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Stress is the mental, physical or emotional response by a body to an experience or an occurrence. At least every person experiences or has experienced stress at one time. Stress usually affects the normal functioning of the body as the body tries to adapt to the change in circumstances or the environment and; thus, a person’s body is stressed. Despite the fact that stress is universally considered negative, there are two principles modes of stress, and they include positive and negative stress. Stress usually affects the person depending on how he/she will approach it. It may result to a success or failure basing on that fact. Furthermore, we have different types of stress including acute stress, chronic stress, distress and eustress. In addition, each of these types of stress has its own symptoms.
Types of stress
Firstly, we have the acute stress. Acute stress is the most common type of stress that most people face. Acute stress is usually short term compared to other types of stresses. There are different issues that mostly lead to this type of stress, and they include deadlines, misplacing something, minor accidents, and other physical activities. Acute stress may be acceptable if it occurs in small doses. This is due to the success it may result. For instance, anxiety to beat a deadline will lead to high performance at a workplace. The common symptoms experienced due to acute stress are headache, stomach upset, and general body pains.
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Secondly, there is another kind of stress known as episodic, acute stress. It usually results due to one showering himself or herself with more responsibilities beyond their capabilities. This is considered as being busy. A person is always on the move due to work overload. Despite the fact that the person is always on the rush, he/she never keeps time. This affects people who have distinct positions at their work places like the managers and directors. In addition, episodic stress is caused by over worrying. The victim may always be in a tensed mood even if there is nothing in particular that is going to happen.
The third type of stress is chronic stress. Unlike acute stress, chronic stress usually has a long-term effect, and it is deadly. It usually affects a person for weeks, months, and even years. In other circumstances, people spend their lifetime bearing chronic stress. Chronic stress may result due to different issues like breakages in families, loss of a loved one, and poverty. This issue creates difficulty in a person’s life and; thus, he/she is affected mostly mentally. It destroys the person’s body day after day, and eventually, the person may be affected mentally entirely. Furthermore, chronic stress is considered murderous as a person may become accustomed to it. When a person is used to it, he becomes worn out slowly without his or her knowledge, and the results are fatal. Considering this, chronic stress may lead to death, stroke, murder, heart attack or suicide.
The body’s psychological response to stress
When a person is stressed, the body will always respond to it in different ways. The body responds to stress depending on the type of stress. One of the common responses of the body is increased heartbeat. The heartbeat usually gets faster and stronger in order to supply the body with more oxygenated blood.
Secondly, the human digestion slows down in order to allow more blood for the muscles. Stress increases heartbeats as the person is in tension or under pressure. This results to more blood been needed in order to withstand the faster heartbeat rate.
Thirdly, the areas around the brains that are related with memory are usually affected. This is usually dangerous as it may lead to memory lapse or permanent loss of memory (Cooper and Dewe, p120). There are other various types of responses to stress, among them; the skin becomes clammy and close, the respiratory rate increases, eyesight becomes sharper, and there are frequent body pains.
Short-term and long-term health effects of stress
Stress usually has various health effects. This depends on the type of stress. In relation to that, we have short-term and long-term health effects of stress. One of the common effects of stress is insomnia (Cooper and Dewe, p106). Insomnia is the lack of sleep by a person. Furthermore, it may cause oversleeping and fatigue. The other common effects are back and neck pain. However, it will always depend on the kind of stress a person is undergoing. Notably, at times, a person’s hands become cold as blood is diverted from the skin to the heart.
Long-term stress is more dangerous to human beings. The chronic stress leads to heart attacks and unstable angina. The instability in the angina is caused by loss of blood supply and leads to continuous chest pains. Long-term stress leads to death of most people due to its serious health effects. Notably, it has other effects like diabetes, problems with digestive systems, loss of weight, drug abuse, and low immune system.
However, a person can still deal with stress. Short-term stress is the easiest to deal with, as long-term stress may need medication. It is advisable not to worry about things that you do not have the power to change. This will help a person to be relaxed. Furthermore, a stressed person because of workload is advised to reduce the responsibilities that he or she cannot manage. In addition, a person can also consider participating in a less strenuous activity, solving conflicts amicably, and eating a balanced diet.
In conclusion, stress is a normal, but deadly thing in the society. Despite the fact that stress can be successful, it is deadly. Chronic stress mostly leads to serious health and physiological effects to the human body. Generally, stress can be managed in various ways. Short-term stress is easy to manage as it involves taking precautions given. Long-term stress may be tricky as it involves medical issues.