What Stress Does To Your Body - Part 2
What Stress Does To Your Body - Part 2
2. The Cardiovascular System — Your Heart and Blood Vessels
The cardiovascular system includes your heart and all the blood vessels that carry blood around your body.
Short-Term Effects
During a stress response, your heart rate increases and your blood vessels constrict (narrow), which raises your blood pressure. This sends oxygen-rich blood to your muscles faster — helpful if you need to sprint away from danger.
Long-Term Effects
When stress is chronic (meaning it goes on for weeks, months or years), the repeated spikes in blood pressure wear down the lining of your arteries — the large blood vessels that carry blood from your heart. Over time, this damage leads to inflammation (swelling and irritation inside the vessels), which can cause fatty deposits called plaques to build up. This process is called atherosclerosis (pronounced ath-er-oh-skler-OH-sis), meaning 'hardening of the arteries'.
The result is a significantly higher risk of:
• Heart attack (when blood supply to the heart muscle is blocked)
• Stroke (when blood supply to the brain is blocked)
• High blood pressure (medically called hypertension), which itself is a risk factor for many other diseases
A major review published in The Lancet found that work-related stress alone was associated with a 23% increased risk of heart attack. [2]
3. The Immune System — Your Body's Defence Force
Your immune system is the network of cells, tissues and organs that protects your body from infections and disease. Stress has a complex, and ultimately damaging, effect on it.
Short-Term: A Temporary Boost
In the immediate term, cortisol actually helps regulate the immune system and can reduce harmful inflammation. This is why the steroid medications doctors prescribe for inflammation (such as prednisolone) work on the same pathways as cortisol.
Long-Term: A Weakened Defence
With prolonged stress, the immune system becomes less responsive. Your body's immune cells — particularly T-cells and natural killer cells, both of which identify and destroy harmful invaders — become less effective. This means:
• You get ill more often (more colds and infections)
• You take longer to recover from illness or injury
• Wounds heal more slowly
• Existing conditions, such as asthma, eczema, or autoimmune diseases (conditions where the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues), can worsen
Research from Carnegie Mellon University showed that people with high stress were nearly twice as likely to develop a cold after being exposed to a cold virus compared to those with low stress. [3]
4. The Digestive System — Your Gut
There is a powerful and well-documented connection between your brain and your gut, often called the 'gut-brain axis'. When you are stressed, your digestive system bears a significant share of the consequences.
During the fight-or-flight response, your body diverts blood away from the digestive system (since digesting food is not a priority when you are in danger). Prolonged stress disrupts normal digestive function in several ways:
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS): A condition causing abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation. Stress does not directly cause IBS but is a well-known trigger that significantly worsens symptoms.
• Acid reflux (heartburn): Stress can increase the production of stomach acid and relax the valve between the stomach and oesophagus (food pipe), allowing acid to travel upward.
• Peptic ulcers: Ulcers are open sores that develop on the lining of the stomach or small intestine. While a bacterium called H. pylori is the main cause, stress worsens them by increasing acid production.
• Changes in appetite: Stress can cause either loss of appetite or overeating ('stress eating'), often driven by cravings for high-sugar or high-fat foods.
Interestingly, around 90% of the body's serotonin — a chemical that regulates mood — is produced in the gut. Stress can disrupt this production, which may partly explain why digestive problems and low mood so often occur together.
Part 3 will be posted tomorrow
In the meantime, my FREE resource can help you navigate your situation and make the necessary changes so you can de-stress, be happier and healthier. Check The Happiness Project page to access the 7-Day Stress Detox Guide for free and start destressing today!