Discover the five major ways chronic stress damages your health—from elevated cortisol to addiction risk—and learn effective stress management strategies to protect your well-being.
Stress isn't just difficult to handle at the moment – chronic stress can have lasting negative effects on your overall health and wellness.
At Nugent Family Counseling, we're here to support you through stressful seasons like the holidays. Talk to a member of our team, led by Dr. Geoff Nugent.
Available through one of our locations in:
San Jose, CA
Los Gatos, CA
Reno, NV
Here are some of the negative health effects of stress you should know about as we send off the old year and prepare for the new one.
When you're stressed out, your body naturally reacts in "fight or flight" mode, increasing production of the stress hormone cortisol to help you react quickly to a sudden crisis.
In a crisis situation when you need to be able to react immediately, cortisol benefits you.
However, increased cortisol can also cause emotional and physical issues over the long run.
Living with chronic stress keeps your body under tension. As a result, you may suffer from frequent headaches.
Important Signals:
Common Expressions: When we're stressed, we talk about:
Those feelings aren't simply imaginary. Chronic stress can produce sensations of nausea and other digestive issues like diarrhea.
Stress during the day seems like it should earn you a good night's sleep. However, the reverse is often true.
Being under regular stress can interrupt your sleep, or leave you struggling with insomnia, as your body finds it difficult to shut down and relax fully.
People with chronically high stress levels are at risk of turning to self-medication with drugs and alcohol.
The Problem:
Stress can negatively impact your ability to make decisions. What seemed like a good idea at the time might have detrimental effects on:
Physical health
Personal relationships
Professional career
You don't have to suffer from the negative health and wellness impacts related to chronic stress. Get in touch with the team at Nugent Family Counseling for effective stress management support.
We provide comprehensive support including:
Strategies for handling stressful situations
Ways to rest, relax, and recover from chronic stress
To learn more about how we can help you avoid the negative health and personal consequences of chronic or acute stress...
Schedule your appointment over the phone today, or request an appointment with our online booking tool.
Learn to manage stress before it damages your health
Chronic stress isn't just uncomfortable—it damages your body through elevated cortisol (causing emotional and physical problems), frequent headaches (from constant tension), digestive issues (nausea and diarrhea), sleep disturbances (insomnia despite exhaustion), and increased addiction risk (poor decision-making leading to substance abuse). Professional stress management support provides strategies for handling stressful situations plus techniques to rest, relax, and recover.