3 Types of Stress: How Stress Affects Health

Stress is the reaction your mind and body experience when faced with a challenge, responsibility, or expectation. Positive or negative situations, such as work pressure, social pressure, family life, and significant events such as the birth of a child, a promotion, loss of employment, marriage, or divorce, can activate stress.

Stress can lead to the fight-or-flight response, which keeps you alert and responsive in the face of danger. Stress forces your body to release two primary stress hormones: adrenaline (which increases your heart rate and blood pressure) and cortisol (which increases your blood sugar, alters your immune system, and spikes your energy).

Vulnerability to stress varies from person to person. Your genetics, coping style, personality, and support systems are all factors in how stressed you might become in a given situation. Over time, chronic stress can take a toll on your overall health, increasing your risk of anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, and immune system disorders.

Stress can manifest in different forms. There are three primary types of stress:

1. 1. Acute stress: Acute stress is your body’s response to a challenging situation. For example, you may feel acute stress when you get into a fender bender or lose your job. You can also feel acute stress during positive experiences, such as sky-diving or running a marathon. These stressful situations are short-term, and the body can recover from moments of acute stress quickly.
2. 2. Episodic acute stress: Episodic acute stress is intermittent. You may experience this if you work in an environment with recurring tight deadlines. This is a common experience for healthcare workers, such as nurses and EMTs, who must consistently move from dealing with one crisis to another. Episodic acute stress leaves little time for individuals to recover, leading to burnout and other health problems, such as obesity and hypertension.
3. 3. Chronic stress: Chronic stress, or constant stress, results from consistent exposure to stressors over a long period. Chronic stress occurs when daily life is affected by sources of stress, such as living in an abusive household or an unhappy marriage. Chronic stress can increase feelings of hopelessness and is detrimental to your physical and mental health.

Some of the common causes of stress include:

1. 1. Traumatic events: The loss of a loved one, car accidents, injuries, and natural disasters are all acute stressors that could cause stress levels to increase. In extreme cases, a person might develop post-traumatic stress disorder following an unpredictable or unforeseen traumatic event.
2. 2. Job loss: Losing your job is a stressful event that can have severe repercussions. Not only does it interrupt your income stream, but it can also be a blow to your self-esteem and confidence, resulting in stress.
3. 3. Financial concerns: The inability to pay your bills, incurring debt, and difficulty finding a job are common stressors and may be acute, episodic, or chronic.
4. 4. Relationship issues: Whether with a family member or significant other, discordant relationships can contribute to high stress levels. Toxic relationships, in which one person feels trapped or hopeless, are chronic stressors that severely impact one’s well-being.
5. 5. Work stress: Tight deadlines, budget concerns, and interpersonal conflicts are episodic acute stressors.
6. 6. Major life events: Happy life events, such as getting married, having a baby, and graduating from school, can cause moderate psychological stress, called eustress—a positive stress response. The word “eustress” means “good stress” and refers to a challenge or task that one responds to positively.

Stress can have a detrimental impact on your mental and physical health. Symptoms differ based on the type of stress, but there are many overlaps. If you are experiencing adverse health conditions due to stress, practice stress management techniques and seek help from a health professional.

• Acute stress symptoms: Symptoms of acute stress may include increased heart rate, dilated pupils, sweating, upset stomach, constipation, and labored breathing.
• Episodic acute stress symptoms: Episodic acute stress symptoms include trouble sleeping, heartburn, muscle tension, migraines, irritability, fatigue, and hypertension (high blood pressure).
• Chronic stress symptoms: If you have chronic stress, you may experience anxiety disorders, weight gain, panic attacks, heart palpitations, increased cortisol levels, insomnia, tension headaches, digestive problems, and stomach ulcers. Chronic stress is also known to affect cardiovascular health, increase the risk of heart disease and increase the likelihood of a heart attack.

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