How Stress Affects The Quality Of Life

Improved Essays
Daisy’s fingers are aching, her heart is racing, and her eyes keep on alternating from the clock to the eclass discussion opened up on her desktop. Abruptly, “Don’t you have to go to sleep, it’s almost midnight,” yells Daisy’s mother. The anxiety and stress from the urge to finish her assignment on time and the pressure from her mother, puts Daisy in a difficult dilemma. Daisy has many commitments that she has made, just not enough time to complete them. Stress is a common predicament in America today that directly impacts our quality of life. Thankfully, there are many practical strategies that will help to improve our levels of stress. The word “stress” can be applied to many situations a person faces or even feels. “The Effects …show more content…
Sleep is the body’s way of renewing itself, and getting enough sleep will help us cope with stress better (Waters). When we are stressed, our minds race with thoughts instead of shutting down at night, inhibiting important functions involved in memory, muscle repair, and mood (Huffington Post). Stress may not just negatively affect some of our sleep; it may rob our sleep entirely. Those who experience stress are more susceptible to insomnia. Many people may suffer insomnia and not even realize it. There are times when we feel fatigued and restless, due to the lack of sleep; however we do not acknowledge the cause of lack of sleep. The tensions of unresolved stress frequently cause insomnia, which prevents stressed people from sleeping or causes them to awaken in the middle of the night or even early in the morning. While there is no magic number of sleep hours we should log per night, research suggests that Americans would be happier and healthier overall if they at least got an extra sixty to ninety minutes per night (Huffington Post). When we are stressed, we may have difficulty sleeping at night, but we have to do our best to get at least eight hours of sleep each night. Lack of sleep, on the other hand, lowers our immunity and makes us more susceptible to physical illness. It is a stressor, which in turn can leave us vulnerable to other stressors (Bodger). Not only is …show more content…
Cortisol suppresses inflammation during a response to stress, which results in our body developing resistance and not responding properly (Hansen). When left to do what it wants, the immune system often begins attacking healthy invaders and you can develop inflammatory diseases like arthritis or tendinitis (LiveStrong). According to “How Does Stress Affect the Immune System”, an article released by The Mayo Clinic, reports that when the levels of stress hormone(cortisol) drop, other body processes such as heart rate and immune function return to normal (LiveStrong). The immune system also receives signals to slow down while cortisol does its job. But, with chronic stress, the immune system stays in low gear, leaving the body vulnerable to infection and disease (LiveStrong). On the other hand, too much of cortisol can cause decreased immunity. The immune system has to be balanced and be able to function evenly. Too little or even too much of something may harm the immune system. We have to be very cautious, due to the fact that even stress can negatively affect our immune system. When we are overwhelmed, we may not feel as hungry as we should or we may not feel hungry at all. Our metabolism is interrupted by stress, which then negatively impacts our immune system. The immune system is

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Stressed lifestyle and personality are some of the psychological factors that influence health and behaviour in our lives. However, our response to stressors determines our ability to control and manage or develop illness out of the stress. “Stress is experienced when a person’s perceived environmental, social, and physical demands exceed their perceived ability to cope, particularly when these demands are seen as endangering the person’s well-being in some way” (Cardwell & Flanagan, 2012). Walter Cannon’s (1932) fight or flight response elaborates the correlation between arousal and stress as due to the survival mechanisms that evolve in homosepian. According to Sarafino stress comprises of two components: the stressors, stimuli that make…

    • 1652 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Everyone has stress. Good or bad it is an inevitable feeling. Sometimes a person can be raveled in so much stress they do not remember their main objective. The movie Stress: Portrait of a Killer truly shows and exemplifies how stress really drives our lives.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paramedic Mental Health

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The focus of this assignment is to look at and analyse the mental health and illness aspects of people in our community. Using a case study of a mental health presentation, explore the research and critical thinking related to the assessment and pre-hospital management of mental health patients. Exploring the pathophysiology, signs and symptoms of several mental health illness and critically evaluate the pre-hospital assessment and management and compare this to best paramedic practice. Positive mental health has been defined as: “a state of wellbeing in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his…

