The potential downsides of chronic stress

The truth is, however, that chronic stress overload can shorten your life and ruin your health. It strains every organ system, contributing to many diseases and aggravating others. It reveals the vulnerabilities to diseases. (Stress finds your Achilles’ heel.) Coping with stress in maladaptive ways, such as skipping meals, abusing alcohol, and becoming a workaholic, accelerates the downward spiral.

Here’s an incomplete list of the potential downsides of chronic stress:
• increased appetite (more people overeat than undereat when stressed), with a tendency to select sugary, fatty food
• weight gain (preferential deposition of fat in the abdomen, which raises the risk of a number of diseases)
• increased inflammation
• depressed immune function (often manifesting as more colds and faster progression of HIV infection)
• insomnia (which further drives up stress hormones)
• irritability, moodiness, and, eventually, apathy
• impaired learning, concentration, and memory • increased sensitivity to pain
• fatigue
• dampened libido (sex drive), impaired erectile function, lower sperm counts, and irregular menstrual cycles • increased risk or aggravation of chronic diseases
• high blood pressure
• heart disease
• diabetes
• metabolic syndrome (a constellation of signs indicating risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes)
• peptic ulcers (stress contributes but doesn’t directly cause them)
• irritable bowel syndrome
• gastroesophageal reflux disease (heartburn)
• anxiety
• depression
• allergic and autoimmune condition (stress contributes to inappropriate immune system responses)

The point is not to avoid stress altogether. One, it’s impossible. Two, a bland, uneventful life would be boring, which isn’t good for your health, either. Three, some stressors are fabulous— landing a great job, getting married, or traveling to foreign lands.