Last week marked Stress Awareness Day in the UK – a day that highlights the affect stress can have and how to deal with and manage stress before it starts taking a toll on your health and wellbeing. Stress can have serious effects on our health including high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, headaches, insomnia and a host of other issues. It can also have an impact on how we recover from health conditions, disease, or injury.
Types of stress
Not all stress is the same, and different kinds of stress can have different effects on our physical and mental health.
Short Term Stress
We are fairly attuned to dealing with some level of stress on a daily basis. Deadlines mounting up at work, a list of jobs around the house that never gets completed or your children needing a costume for a school play…these things can make us all feel the strain. This is known as short term stress and although we should all be doing our best to reduce all stress wherever possible, for the most part we can deal with smaller problems that we face in our daily lives.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress is the feeling of being consistently stressed over a long period of time and it can be damaging to both your mental and physical health. “Chronic stress affects both the mind and body. It produces both physical and psychological symptoms that can take a toll on a person’s ability to function normally in their daily life,” explains Elizabeth Scott in a recently published article. She continues, “some potential complications related to chronic stress include acne, depression, diabetes, eczema, heart disease, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers and weight changes.”
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, or as it’s more commonly known, PTSD, is a mental health condition brought on by a frightening, extremely stressful, or life-threatening event. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares, memory loss, and insomnia. Living with PTSD can be extremely challenging and can have the same adverse effects on physical health as chronic stress, as well as a huge impact on mental health. PTSD usually requires treatment by a health professional.
Negative health effects
When we are extremely stressed, our bodies and health are negatively affected. “The psychological impact of stress can impact emotional states, leading to behaviours that negatively influence immune function; particularly affecting sleep, nutrition and exercise. All of these factors lead to poorer immune response and healing, thus delaying recovery,” explains Australian physio and sports medicine company Life Care, who go on to say that “stress will negatively impact on injury recovery, for example, delaying healing of a muscle tear.”
Other chemical responses also brought on by stress such as the production of cortisol reduce the efficiency of our immune system meaning we are more susceptible to catching viruses and infections that someone at peak health may be able to fight off. This can likewise contribute to a potentially extended recovery time.
Stress and Recovery
When recovering from a traumatic injury, illness or medical negligence, good physical and mental health both play a pivotal part of the recovery journey, and if we’re struggling with either, our chances of a speedy recovery are far less likely. However, stress is often unavoidable, and depending on how the injury occurred, overcoming PTSD can be a large part of the recovery plan.
We understand the need to find the right associate to support individuals who may be dealing with PTSD or chronic stress as well as an injury that has impaired them physically. Our associates are hand-selected for each individual case and are well versed in the complexities of stress, trauma, and the impact it can have on recovery.
If you would like to talk to us more about any of our services, please get in touch with our friendly and knowledgeable team who can answer any questions you may have.