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the chapter “Stress and the Eyes of the Beholder” of his book Emotions, Stress and Health, Alex J. Zautra addresses many psychological and physiological effects of stress on a person. He also describes studies that have been conducted to observe these effects stress has on a person. Because stress is a very relative term, Zautra attempts to provide a clear, overarching definition of stress and explain how effects of stress are relative to an individual and their own personal experiences. Zautra explains that our brains rely on rhythms and patterns. When things in our everyday lives are being repeated as normal, or routinely, there is very little risk of stress that can occur.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Heal 407-01 stress management Behavior change project Paper 1 Presented By Maxwell Wambui Spring 2016 Everybody in some ways or another experience stress on a regular basses from family, friends, work and other factors in our life. Stress is the inability to cope with a perceived or real threat to one’s mental, physical, emotional or spiritual well-being which result in a series of physiological responses and adaptation. Stress can be a good thing for example eustress which is stress that present opportunity for personal growth and can be fundamental to our survival. There is also distress which can cause a negative effects to our health.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this paper I will discuss the effects of stress on overall health. The article, STRESS AND HEALTH: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinates, describes into detail about how wide a range of both short and long term effects the body can have when introduced to a stressor. While working on this study, the researchers questioned the effects stress has on people’s lives and how they react to it, taking into account age, childhood experiences, and other personal experiences that could have an effect on one’s response to stress. One alternative research question I believe they could have also addressed is the amount of stress that adolescence goes through due to their high school education. Has the stress levels of those in high…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From chart it states she has been abused by her adoptive mother, witnessed her death, and participated in drugs, alcohol, cutting, purging, and suicide attempts. Thus, these factors can influence stress on the immune system and suppress…

    • 2035 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stress is an inevitable experience in life that can disrupt cognitive processes, neuroplasticity, endocrine and immune system in animals and humans (Dantzer and Mormede, 1995). Chronic restraint stress models are the most popular for studying the mechanisms of impairments or cognitive disturbances (Chen et al ., 2010; Yi et al. ,2013).…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stress Informative Speech

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We all have felt stressed at least once in our life times whether it be for a speech, for an exam, or in your relationships with those around you. Not only have I felt stressed, but I have also read some articles that I’m willing to share with you about all the things there are to stress. I will inform you about what stress is, the good side of stress and the bad side of stress.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These circuits allow us to return to homeostasis equilibrium. Chronic stress occurs when the stimulus becomes too intense or lasts too long and the body cannot adapt under such circumstances. Without achieving homeostasis the neuroendocrine circuits become altered and can lead to illness (Mariotti, 2015).…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This nonspecific immune response is often called the "sickness" response because it triggers a series of physiological and behavioral changes, including fever, changes in liver metabolism, reduced food and water intake, reduced sexual activity, reduced exploration and increased anxiety. It also activates a classic stress response, releasing stress hormones such as cortisol.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction Stress has been observed as an important correlate of health, and from the psychoneuroimmunology point of view, stress could be a primary as well as secondary source of poor health (Dunn, 2014 and Lai,Liao, Huang, Chen, & Peng, 2013). Consequently, this paper investigates the relationship between stress and illnesses/diseases using psychoneuroimmunology approach. Stress and Development of illness/diseases - Psychoneuroimmunology Approach Psychoneuroimmunology is concerned with the interaction of psychological, neurological and immunological factors in the development and modulation of illnesses and diseases (Ruyak, & Corwin, 2013). Studies have consistently supported the fact that environmental factor as well as the way it is perceived by an individual (psychology) exerts spontaneous effect on the neurons of the brain which in turn stimulates hyperactivity of all physiological systems, interrupting the normal state of wellness (Clark, & Fessler, 2014; Dunn, 2014; Lai,Liao, Huang, Chen, & Peng, 2013; Ruyak, & Corwin, 2013). Not only this, the stress response includes secretion of chemicals such as norepinephrine, epinephrine, adrenaline, dopamine, and glucocorticoid resulting in the behavioral, cognitive and physiological symptoms of…

    • 1265 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stress is a serious mental problem that is often overlooked. When I am faced with any event that my mind perceived as a foreboding danger, the stress causes my body to flood with hormones responsible for dealing with the increase heart rate, blood pressure, energy, and my ability to “deal with the problem” (American Psychological Association). But I cannot stress it enough that stress is not as simple as a heart pounding as one awkwardly awaits a first date or a job interview. It is a defense…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In society today, nearly millions of people suffer from stress everyday. Stress is a natural part of life. The expressions are familiar to us, “I’m stressed out,” “I’m under too much stress,” or “Work is one big stress.” Stress is hard to define because it means different things to different people; however, it’s clear that most stress is a negative feeling rather than a positive feeling. While some people believe stress can be healthy, it can be argued that excessive stress is unbearable because stress can lead to depression, anxiety disorder, and suicide.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is produced in the liver; these hormones lead to Blood Sugar Imbalance and Diabetes, Weight Gain and Obesity, Immune System Suppression and many more problems within the body. 3. Psychological effects of stress Psychological effects of stress are the effects that have to do with mental health and the way in which the mind can cope under the pressure. • Chemical imbalances: Stress triggers a release of chemicals which can make one tired and easily irritable; this is due to the imbalance of hormones released from the paturaty glands. • Thought process and sociability decline: When under stress many people become distracted of forgetful easily this is because the brain is linked to these functions.…

    • 2961 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Improved Essays