The Hidden Effects Of Stress

Now that we understand the role hormones play in the stress response and their general impacts on different parts of our body, it’s important to understand the sneaky ways stress can manifest.

Since hormones, by their definition, travel throughout the blood, they can reach every organ, tissue, or system. In fact, almost every cell in your body is only six cells away or less from a supply of blood. In other words, that’s like having a Starbucks every six houses. Because of their wide-reaching effects and their interactions with other hormones, we can sometimes have symptoms appear without realizing they’re stress-related.

While most of us can relate our irritability and temper to stress, I’ve had patients who hadn’t been able to make that connection until we created a timeline of their health concerns. By pointing out that symptoms A, B, and C began around the time a large stressor occurred, they were finally able to make that connection. So let’s discuss the myriad of ways our body can be trying to communicate with us that we are, in fact, stressed out, beginning with the more obvious ways stress can affect our systems.

If you remember from the previous article, cortisol, one of our stress hormones, can cause issues if it’s chronically elevated. However, cortisol is responsible for waking us up. Cortisol should rise in the morning and slowly decline over the course of the day.  Melatonin has the opposite pattern and peaks at night, lowering over the course of the evening.  This is what is known as our circadian rhythm.

If you’re chronically stressed, that normal rhythm can become altered and change when cortisol is released. Cortisol may be low in the morning (causing grogginess), have a mid-afternoon peak, or a 3am peak (causing you to wake up during the night for no apparent reason). This is why insomnia and fatigue can be due to stress.

As I mentioned in the previous article, cortisol increases the release of insulin, a fat storage hormone. This can lead to weight gain, around the middle in particular. To add further insult to injury, poor quality sleep can also cause weight gain.

Some other clear symptoms related to stress include tension headaches and muscle tension. Tension headaches have a strong association with stress and muscle tension. And muscle tension can be a telling sign that we’re stressed, which is why massages sound so luxurious when we’re stressed.

Stress can also affect our mental health, which may be more difficult to connect if you’re knee deep in stress. Being chronically stressed can worsen our memory and cause memory loss as well as poor self-control. So if you were trying to eat better to lose that belly fat, you may find it more difficult to make healthier choices. Chronic stress can also lead to overeating. Let’s be honest, it may feel easier to eat your emotions than to deal with them.

On the other hand, stress may cause undereating or loss of appetite. And you may experience emotions like overwhelm, sadness, irritability, or apathy, which can be difficult to distinguish from depression.

Another subtle way stress can show up is by affecting our digestion. When our body is in “fight or flight” mode from chronic stress, we spend less time in “rest and digest”, which can cause digestive issues to arise. This could present itself as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, or even abdominal pain.

Another digestive concern that may occur is heartburn due to decreased production of stomach acid. Stomach acid signals your lower esophageal sphincter (the opening from your esophagus into your stomach) to stay closed so you can begin digesting your food. If you don’t have adequate amounts of stomach acid from not being in “rest and digest” (or a proton pump inhibitor), the sphincter doesn’t shut properly and heartburn develops. 

Other subtle signs of stress can manifest in chronic diseases and your menstrual cycle. With chronic stress, more systemic inflammation can occur, which can cause or worsen autoimmune conditions (Hashimoto’s, Crohn’s, rheumatoid arthritis, etc), by causing immune system disruption.

Chronic stress and inflammation can also lead to a weakened immune system, increasing the likelihood of catching the latest cold or flu or even cancer. Chronic stress and inflammation has been linked to allergies as well. And inflammation has been associated with heart disease.

Since chronic stress releases hormones into your bloodstream, they interact with and impact your endocrine system. This may cause fertility issues, a delay in your menses, low libido, or even worsen diseases like diabetes.

Finally, a more visible sign of chronic stress may show up in your skin. In some people, acne, rashes, or eczema may be due to chronic stress. And increased inflammation has been shown to accelerate aging and increase wrinkles.

While this is not an exhaustive list, there is almost no system in the body free from the effects of chronic stress. So how can you begin to sift out what’s from stress versus what’s due to other lifestyle choices like poor nutrition or inactivity?

While this may seem impossible, there are a few ways to try to parse it out. The most definitive yet probably the most difficult would be to eliminate your stress and see what issues resolved. Easier said than done, right? That being said, we all have different tolerance levels for stress. Sometimes taking one or two projects off your plate can have a big impact.

You may even list out all things in your life that have to get done or cause you stress and see what can be eliminated visually. Once eliminated, it can be easier to realize what symptoms have disappeared and thus attributed to stress. However, depending on how big of a toll stress has taken on your health over the years, it may take some time for you to fully heal and recover.

If that doesn’t seem doable at the moment, you may want to incorporate journaling or a mindfulness practice to bring some awareness to how stress manifests in your life. Writing things down can distance ourselves enough from being in it to allow us to start to notice patterns. It is difficult to make changes if you’re not even aware of the problem in the first place. 

These are only a few suggestions to consider. We have other recommendations in other articles in our stress series that may be more doable depending on where you’re at in your stress journey. Read more here, here, and here.

I want to hear from you! What symptoms related to stress surprised you? If you think of your own timeline, are there any health concerns you’re experiencing that you think may be due to stress? Or reflecting back, once a major stressor in your life resolved, any health concerns that magically went away? Comment below!