While in a short burst, stress can be positive and may fuel you to carry out actions to yield positive results, a tension that lasts for a long time can harm your health. In this article, you will get to know how stress is affecting mental health and the body in the young generation.
Many healthcare professionals have identified stress as an actual health problem that needs to be dealt with vigilance and care. If stressors continue without any periods of relaxation, they can manifest themselves into physical ailments.
There is no denying that every single one of us in our lives has experienced stress and continues to do so in our daily lives.
According to a recent study by The Recovery Village, 75% of Americans experience moderate to high stress levels during the month, and stress itself is the #1 health concern for high school students.
While 80% of people feel stress at work, the American Institute of Stress proclaims that 77% of people experience stress that affects their physical health.
In light of this information, let’s look at some of how stress is affecting mental health and its physical impact on young generations.
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Anxiety
Young adults and teenagers have been observed to be extremely susceptible to experiencing anxiety from ages 13 years to 18 years old and those who are older. Unfortunately, many of these young ones often go undiagnosed, which can deteriorate their quality of life and experiences. Some prominent signs of anxiety in young people include:
- Displaying clingy behavior with family members and parents and consistent concern regarding their own safety and the safety of their family members.
- Excessive fear of things before they actually happen or worries about school, extracurricular activities, or peers.
- Irritability and inability to relax, inability to concentrate, becoming easily alarmed, shortness of breath, trouble sleeping, and complaints about physical problems like aches and muscle tension.
- Aches can include stomach aches, headaches, muscle aches, with the worst being crippling fear or inability to move or perform an action.
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Blood Pressure
The MedStar Washington Hospital Center recently published a study where they identified stress as a common factor in young patients suffering from high blood pressure.
In fact, stress has been noted to cause an unbelievable amount of damage to the body, resulting in the human body producing hormones that narrow the blood vessels. In return, this causes an increase in blood pressure as it causes the heart to work harder to pump blood.
High blood pressure is also known as hypertension, where the long-term force of blood against arteries is high enough to cause health problems such as heart diseases.
However, the most harrowing fact is that anyone can have high blood pressure for years without them knowing or finding any symptoms. This is why having checked your blood pressure by a professional on every visit must be carried out vigilantly.
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Emotional Disorders
In the field of PNI (psychoneuroimmunology), researchers have conducted studies understanding how the immune system and the nervous system communicate with each other.
While the field is relatively new, there is no doubt that the psychological consequences of stress and its influence on the immune and nervous system became evident early on during the studies.
In fact, many renowned and credible PNI types of research suggest that chronic stress can exacerbate mood disorders. This can include depression, bipolar disorder, cognitive thinking problems, personality changes, and the development of problematic behaviors.
Other than that, young people can also experience sadness, which is feeling down or the blues. This causes one difficulty in feeling pleasure or having little to no interest in doing things that one typically enjoys.
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Chest Pain
While feeling worried or nervous from time to time is quite normal for most people. However, an example of chest pain is sometimes a symptom of anxiety.
A heightened reaction or panic attack often causes this; however, it is an alarming concern as it can become a possible connection to heart attacks and other heart conditions. While chest pain associated with anxiety feels different for each person, some prominent factors include:
- An unusual muscle spasm or twitch in the chest, persistent ache in the chest, or sharp shooting pains.
- A tightening of the chest or tension in the chest region, feeling a stabbing pressure.
- Burning, a dull ache, or numbness in the chest region.
The question here is that if you don’t have a history of chest pain with anxiety, should I be alarmed? The answer is YES! Studies and researches have found that anxiety disorders were prevalent among people with (NSCP) nonspecific chest pains.
These aren’t the result of a cardiac event. However, you should definitely consult your doctor immediately.
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Frustration & Grief
In one of its studies, Michigan State University claims that identifying stress in young children can be difficult.
Changes in eating habits, crying, fussiness, fear of separation from guardians, and sleep disruption can be part of a child’s normal growth. However, sudden changes that persist or brand new ones can be a sign of a child experiencing stress.
Furthermore, Springer’s study was conducted to examine the difference in the psychological well-being of 270 Polish and 209 South Korean students.
This study tested how the severity of the depressive symptom between Polish and Korean students may be accounted for stress and sensitivity to frustration. It was found that adhering to general good-impression expectations caused students to be more stressed and sensitive to frustration.
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Headaches
Unfortunately, children can also develop different types of headaches like adults. These can include stress-related headaches (tensions), migraines, as well as daily headaches that can be chronic in nature. Children suffering from infections can also cause a high level of stress, anxiety, and even minor head trauma.
These are alarming signs, so they should never be treated lightly, and immediate help from professional doctors should be sought out without any unnecessary delays. Children suffer like adults.
However, while we are more adept at managing pain, they have lesser tolerance levels. Students who acquire essay editing service should also stay wary about their own stress levels, leading to headaches and migraines.
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Impaired Physical Activity
A study published by the US National Library of Medicine entitled “The Effects of Stress on Physical Activity” was published recently. The purpose of the study was to find how psychological stress and physical activity are reciprocally related.
The research paper concluded that out of 168 additional studies, all displayed to a varying extent that psychological stress in one way or another does predict less PA or behavioral inhibition.
Hence subjects found to be suffering from stress-related to lifestyle, life events, work-family conflicts, or job strain led to the adoption of sedentary lifestyles. Furthermore, a broader study of the majority of literature presented also showcased that stress indeed impairs efforts to be physically active.
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The Weakening of the Immune System
Chemical signals known as cytokines are released by immune cells that allow the immune network to communicate. However, cytokines have a variety of capabilities.
They can also increase the production of immune cells when needed and attract immune cells to an area to help fight off a foreign invader or even turn them off when they are not needed. Hence an imbalance of cytokines can very likely throw the entire immune system off balance.
This is where stress and hormonal response to stress can alter the delicate balance of the immune system’s ability to defend the body or become so reactive that it starts harming the body itself.
The immune system, however, starts to suffer only when the stress is prolonged. When that happens, various ailments within the body start emerging, such as colds and other health problems.
Conclusion
I hope all the aforementioned influence that stress has on the young ones might have caused you to consider early detection and treatment of these problems before the situation aggravates.
Hence it is ultimately vital to listen to our young ones and how their distress is affecting them. A reasonable and sensible person’s approach would be to seek out professional support.
It is also essential to know that this post is neither a complete nor an exhaustive list of problems that stress can cause for the youth. Health professionals and psychologists’ assistance with special training can help you identify issues before things get further complicated and go out of hand.
