6 Terrifying Things that Stress Is Doing to YOUR Body!

Usually, it's obvious when stress takes hold of our emotions. You just lost that big promotion, you've got a huge high school final (or even college final) coming close, or you just found out you're pregnant and you don't know what to do...

Stress comes in all different shapes and forms; and all of these reasons above are good reasons to stress out. But do you know how much damage stress can actually do?

Stress is not a force to be reckoned with- and when your friends and family tell you to calm down and quit worrying, it might be your best option to avoid things like mental illness, cancer, miscarriage, and worse.

Unfortunately, one of the classic signs of stress is true- it can and will make your hair fall out. For those who are under tremendous stress, it's not impossible to go partially bald. Balding is far more common in men than in women, but women will experience balding as well; especially when under stress. Stress is a very nasty creature, and for us women, preserving our hair is enough of a reason to find 101 ways to destress.

Even young men and women will experience baldness, hair loss, and hair thinning from stress. Many college students will be able to attest to this. It is a true toss up as to whether or not the hair will grow back, as there are many factors involved. Hair damage, color damage, scalp damage, follicle health, diet and nutrition, genetics, hair care routines, routine styling, and much more will factor in to whether or not the hair will grow back. My biggest tip is to treat your hair like it is royalty, and give it as much pampering as you can. Taking vitamins while avoiding hair damaging activities would also be a good idea. So set the straightener down, and let your hair go au naturale!

Starting off with one of the most alarming effects of stress is probably our best course of action here. We are all stressing ourselves out way too much, and you yourself should already know this. By realizing the worst effects of stress first, we can put life into perspective and realize that we really DON'T need to stress ourselves out so much. It is INCREDIBLY important to find ways to destress, and learn to be happier with life, as you can see.

Now stress may not be directly linked to causing cancer. However, studies have shown that in animals, stress will actually offer cancer a defensive line against treatment. Yes- cancer cells were able to resist treatment when the animals were under stress! When the adrenaline that is produced through stress is realized, it made drugs that were administered to the animals much less effective at curing them of cancer.

Honestly, I do believe personally that the risk of cancer would be elevated by stress, as stress has many detrimental effects on the human body. Cancer cells are merely mutated normal cells that cease to function as they should, and reproduce rapidly with abnormally long lives; cancer kills by replacing functional cells with mutated cells that do not perform life functions.

Stress and stroke are two very bad words to place in one sentence. Stressing yourself out too often can heighten the risk of stroke, which is extremely dangerous for those who have heart conditions or blood pressure issues. Stress causes blood pressure to climb, which puts pressure on arteries, veins, capillaries, the heart, the brain, and many other vital organs. You may notice that when you become extremely stressed out, you become flushed and you may gain a headache or a migraine. This should not be confused with any regular tension headache; these headaches are from heightened blood pressure, which puts pressure on the veins and capillaries within your brain. If you feel this happening, it's time to take a time out immediately and calm down!

On top of this, stress will have a negative effect on the heart as well. As the blood pressure rises and the adrenaline begins to flow through your circulatory system, the heart begins to beat faster and harder. The increased pulse and high blood pressure puts added strain on the heart. the ventricles and atriums will have to work much harder in unison, and if just one of them begins to malfunction, it can cause serious issues within the heart. Murmurs and cardiac arrest aren't an impossibility for someone who is under severe stress constantly.

Stress truly takes a toll on you mentally- which means it can lead to mental illness. Stress will continue to compound over time, leading to a feeling of being trapped or the feeling that one is unable to complete something successfully. As this continues, it's brings you down and can even bring you into an emotional lull. As the depression starts to settle in, one will lose the desire to keep on going, and will lose interest in the things they onced loved. At this point, everyone needs a break. Or medication!

There are many different ways to reduce stress in your life. Firstly, you need to reduce your workload if this applies to you. If your problem is money, try to sell off things you no longer need and avoid buying things that aren't necessary. If stress is a routine part of daily life (such as being a parent) try having a date night, or romantic vacation.

Yes. Many women have suffered through a miscarriage due to stress, unfortunately. Many times, it is because an accidental pregnancy occurs during a very demanding or stressful point in life; whether it be while working two jobs to support existing children, while working and going to school, or when disastrous events happen in life. When the body is pushed from being mentally stressed to physically stressed, it begins to shut down in certain ways. This is because stress is a natural instinct that pushes us into survival mode. Weight is gained to ward off starvation, tensions run high to stay on alert, pregnancies are lost to preserve nutrients for the body, and much more. Since pregnancy can be achieved again later, the body will naturally abort it if it feels that now is a bad time due to environmental stress.

Believe it or not, OSHA declared that stress is actually a hazard in the workplace, according to Web M.D. Since the employee is stressed, it is highly likely that he or she is more focused on those triggers (such as a car breaking down, or problems in a personal relationship). When this happens, the employee is not dedicating his or her full attention to the job at hand. This eventually leads to small mistakes such as not adhering to the safety precautions carefully enough. As you know, those rules are in place for a reason. When someone forgets to properly handle a tool or use machinery, a small slip up could cost a finger, limb, or even a life.