• Question: How does stress effect the human body?

    Asked by flibble to Georgina, Chris on 6 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by 492strk47.
    • Photo: Georgina Hazell

      Georgina Hazell answered on 6 Nov 2017:

      Cortisol has so many effects on the body. In fact it can effect nearly every type of cell in the body.

      So rather than bore you with a really long answer I will put it simply.

      A little stress can make you alert and motivated. Too much stress can make you tired, unhappy and even depressed and anxious.

Comments

  • Photo: Laura

    Laura commented on :

    It depends on what’s happening for you at the time.

    If you’re feeling a bit stressed and pressured, then you will breathe faster and your heart rate will go up. You might feel as if your mouth is really dry and other people might notice that you go a bit pale. You will be noticing what’s going on around you and getting ready to deal with whatever is stressing you.

    If you’re feeling frightened as well, then you will release adrenaline into your blood and that “turbo-charges” the effect of stress – you might feel as if your heart is pounding inside your chest and your muscles might tense up. You’re getting ready to run away from whatever is bothering you – or to fight it!

    If the stress still doesn’t go away and you carry on feeling stressed and under pressure, then you make another hormone – called cortisol – which makes sure that we have enough energy to cope but which can also damp down our immune response so it might take longer to heal.

    If all this carries on for too long, people start finding that it’s hard to sleep – it’s exhausting dealing with lots of stress and sometimes people can become ill.