Stress and What It Does to Your Body

By: Krystale Bradley

Senior project, extracurricular activities, school, scholarships and applying for college. All of these things add up to one word: STRESS! As young adults we know what it’s like to be stressed. People handle stress differently and you can tell that it affects them emotionally. What people don't know, and what I didn't know until I read a recent article on WebMD by Amal Chakraburtty, is that stress also affects individuals physically and mentally.

I'm sure you’re wondering how stress can affect people physically. The truth is it just depends on the type of stress you are encountering. Three types of stress are eustress, acute stress, or chronic stress. Each type of stress is classified based on how it affects you mentally and emotionally. Eustress is the stress that keeps you alert and aware of danger. The second type is acute stress which can be positive or negative but it only last for a very short length of time. The final type is Chronic Stress; it’s the stress that seems to keep dragging continuously. Normal stress symptoms are headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain and problems sleeping. The more serious health problems such as depression, ulcers, sexual dysfunction, obesity and hair loss are cause when you are exposed to too much chronic stress. Chronic stress is a severe type of stress that tends to overwhelm you.

85 percent of teens experience some type of stress at a young age. The more they are exposed to it, the more severe it affects them. It’s hard for teens to deal with stress during high school. Teens turn to alcohol, tobacco and/or drugs to help lessen the stress. When teens use these items it makes stress become harmful. The more stress they encounter, the more tempting it becomes to turn to these things for help. This in the end will make the effects of stress even more severe.

It is important for teens to know and understand how to deal with their stress in a safe way. There are different ways to cope and handle stress for different people. A few ways include: Using stress in a positive way or to do something productive, whether it’s doing house work of cleaning out your car. Physical activities, it can help you use your energy in a safe way. Get sleep, sleep is an important to being alert and feeling refreshed. Yoga, which helps calm your nerves and helps you relax. Doing something for someone else, it takes your mind off of your own problems to help someone with theirs. If you have an abundant amount of assignments for school, prioritize them, get the important ones done first and then work your way down the list. These ways are so simple and they can help you lessen your load of stress.

Many things in life you can’t control so there is no sense in worrying about them. No matter your age, job, family, or etc you’re going to have to deal with stress. You can’t avoid and you can’t run away from it. You have to learn how to deal with it and move on. As long as you can’t handle stress in a positive way, it won’t control your life.