Question

1 page paper about physiological and psychological stress indicators

Answer 1

Stress is the emotional, mental, or physical response caused due to a threat, challenge, or any demanding circumstances. It is a homeostatic or biological response to adverse circumstances, which has various physiological and psychological indicators or signs. Any demanding circumstance could cause various levels of stress, which has a different set of indicators. These indicators often show how worse a person's stress level is. Chronic stress leads to severe mental and physical illnesses and could even lead to death. It is a natural reaction to adversities and is often controlled with stress management techniques. These indicators result from the fight or flight response caused due to stress.

Physiological stress indicators are the physical signs that show that a person is stressed. There are many physiological signs like increased heart rate, increased respiration, low energy, and increased levels of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Increased respiration helps to get more oxygen into the blood and expel more CO2 from the blood from increased muscle work. Increased peripheral vasoconstriction is another sign of fight or flight stress response. People often experience headaches, upset stomach, aches/pains, stiff muscles, frequent colds and infections, loss of sexual desire, insomnia, etc. Upset stomach indicators include diarrhea, constipation, and nausea. More serious indicators like chest pain and even heart attack leading to death could occur with chronic stress.

Psychological stress indicators include depression and anxiety. This happens as the brain stops making and responding to serotonin due to stress, which makes one feel gloomy. This results from the 'flight' or running away aspect of stress. Chronic stress causes major depression. People with no or less coping skills have more psychological stress indicators. Varying levels of irritability, anger, restlessness, etc., the behavioral indicators of stress, can be seen with different stress levels. Anger results from the 'fight' aspect of stress. Another indicator is feeling less motivated, less focused, and overwhelmed. When stressed people tend to sleep less or sleep too much. Racing thoughts, constant worry, memory issues, and making bad decisions are all psychological indicators of stress.