Stress is your body’s way of responding to any form of demand or threat imposed on it. When you feel threatened your nervous system responds by discharging a flow of stress hormones.
The final effect of stress can be either negative or positive in nature. Most importantly stress can affect your mind in so many ways and as you read through this article, you’ll find six ways stress can affect your mind:
1. Inability to concentrate
According to studies, the continuous presence of hormones secreted by stress in the body may alter the operations and structure of some parts of the nervous system. More specifically, stress hormones decrease the functioning of neurons in the frontal lobe (the part of the brain that is necessary for paying attention, filtering out irrelevant information, and using judgment to solve problems). As a result, you tend to experience confusion as well as having a difficulty concentrating, when you’re feeling stressed out.
2. Constant worrying
Constant worrying is one of the major effects derived from stress. When you are under stress, you’ll find yourself worrying and thinking more than usual. This is because there are a lot of stress hormones being secreted at that given instance and unless countered immediately, it will persist.
3. Personality Changes
The term personality is used to describe the consistent individual patterns of thoughts and behavior that defines you as a person across time and situations. As a result of stress, you’ll experience personality changes in response to stress hormones, which are part of their internal environment.
4. Depression
It is normal for you to experience a range of moods, both high and low, in everyday life. When stressed out, you are bound to fall into depressing feelings that persist and start interfering with your ability to complete daily activities.
Depression is also associated with an increase in suicidal thinking and actions thus making you more vulnerable to developing other mental disorders.
5. Poor judgment
Research has proven that Stress hormones decrease functioning in the part of the brain responsible for making judgments and observation about anything in general. Chances are, you’ll make poor judgments or decisions under a certain degree of stress unless countered.
6. Anxious and racing thoughts
Chronic activation of stress hormones can contribute to severe feelings of anxiety, feelings of helplessness and a sense of racing thoughts.
Stress is basically one of the human body’s defense mechanisms and it isn’t always all that bad; but when stress becomes overwhelming, it can alter your state of mind thus producing all the previously stated ways it can affect your mind.
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