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Other Major Damaging Effects of Stress

Weakens Sexual Performance

Studies indicate that stress can contribute to diminished sexual desire and interfere with a women’s ability to achieve orgasm. The cortisol stress response also can result in temporary erectile dysfunction in men by constricting the smooth muscles of the penis (and its arteries) and reducing blood flow to the penis, (and redirecting that blood flow to the major muscles), thus preventing erection.

Weakens Immune Response

Cortisol also shuts down the body's immune response by preventing the production of new, natural antibodies, making you more vulnerable to coughs, colds, and flu for longer periods of time. When you experience prolonged stress effects, your immune system remains suppressed, increasing the risk of autoimmune diseases (where your immune system attacks your body's own healthy cells). Work stress and stress anxiety also worsen the symptoms of an autoimmune disease and can trigger lupus flare-ups.

Gastrointestinal Problems

Gastrointestinal ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), hyper-motility (painful over-stimulation of bowel function), gas, bloating, weight retention.

Increases Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Being overweight affects the body's processing of insulin and doubles the risk of adult-onset diabetes (type 2 diabetes), which can lead to eye failure, blindness and peripheral vascular disease (leg pains, circulatory problems and wounds that won't heal, leading to amputation of legs).

Other Physical Effects

Frequency and severity of tension headaches and migraine headaches, onset of episodes of asthma, fluctuations of blood sugar in diabetics, altering of electrolytes (chemical elements affecting heartbeat rhythms) and fluid balance in the body, breakdown and wasting away of muscle tissue.

Interferes with Mental Functioning

During excessive stress, catecholamines suppress parts of the brain controlling short-term memory, concentration and rational thought. This is why one's ability to handle complicated tasks, make complex decisions, or negotiate difficult situations is impaired.

Emotional Effects

Anxiety disorders, nervousness, lack of patience, hyper-vigilance, addictive disorders. Repeated release of the stress hormone cortisol disrupts normal levels of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that generates feelings of well-being. With prolonged stress symptoms, the fight-or-flight response never shuts off, causing stress hormones to contribute to persistent and severe depression, helplessness and impending doom.

Accelerates Aging

Prolonged stress also suppresses new brain cell production (neurogenesis) which, in healthy adults, can continue into their fifties -- thus diminishing memory and mental performance. Research psychologists from the University of California, San Francisco's psychiatry department, engaged in research on extended stress and hormonal shifts have found that although aging is part of life, long-term stress may speed up the process, and stress management might slow it down. Their research indicates that chronic stress can affect hormone levels and shift the body's delicate hormone balance to generate accelerated effects of aging.

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Sources: Sexual Dysfunction Focus 3:520-525 Fall 2005 American Psychiatric Association Autonomic, Neuroendocrine, and Immune Responses to Psychological Stress: the Reactivity Hypothesis Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1998 May 1;840:664-73 Effects of Stress on Children Examined Journal American Medical Association 2006;295:1888 Sex, Sexual Orientation and Sex Hormones Influence Human Cognitive Function Current Opinion in Neurobiology 1996 Apr;6(2):259-63

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