Stress is your body’s response to anything that requires attention or action.
Everyone experiences stress to some degree.
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
Sometimes, the best way to manage your stress involves changing your situation.
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
At other times, the best strategy involves changing the way you respond to the situation.
Developing a clear understanding of how stress impacts your physical and mental health is important.
It’s also important to recognize how your mental and physical health affects your stress level.
It can contribute to feelings of frustration, worry, and burnout.
You may feel physically exhausted, worn out, and unable to cope.
Stress vs. Anxiety: What’s the Difference?
Some of themain sources of stressinclude work, finances, relationships, parenting, and day-to-day inconveniences.
The Four Types of Stress
Not all types of stress are harmful or even negative.
Acute stress is usually brief, chronic stress is prolonged, and episodic acute stress is short-term but frequent.
Stress can also lead to some unhealthy habits that have a negative impact on your health.
For example, many people cope with stress by eating too much or by smoking.
These unhealthy habits damage the body and create bigger problems in the long term.
The connection between your mind and body is apparent when you examine stress’s impact on your life.
Feeling stressed over a relationship, money, or living situation can create physical health issues.
The inverse is also true.
When your brain experienceshigh degrees of stress, your body reacts accordingly.
However, this happens mostly in individuals who already have heart disease.
Stress also takes an emotional toll.
Chronic stress can have a serious impact on your health as well.
If you experience chronic stress, yourautonomic nervous systemwill be overactive, which is likely to damage your body.
Stress-Influenced Conditions
What Can I Do When I Have Too Much Stress?
Stress may be inevitable; however, whenever possible, prevention is the best strategy.
Some interventions that may be helpful include therapy, medication, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Medication
Medication may sometimes be prescribed to address some specific symptoms that are related to stress.
Such medications may include sleep aids, antacids, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications.
Ways to Cope With Stress
Although stress is inevitable, it can be manageable.
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For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.
Final Thoughts
Stress is a part of life and comes in all shapes and sizes.
There are things we can do to minimize or even prevent much of the stress in our lives.
But some stress is unavoidable.
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