Signs of Stress

How Does Stress Affect Health & Aging?

At some point in our lives we all endure stress and we can see the signs of stress by various symptoms of which I'll discuss below. But how does stress affect health? Is there a correlation between stress and aging? What are the best stress reducers?

Stress is on the increase (and rising) in just about every country all over the world.

Stress can even be caused by mundane chores such as going to the supermarket or even house cleaning.

But one of the biggest factors of stress is work related. Many of us are put under a tremendous amount of pressure at work and this causes major stress and anxiety in a large percentage of workers.

But it often doesn't stop there as you might have children to look after or are really busy outside of work, and so you get stress at home too. This then makes your life a 24 hour stress roller-coaster of which there is no way to 'get off' and have some relaxation time.

Signs of Stress

Here is a list of the signs of stress. If you have at least one of these, then you may be suffering from stress and will need to seek a cure or medical advice.

#1 Stomach Pains signs of stress
Stomach pains are very common with stress. I know I am stressed when I get a 'tight knot' (anxiety) in the pit of my stomach and sometimes I'm not aware that I was stressed in the first place or even know what I'm stressed about! But I know that when I get that anxiety knot in my stomach my body is telling me that I am stressed.

#2 Chest Pain
Chest pain and palpitations are a common sign of stress. Breathing is restricted when you are really stressed and fluttering or irregular beats of the heart are not uncommon.

There's no need to panic about this if you are normally healthy, but if the chest pains or palpitations continue for a prolonged period, it's best to consult your doctor.

#3 Your Skin
When we are stressed the body produces adrenaline which is a hormone which disturbs the other hormones in our body. This can have an adverse affect on our skin for example, if you are prone to acne, then your acne will come out. If you are prone to spots, lots of spots will come out. You may also experience red flushes and itching to the skin too.

#4 Comfort Food
This is where food and drink become your best friend. It's called 'emotional eating', you are feeling stressed and you are seeking calm and comfort and you find it in either food, and/or excessive alcohol and smoking consumption.

Unfortunately, you are likely to put on weight and you will feel down and more stressed because of your weight gain. And so the vicious circle continues.

#5 Hair Loss
Some people who are exceptionally stressed due to surgery, an illness or injury can see some hair loss. This will be likely be due to hormonal imbalances.

Other signs of stress include: loss of appetite and weight loss; lack of concentration; lack of libido; loss of personality or sense of humour; short temperament; irritable; emotional and sensitive; and paranoia.

Stress On Health & Aging

Unfortunately stress does play a major role on aging and our health. This is why we must try and get our stress levels down as much as we can. Here are some ways how stress affects health and aging.

Weight

Research has been carried out to show that weight gain can be an unwanted side-effect of stress. As pointed out above, if you're a comfort eater and are eating more because of stress, then you will likely gain some weight.

However, there is also a hormonal side to stress and weight gain. When you are stressed, the stress hormone, cortisol, is released and cortisol is known to slow down the metabolism. This makes dieting much more difficult and gaining weight much more easily.

In addition the cortisol hormone, when you are stressed the areas where you store fat shift and change. The higher levels of stress in a person is linked to storing fat around the abdominal. Unfortunately fat around the abdominal is linked to greater health risks than fat stored anywhere else in the body such as heart attacks and strokes.

Aging

Stress is a major cause of premature aging. When you're stressed you use your facial expression lines more such as frowning for example. When the skin is young and perceptible (as it is full of collagen and elastin), it is able to 'bounce back' to it's original position.

However, as we get older the production of elastin fibres and collagen slows down leaving our skin saggy and unable to bounce back to it's original place as when we were younger. This then leaves us with permanent age lines with the most common ones being forehead frown lines and wrinkles around the eyes including 'crows feet'.

Other

Stress can cause other health ailments such as high blood pressure, strokes and heat attacks.

So as you an see, stress is a major culprit when it comes to health and aging. This is why it's important to recognize the signs of stress and then find stress reducers to try and combat stress as soon as you can.

Get Part I Of This Amazing
Book Absolutely Free!

Be Thin, Lean & Wrinkle Free
Click here for more information