Stress is not easy to deal with. It makes us lose focus, it causes us to snap at other people, and it leads to a lack of sleep. It can also affect our physical health.
If you don’t have a handle on stress, it can get out of control. This article will look at the many ways it can negatively affect health so you know what you’re dealing with.
Headaches
Stress causes muscle contractions throughout the body. When muscles in the neck and scalp contract, it can lead to tension headaches. According to research, every 10% increase in stress causes headache sufferers to experience 6.3% more tension headaches per month.
Heart Health
Stress can negatively affect heart health in a variety of ways. It can cause you to take on habits that are bad for the heart such as smoking and overeating. It has also been linked to irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and reduced blood flow to the heart. These can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Poor Digestion
The stress response causes the body to reroute its resources to fight or flight which inhibits digestion. The nervous system shuts down digestion by slowing contractions of the digestive muscles and decreasing secretions for digestion. If this happens every so often, the body will recover. But ongoing stress can lead to issues like acid reflux, bloating, constipation, and more.
Lack of Sleep
When people are stressed out, they often have difficulty sleeping. A lack of sleep produces several detrimental physical and mental outcomes. It can negatively affect memory, focus, and mood. It can also lead to weight gain, an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, and weakened immunity.
Depression
Stress and depression have a bidirectional link. This means that stress can cause depression and depression can cause stress. They can also make each other worse. Feelings of sadness may arise due to stress’ ability to keep you from enjoying the things you love.
Lack of Focus
If you are dealing with stress, it interferes with your ability to focus. You are so caught up in your stressful thoughts, that it’s challenging to concentrate on what’s in front of you. This makes it difficult for you to enjoy happy moments. It can also negatively affect productivity at work.
Physical Pain
Earlier we discussed how stress causes muscles to tense up increasing the occurrence of headaches. It can also cause pain in other parts of the body. Neck, shoulder, and back pain are often related to stress. People with stress will often clench their jaws or grind their teeth leading to jaw pain.
Lack of Sexual Desire
Ongoing stress can make a person disinterested in sex. But more than that, it can disrupt the body’s hormonal balance. This can result in decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, and irregular menstrual cycles.
Hair Loss
Hair falls out naturally when the hair follicle moves from the growth cycle to the resting cycle. Stress can disrupt this pattern causing more follicles to enter the resting cycle at once. This leads to increased, more noticeable hair loss.
Dry Mouth and Trouble Swallowing
Your body is more prone to acid reflux during times of stress and anxiety. This can negatively impact your salivary glands and slow down saliva production. Dry mouth may occur with symptoms including bad breath, a bad taste in the mouth, and difficulty swallowing.
How to Overcome Stress
Stress has many negative outcomes which is why it’s essential to keep it under control. The right stress management tools can help. These include:
- Exercising regularly
- Eating a healthy diet
- Socializing with others
- Partaking in enjoyable activities
- Talking to others about problems
- Practicing mindfulness and meditation
CBD has also been shown to reduce stress. It interacts with the receptors in the endocannabinoid system to increase serotonin. Serotonin boosts levels of happiness and reduces stress.
If you would like to try CBD for stress, it’s important to buy it from a reliable source. The cannabis market is still highly unregulated. Therefore, it’s not uncommon for products to be falsely advertised in terms of their purity and potency.
Freely is a CBD brand you can trust. We offer a variety of high-quality products specially formulated to reduce stress and improve sleep. Our line includes topicals, gummies, and tinctures.
