time you worry about whether your retirement account is still delivering just three percent return on your money.

For most of us, it’s a challenge to slow the mind down, relax, and find peace. Yet it’s critical to our mental and physical health that we find ways to cultivate positive experiences and enrich our sense of well-being.

Danger of mental fatigue and burnout

Unfortunately, stress begets more stress which makes an already negative situation worse and which can result in mental fatigue, commonly referred to as burnout. The danger of burnout is that it can quickly turn into clinical depression and other emotional disorders.

Seek help as soon as possible

Consider setting up a consultation with an online Mental Healthcare Professional for more information.

For a more holistic approach to maintaining emotional balance, consider the benefits of yoga.

Emergency 24-hour suicide hotline

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK. (8255)