Stress is a physical and emotional reaction to life's challenges. Feeling stressed from time to time is normal, and in the right amount, stress can be helpful. For example, if you are in danger or need an extra boost of motivation, stress can activate the body and prepare it for action when it is needed most.
Stress can be physical and emotional, and it can be acute or chronic. Acute stress is described as short-term stress that everyone experiences from time to time. Acute stress can help respond quickly to dangerous situations. Chronic stress lasts a long time and becomes harmful when the body acts as if it is constantly in danger. Unless a person finds ways to manage chronic stress, it can contribute to a multitude of health problems.
Now, chronic stress can increase the risk of health problems, including digestive issues, headaches, stress-induced asthma attacks, and mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. Stress can also make it difficult to sleep and increase the risk of sleep disorders.
How Stress Affects
The body's response to stress is an important survival mechanism. In the face of a dangerous or stressful situation, the brain initiates a series of processes that help respond to a threat. Although the stress response is useful, when it continues for an extended period of time, stress can negatively affect the body. Here are some of the effects of stress on the body, and the ways in which chronic stress can lead to health problems:
At the Hormonal Functioning Level
When faced with a threat, the body increases the production of stress hormones, such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, which trigger other physical changes and put the body in a fight or flight state. In chronic stress, these hormones can be activated when they are not needed.
At the Muscular Level
In response to stress, the muscles throughout the body tense up reflexively. If stress is not reduced, chronic muscle tension can lead to painful conditions such as headaches and back pain.
At the Respiratory Level
Stress can cause breathing to become shorter and faster. For people with pre-existing respiratory conditions, such as COPD and asthma, the body's response to stress can trigger their symptoms.
Similarly, the impact on blood pressure is significant as stress-activated hormones cause certain blood vessels to dilate and can also lead to an increase in blood pressure. Continuous stress can lead to inflammation and increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Traumatic stress is a type of chronic stress. It can occur when a person is exposed to a traumatic event. While most people will recover over time from the effects of trauma, sometimes the body's response to stress lasts longer than normal and begins to interfere with other parts of a person's life. If left untreated, traumatic stress can develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Sleep and Stress
Stress and sleep have a bidirectional relationship. Stress can lead to loss of sleep and, conversely, loss of sleep can increase stress. While the links between stress and sleep are complex, research has shown several effects of stress on sleep.
Problems to Conciliate Sleep
Stress often increases the time it takes to fall asleep; people with higher levels of stress and more chronic stress are more likely to experience insomnia, a common sleep disorder. Chronic insomnia can develop in response to prolonged stress.
Altered Dream Architecture
The architecture of sleep describes the structure of sleep. While researchers are still learning about the effects of stress on sleep architecture, it seems that stress can reduce a type of sleep called slow-wave sleep. Slow-wave sleep is important for maintaining physical and mental health. Stress can also affect rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, although research has shown that REM sleep can increase or decrease during times of stress.
Night Awakening and Stress Dreams
Feeling stressed can cause people to wake up more frequently during the night. Stressful events can affect dreams. Some research suggests that stress can increase the frequency and severity of nightmares.
Insomnia is not the only sleep disorder related to stress. Sleep bruxism is a sleep disorder that involves grinding and clenching teeth during the night. Chronic stress and muscle tension can increase the risk of sleep bruxism. Fortunately, using healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress can reduce teeth grinding at night.
Tips to Reduce Stress
It may seem like something unimportant, but with this particular situation that arises with this pathology that affects sleep and rest, it is necessary to take into account, and with great relevance, the timely and appropriate use of sleepwear to facilitate rest. A set of pajamas for men is an ideal garment to start that journey towards the development of a therapy for improvement, derived from this situation of stress and sleep anxiety.
Having a plan to deal with stress can help prevent it from interfering with sleep. Undoubtedly, the appropriate clothing to assist in the search for a solution is a knit within this therapy.
As an important and highlighted recommendation, the disciplined use of a good pajama should be considered, clearly defining the design and appropriate material composition, according to the severity of the pathology in question.
The Relationship Between Anxiety and Sleep
Severe sleep disorders, including insomnia, have long been recognized as a common symptom of anxiety disorders. People who are plagued by worries often ruminate on their concerns in bed, and this nighttime anxiety can prevent them from falling asleep.
In fact, a state of mental hyperactivity, often marked by worry, has been identified as a key factor behind insomnia. People with anxiety disorders tend to have greater reactivity when sleeping, which means they are much more likely to have trouble sleeping when faced with stress.
Difficulties sleeping have been found in people with various types of anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder. In several studies, more than 90% of people with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder have reported symptoms of insomnia. The distress of falling asleep can complicate matters in itself, creating a sleep anxiety that reinforces a person's feelings of fear and worry. These negative thoughts about going to bed, a type of anticipatory anxiety, can create challenges for healthy sleep schedules and routines.
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