The Effects of Stress

There are different types of stress and so; there are different effects of stress depending on things like lifestyle, your environment and the people around you.

Basically we talk about stress having 4 types of effects on us:

• Physical effects
• Psychological effects
• Behavioral effects, and
• General health effects

... So the effects of stress come in many ways - and it not certain that you will experience all of them. Remember that stress is an individual thing and although you may not feel any psychological signs it does not mean that you are free of stress.

Typically men will not "feel" the stress as much as "see" the stress. It may be because boys and men are taught to be strong and tangible goods are promoted, or it may be genetic; but men tend to notice tics or pain or some of the other physical signs before emotional ones.

Again, this may not apply to you directly! And women are just as "good" at having physical sign as men

Physical Effects

The physical effects of stress are just that, physical. There can be many reasons for why you might be stressed and many reasons why it may affect you physically - in fact any stress will have a physical effect of some sort.

Like increased heart beat or sweaty palms or chills or... read more about the physical effects of stress here.

One more word on the gender issue: Women tend to push back the physical signs and listen more to the psychological effects. Nobody can tell for sure why this is; most likely it's social norms, but here is a little exercise for you girls:

Next time you say to yourself "phew, it must be my period" or "that menopause is killing me", try and stop for a while and think about what your physical signs are - it may be something you could actually work with, and not just your natural system.

Psychological Effects

The psychological effects of stress are latent - meaning they are hidden in one way or another.

It is difficult to see what is going on inside of you. And also, the psychological effects have different form and seem to float around: One moment you may feel rage and the next you may feel sad or lonely.

My best advice is to try and box it all up - and I don't mean "put them away"!!

Instead; use frames and borders in your mind to try and pinpoint what the exact effects are. If you feel sad (and we all do that sometimes) try and picture what that sad thing is - do everything you can to see the cause of the stress.

Read more about the psychological effects here.

And remember:

Behavioral Effects

Behavioral effects are those funny little things we do when we are under stress; like accidentally walking towards the wrong car in the parking lot.

Most of the time these little snags are nothing to worry about and are simply the result of you mind trying to automate some non-vital processes in your life. However, if you are under severe stress the long term effects can become quite clear and have a major impact on your life.

You can read more about the behavioral effects and the different stages here.

Health Effects of Stress

"It is health that is the real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver" Gandhi, M

You have to be careful when trying to measure the effects that stress has on the general health - it is a job best left for the professionals!

The problem is that relationships between stressors and good or bad health are difficult to spot, and so it is difficult to say what causes bad health and what doesn't!

There are, however, some generally accepted relations that stress has with health and you can read more about it here.