14 DAY TRIAL // You eat the same food, do the same exercises and almost the same things and yet? something is different. Are extra pounds the reason why the metabolism slows down? No, it's the stress. The main negative effects of the stress are caused by the cortisol, secreted during tension moments. In the wild, we had to prepare our organism when confronted with a danger or a challenging situation. But the daily urban stress puts the body in too many tension situations, exhausting it.
About 20 % of the population experience severe stress at work and over 500,000 Americans need spare time to solve the problem.
1.Studies have shown that stressed women depose fat inside the abdomen (this is the most harmful for the heart diseases). Cortisol directs more fat towards this area. Not even skinny women can avoid the storage of abdominal fat. Starving is not a solution, only sport and stress can help you get rid of the extra pounds caused by stress.
2.Stress lowers immunity. Our body reacts to stress like in the case of an infection: it sends immune cells to defend it. But while the immune cells deal with the stress, bacteria and viruses are neglected.
It is known that stress slows down the healing. Persons involved in a conflict require 60% more time to heal wounds than in quiet periods.
3.Stress causes pain. It lowers the threshold of pain supportability, especially for women. Women suffering from heart issues complain more about chest pains when stressed than cardiac men.
4.Stress causes accidents. High stress affects concentration, decision taking and behavior. The more worried you are, the higher the chances to cause an accident.
5.Stress causes insomnia. This is a vicious circle. Stressed people cannot sleep and the lack of sleep induces more stress. Moreover, the lack of sleep leads to weight gain. The sleep quality is also lowered, being diminished by many "micro awakenings".
Solutions? Before sleeping, listen to relaxing music, light a perfumed candle, take a hot bath, drink a warm liquid and remember you're free till tomorrow.
6.Stress makes you lose your teeth. It boosts periodontal diseases. Higher amounts of cortisol can lead to destruction of the gums and jaw bone due to periodontal diseases, which untreated induce bone loss or tooth loss. There is a tendency among individuals with high stress levels to pay less attention to their oral hygiene.
7.Stress increases your bad habits. It is known that because of stress one starts again to smoke, drink or take drugs.
8.Stress causes cancer. Researches show that women who always work under stress could be 30 % more vulnerable to breast cancer.
9.Stress impairs sex life and induces sterility. Stress accumulated at work is linked to early menopause, sterility and higher risk of miscarriage in women. Stress-reducing therapy can make women regain their fertility.
High levels of cortisol in women can induce irregular ovulation and also fallopian tube spasm in women and low sperm in men, besides impotence. The difficulty of trying to conceive can further increase the stress level, inducing a vicious circle. Sometimes, women trying to conceive a child by IVF can later become pregnant naturally, when the cause of stress disappeared.
10.Stress makes you look older. The decrease of the immune capacity, inflammation and infection could act more aggressively in the wear and tear effect of aging.
11.Stress is known to accelerate hair loss.
12.Stress kills you at an earlier age. The most famous effect of the chronic stress is the propensity to heart disease and heart attack. But stress attacks most of the body's systems, from hearing to kidney.