Chronic Stress Can Hurt Your Overall Health

Stress is a normal part of life that everyone experiences from time to time. It can come from health troubles, work challenges, relationship tensions, financial difficulties, and a variety of other sources.

“We almost universally dislike stress, but on short timescales, the stress response restores the body’s balance while helping us achieve our goals and playing a key role in promoting our survival,” says Jeffrey Birk, PhD, who studies the relationship between emotions and health at the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Over longer periods of time, however, chronic stress leads to imbalance.”

Usually, we can overcome what’s causing stress and may even learn something that helps us cope with the stressor in the future or avoid it entirely. But sometimes stress lingers—lasting for days, weeks, or months—which can have cumulative effects on our bodies.

Dr. Birk explains how everyday stress is different from chronic stress, how it can impact long-term health, and ways to manage it.  

What happens when we’re stressed?

Typically, we feel stressed when we’re faced with a demanding or threatening situation. Not everyone perceives these situations the same way, and how we feel about the same kind of event can change over time. The more we feel we can’t cope with a situation, the more severe the stress becomes.

When we perceive a threatening situation, the brain activates an alarm system to initiate the fight-or-flight response. Fast-acting hormones, such as adrenaline, are released within seconds, raising our heart rate and blood pressure to briefly mobilize our energy to act. Then, other hormones like cortisol are released more slowly to keep the body prepared and alert.

Together, these stress hormones help us “get going” and “keep going” in the face of a threat.

It’s unpleasant in the moment, but when a stressor is brief (lasting up to a few hours), this stress response can be helpful. Imagine tripping on a curb or getting a tricky question in an interview. You need an immediate solution: a safe place to land, the right words. Stress can help us focus and solve these problems.

Usually, cortisol levels decrease after a stressful event is over, but chronic stressors can keep cortisol levels high—wearing down the body on a cellular level.

What’s the difference between normal and chronic stress?

Short-lived stress and chronic stress are similar, but they differ in course and effects on the body.

Chronic stress happens over a longer timeframe (days, weeks, months, or years). It’s the result of sustained stressors (debt, long-term illness, caregiving, being unhoused) or stressors that repeat frequently over time (recurring arguments, crowded subway rides, construction noise).

Imagine three particularly stressful days at work: On each of these days you feel moderately anxious, have a headache, and experience physical and mental fatigue that makes you consider canceling your evening plans. However, you feel relatively replenished and back to normal on most mornings after these difficult days. In this case, you’re probably experiencing instances of typical stress.

Now imagine many weeks in a row of difficult days and feeling emotionally overwhelmed. You’re consistently exhausted, often feel your heart beating quickly even when sitting still, or are developing pain in your lower back that is getting worse. In this case, you could be experiencing the effects of chronic stress.

How does chronic stress impact health over time?

We know from decades of research that chronic stress can:

• Make you more susceptible to heart attack or stroke. In fact, stress is one of the nine major factors contributing to heart attack risk.
• Increase inflammation in the body, weakening your immune response and making you more vulnerable to illness, including progression of cardiovascular disease
• Make you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or irritable, which makes you more likely to avoid healthy coping strategies and turn to unhealthy behaviors

The more we dwell on troubling stressors, the more our health is affected. For example, people with heart disease may feel chronic stress about their condition, which makes their heart disease symptoms worse.

Chronic stress can cause a wide range of physical symptoms, including:

• Muscle tension
• Digestive problems
• Headaches
• Weight gain or loss
• Trouble sleeping
• High blood pressure
• Fast heart rate or irregular heart rhythm
• Anxiety or depression

Tips for managing chronic stress

It’s important to identify the sources of stress in your life and find healthy ways to cope with them.

Fortunately, even when life circumstances remain difficult, there are proven ways to reduce the effects of chronic stress, which can also help manage symptoms of distress associated with PTSD:

• Physical activity. Even a short walk around the block lowers cortisol levels and releases endorphins that boost mood.
• Mindfulness. Focusing on physical sensations can help you feel grounded. You can be mindful anytime and anywhere. Some people dedicate a time and place to practice mindfulness more deeply through meditation.
• Spending time with loved ones. Enjoying quality time with friends, family, and pets can improve your mood and overall well-being.
• Relieving tense muscles. Many people hold stress in their muscles without realizing. Try stretching, progressive muscle relaxation, or massage to ease tightness.
• Counseling. A trained professional can help put the stressful situation into perspective and offer additional coping strategies.
• Calming the nervous system. Breathing slowly, warm showers or baths, weighted blankets, or relaxing scents can help the body shift out of “fight-or-flight” and into “rest-and-digest” mode.

By recognizing the symptoms of chronic stress and managing stressors effectively, you can improve your well-being and reduce the risk of future health problems.