The Different Ways Stress Affects Your Body

Can Make You More Prone To Sickness

Poor diet, lack of exercise, and limited sleep with poor sleep quality all take a toll on the body. Chronic stress does something else along with these symptoms: it can make you more prone to sickness since stress weakens the immune system. Take colds for example. They tend to seem to strike when you're emotionally exhausted or overworked. Research linking colds to stress has narrowed in on cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone. The adrenal glands release it when you feel anxious or threatened. One of the jobs of cortisol is to damp down the immune system temporarily: specifically speaking, the inflammatory response. This grants the body greater energy to deal with whatever may be threatening it. Unfortunately, chronic stress is stress that persists, meaning cortisol is steadily being produced, and the immune system is limited in what it can do to fight off illness.

Keep reading to learn about more effects of stress on the body.