The physical and psychological impacts of stress

I am fascinated by how the body reacts to stress and the internal systems that work in the background of our lives.

I didn’t have much knowledge about this topic prior to this article. But my curiosity led me to research this topic and dive into a particular piece of medical literature. Which I am excited to share with you. Keep in mind I am going to share what I think are the most important bits of information with you. Please reference this link https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2568977/ if you would like to read through the entire medical entry.

(I learned a lot and I hope you will too!)

First,

There are very real psychological and physical impacts of stress.

Some impacts that make sense, but I hadn’t really thought of them until reading about this topic.

This will get very interesting and insightful, so keep reading!

Let’s start with the question.

What is stress?

A basic question, but one worth asking to lay down the framework of this conversation.

“(Selye (1956) used the term “stress” to represent the effects of anything that seriously threatens homeostasis. The actual or perceived threat to an organism is referred to as the “stressor” and the response to the stressor is called the “stress response.”) (Schneiderman et al. 2)”

As expected, stress evolved as an adaptive process. However, with prolonged stress, this can cause significant psychological and physical impacts.

Fun fact

The word stress dates back to the 14th century (from the Latin stringere, meaning “to draw tight”), its modern medical and psychological usage was established in the 1930s

Abstract

“Stressors have a major influence upon mood, our sense of well-being, behavior, and health. Acute stress responses in young, healthy individuals may be adaptive and typically do not impose a health burden. However, if the threat is unremitting, particularly in older or unhealthy individuals, the long-term effects of stressors can damage health. The relationship between psychosocial stressors and disease is affected by the nature, number, and persistence of the stressors as well as by the individual’s biological vulnerability (i.e., genetics, constitutional factors), psychosocial resources, and learned patterns of coping. Psychosocial interventions have proven useful for treating stress-related disorders and may influence the course of chronic diseases.

Keywords: psychosocial stressors, stress responses, homeostasis, psychosocial interventions, host vulnerability-stressor interactions” (Schneiderman et al. 1)

INTRODUCTION

Claude Bernard (1865/1961) noted that the maintenance of life is critically dependent on keeping our internal milieu constant in the face of a changing environment. Cannon (1929) called this “homeostasis.” (Schneiderman et al. 2)

Based on the appraisal of perceived threat, humans and other animals invoke coping responses (Lazarus & Folkman 1984). Our central nervous system (CNS) tends to produce integrated coping responses rather than single, isolated response changes (Hilton 1975). Thus, when immediate fight-or-flight appears feasible, mammals tend to show increased autonomic and hormonal activities that maximize the possibilities for muscular exertion (Cannon 1929, Hess 1957). In contrast, during aversive situations in which an active coping response is not available, mammals may engage in a vigilance response that involves sympathetic nervous system (SNS) arousal accompanied by an active inhibition of movement and shunting of blood away from the periphery (Adams et al. 1968). The extent to which various situations elicit different patterns of biologic response is called “situational stereotypy” (Lacey 1967). (Schneiderman et al. 3)

Here is my interpretation…

CNS or Central Nervous System is the main system at play when our body’s “fight or flight” response kicks in. Our body will likely have an increase in autonomic (the part of the nervous system that controls involuntary, unconscious bodily functions like breathing, heart rate, and digestion) and hormonal activities, getting our body ready for its peak muscle performance. Our body is basically turning up the dial, using all the natural features to get the most out of our muscles. Very cool and extremely useful, and important in a genuine survival situation.

When fight or flight is not an immediate option, our SNS or Sympathetic Nervous System becomes the main system at play, and as such we may have an increased vigilance response (An “increased vigilance response” or hypervigilance is a state of heightened sensory sensitivity and physiological arousal where your nervous system becomes stuck in overdrive, constantly scanning for threats.) and less blood flow moving to our extremities / less vital organs.

The intensity of the situation will dictate how intense our body’s response will be.

Although various situations tend to elicit different patterns of stress responses, there are also individual differences in stress responses to the same situation. This tendency to exhibit a particular pattern of stress responses across a variety of stressors is referred to as “response stereotypy” (Lacey & Lacey 1958). Across a variety of situations, some individuals tend to show stress responses associated with active coping, whereas others tend to show stress responses more associated with aversive vigilance (Kasprowicz et al. 1990, Llabre et al. 1998). (Schneiderman et al. 4)

My interpretation…

Although different intensities of stress will produce different intensities of reactions, some people may have a stronger, more intense reaction to the same level of stress as someone else. So the stress reaction is also fairly individualized.

I also find it very fascinating that people tend to lean towards either active coping or aversive vigilance when dealing with stress.

Aversive Vigilance

“In psychology, aversive vigilance is a threat-monitoring state where the brain intensely scans the environment for potential dangers, harms, or negative outcomes. It is a built-in survival mechanism that creates an attentional bias toward detecting and avoiding threats.”

When reflecting on my own experience, I notice that my more dominant response to stress is aversive vigilance.

Throughout everyday life, due to years of prolonged stress, I had noticed my mind being “always on”, hyper-aware, vigilant, and overly analytical. I thought that was just part of who I was…. but this was a stress response baked into my DNA as a mammal!

Interestingly, this happened for many years and caused symptoms of burnout, weary mind, and constant low mental energy. Which I would describe often, and it didn’t feel right.

I would say that…. It didn’t feel normal.

But I didn’t know what normal was.

So I was left confused and questioning, as I did with many things growing up.

Sadly, my personal experience with the health care system wasn’t great. I felt they didn’t teach me damn near anything valuable regarding mental health and simply wanted to throw medication at me.

This is why I am so adamant about the content that I create. If you find this valuable, please let me know. I truly care so much and hope that we can learn together and share information to fill in a large gap that the healthcare system has left for us to figure out.