Research shows that uncontrolled, chronic stress has a negative impact on physical health. Not only does it create new bodily issues, but it also aggravates any existing problems.

Along with excessive stress, emotional distress is also something that people frequently underestimate. Your emotions are a part of who you are, and learning to express emotions productively is important, since what’s going on inside you affects you on the outside as well.

Below, we discuss the most commonly observed effects of stress & distress on the body:

1. Weight Gain

There’s more than one link between stress and weight gain.

When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, which is also known as the stress hormone. Cortisol stimulates your appetite, and makes calorific foods high in sugar and fat more appealing.

Food activates the pleasure and reward centers in the brain. This isn’t a problem under normal circumstances, but when we’re stressed, triggering these centers sets off a reward cycle that looks a lot like addiction.

Persistently high levels of cortisol also promote fat storage in the abdominal region, and slow down your metabolism even if you’re eating healthy food.

Lastly, ‘stress eating’ is very real. When people are distracted and not paying attention to their food, they end up eating a lot more than is justified by their appetite.

2. Premature Aging

Affecting the skin and hair in contrasting ways, prolonged stress leads to premature aging.

Our hair grows in a regular cycle consisting of four stages: anagen (growth), catagen (transition), telogen (resting), and exogen (shedding). Stress speeds up this natural cycle and causes abnormal hair loss.

Stress leading to grey hair isn’t just an old wives’ tale. Each follicle of our hair contains only a limited amount of pigment. A faster growth cycle means the pigment is depleted quicker, and hair turns grey much sooner.

On the skin, chronic stress has the opposite effect.

It slows down the skin’s natural renewal process, so your body doesn’t perform its regular skin repair and upkeep at the normal pace. This leads to the early appearance of wrinkles and dry skin that no moisturizer seems to fix, and even delays the timely healing of scars & injuries.

3. Physical Problems

If you don’t know how to express emotions and carry them with you instead, or if you don’t take a proactive approach to managing your stress, over the long term it could put you at risk of facing the following physical problems:

Cardiovascular Disease

Such as hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, heart attack, and stroke.

Gastrointestinal Problems

Such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable colon, ulcerative colitis, and gastritis.

Sexual Dysfunction

Such as loss of libido regardless of gender, or impotence & premature ejaculation if you’re a man.

What to Do About It?

There is no better time than right now to start taking care of yourself and dealing with your stress.

In addition to proper diet, sleep, exercise, and self-care measures, you can also benefit from professional help.

At Blossom Hypnosis, the certified hypnotist, Rekha Shrivastava, uses her decades of experience to help people better manage their stress through hypnosis in Rochester, NY.

She offers in-person and online sessions – via Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, and Google Meet – for the convenience of her local and international clients.

For a free consultation and life-changing Rochester, NY hypnosis treatment, contact us today.

Not ready to schedule an appointment? Learn how self-hypnosis can start your recovery from PTSD and depression.