Many people are used to the stress and anxiety that comes with the daily grind of work, home life, social life, school, and more. However, while many people assume stress is just a normal part of modern life, enough stress can actually take a physical toll on your health and well-being. There are a number of ways in which a constant state of stress can harm you, but there are ways to avoid physical illness as a result of your mental health.
Soaring Stress Levels
Stress levels aren’t necessarily static throughout your life; many situational and environmental factors can contribute to rising anxiety and stress. Whether you’ve recently started a new job or are looking to move soon, there are a variety of life changes that can temporarily increase your stress levels. While this increase might be temporary, it can still impact your health negatively, and it’s a good idea to have coping mechanisms in place you can use if you notice your health declining through many common stress symptoms.
Impacting Illness
Serious stress, even when temporary, can impact your health negatively. One of the most common issues associated with increased stress is a less effective immune system, resulting in a higher likelihood of common illnesses like colds or the flu. The CDC estimates that since 2010, as many as 710,000 flu-related hospitalizations and up to 56,000 flu-related deaths have occurred. However, not all stress symptoms have to do with common colds. Headaches, chest pain, and stomach issues can all be linked to heightened stress levels, even as a result of temporary anxiety.
Chronic Conditions
When heightened stress levels and anxiety become ongoing issues, health problems that result from your mental state can become chronic. Certain types of muscle and joint pain are frequently the result of ongoing stress, and these pain types can affect a surprising amount of the adult American population. For example, disorders of the TMJ, or temporomandibular joints, affect approximately 12% of the US population at any one time. Some even experience increases in anxiety from recognizing that their anxiety symptoms are becoming chronic, causing a worsening anxiety spiral. This is just one of many reasons why intervention and developing an individualized action plan is so important.
Constructive Coping Mechanisms
For some, small lifestyle changes will be enough to address your increased anxiety levels. Take note of your diet and exercise plans and how they’ve changed recently, and if you notice you could be making healthier decisions, look for ways to incorporate more activity and healthy eating into your day. This doesn’t mean you have to entirely overhaul how you’re living your daily life – even if you don’t particularly like vegetables, for example, foods like microgreens can help you get your recommended vitamins and nutrients. Microgreens are a tiny form of edible greens produced from very young vegetable, herb or other plants. Small adjustments like this might help improve your mental state a little bit at a time.
However, if making changes to your daily activity are difficult, impossible, or aren’t ultimately helpful, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with heightened stress levels. Therapists can be incredibly helpful when it comes to developing plans to handle ongoing stress and sources of anxiety. After working with a marriage or family therapist, 93% of patients said they had more effective tools for dealing with their problems. Respondents also reported improved physical health and the ability to function better at work after attending therapy.
Managing stress and anxiety can be a challenge, and left unchecked, it can start to harm your physical health. However, through a combination of simple changes and professional help, anxiety can be managed to help improve your physical well-being.
