Contents
Different stages of stress and how they affect the body
Everyone knows that stress only harms health, but no one even thinks about how the body reacts to it.
The concept of “stress” is firmly embedded in the life of a modern woman. If you are familiar with emotional decline and excessive tension, dissatisfaction, seasonal blues accompanied by a bad mood, this scourge of recent decades has not bypassed you either. The very concept came to us from medieval England. Then the word distress meant grief or need. Physiologically, stress is the body’s attempt to adapt to changing living conditions. In our rhythm of life, conditions change almost every minute.
Stages of stress according to G. Selye
Canadian researcher and physician G. Selye found out that different people react in quite the same way to stress, and broke the process into three stages.
Anxiety reaction
All protective functions of the body are mobilized. By adjusting to new conditions of existence, the body mobilizes memory, attention, touch, perception, and the degree of thinking. Out of nowhere, options for solving the problem are taken, and the load that has appeared no longer seems unbearable. The adrenal glands begin to work hard, their cortical layer increases, and overall activity increases.
Stage of resistance
If at the first stage it was not possible to cope with the cause of stress, the body spends precious resources on the fight as economically and in a balanced way as possible. A person is still productive, solves problems and achieves goals, but nevertheless, the body literally works for wear and tear if you deny yourself precious rest. The thymus and lymph glands decrease or even shrink.
A person falls into a daze, is not able to adequately assess the situation and make any decisions, can only act on autopilot
Exhaustion stage
Working capacity decreases, mental abilities deteriorate, the level of perception decreases, it is more and more difficult to find a way out of the prevailing circumstances. The psyche is seriously malfunctioning. A person falls into a daze, is not able to adequately assess the situation and make any decisions, can only act on autopilot. Problems with the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system begin, immunity falls, the condition of hair, nails and skin deteriorates. The victim becomes withdrawn, less and less delves into the essence of the conversation, is more and more silent, commits rash acts, leads erratic activities, the quality of work decreases, attention is scattered, memory is impaired. On the surface of the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, punctate hemorrhages and tiny ulcers appear, all organs suffer.
Development stages at the physical level
The first stage
The person feels the outflow of blood from the front of the brain to the back. Through the sebaceous glands with sweat, adrenaline is released to the surface of the skin in the form of sebaceous secretions. The look becomes glazed, the frequency of blinking increases. Mild changes occur in the stomach. The cardiovascular system and metabolism are activated, blood pressure rises, the pulse becomes frequent, and blood sugar rises.
The second stage
A sclera appears under the iris of the more sensitive eyeball, the so-called white membrane, which is especially noticeable in people with a large iris. A person sees worse, experiences hostility to others and to himself. The situation is aggravated by periodic spasms of the gallbladder, inhibition of bowel function and pre-ulcer condition.
The third stage
It seems to a person that the battle with the piled-up problems has been ineptly lost, he becomes indifferent to everything, gives up and thinks that nothing can be done. Liver spasms, constipation and headaches appear.
Fourth stage
A person has overly dilated or constricted pupils. Sometimes they pulsate due to adrenaline constantly secreted by the adrenal glands. The blood sugar level is even higher, the internal organs stop working.
Stress is a reaction of the body, a complex of changes at the mental, behavioral, vegetative, biochemical levels. It has the dynamics and logic of development, it bears disastrous consequences. If a person is in constant or prolonged stress, performance decreases, mental state worsens, heart and blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract and the whole body suffer.
Tatiana Leonova, Taisiya Stupina