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Does stress itself cause poor health, or does stress cause high blood pressure and unhealthy habits, which cause poor health? (monyet.cc)

submitted 1 year ago by Uno@monyet.cc to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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title. I feel like you always hear stuff to the liking of "high stress leads to poor health," but I am kind of wondering exactly why this occurs.

For instance, it's said that stress can cause:

Aches and pains.
Chest pain or a feeling like your heart is racing.
Exhaustion or trouble sleeping.
Headaches, dizziness or shaking.
High blood pressure.
Muscle tension or jaw clenching.
Stomach or digestive problems.
Trouble having sex.
Weak immune system.

Imagine, hypothetically, that I were to have a high stress life, but still had good sleep, low blood pressure, and a slow heart rate, while also staying away from unhealthy habits like drinking or addiction.

Would my health still be worse than a person who lives an equivalent, but less stressful life than me?

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[–] laurel@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

I have heard it simplified as "what goes in, must come out". If you are experiencing high stress without processing the stress, it will create problems for you physically. However if you are able to integrate stressful experiences mentally/emotionally, you wouldn't experience adverse effects. So it's really a matter of whether you hold onto stress or not. That said, I think anybody who is able to manage stress effectively and with a great deal of understanding is also going to be actively working to minimize their exposure to stress to what they know they can reasonably handle. There are other factors as well, such as the quality of your diet, the type of community surrounding you, etc. The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté addresses a lot of this type of thing for anybody curious about how things are linked. Also some good videos on YT if you don't want to read the whole book haha.