Six Ways Stress Can Affect Your Physical Health

 

 

Everyone experiences stress in their day-to-day life, but if one finds themselves constantly stressed out, this could lead to a variety of more serious physical health issues. Therefore, if one feels that they are experiencing lots of stress, they should seek help before it leads to some of the more serious physical health issues listed and discussed below.

 

 

1. Susceptibility to Infection

If one is experiencing a lot of stress in their life, the immune system is actually directly affected by being suppressed. Just like with anything else that suppresses the immune system, it can cause one to become vulnerable to most infections that could have usually been fought off with ease. If one already has an illness, large amounts of stress can prolong an illness that would have generally passed in a couple of days. If one is feeling stress and finds themselves undergoing an illness, being surrounded by both family and friends can offset some of the effects of the stress.

 

 

2. Heart Problems

The heart is one of the most vital organs of the human body. Without it, one cannot live. If one experiences large amounts of stress, one can actually find themselves experiencing a variety of different heart problems. Eating comfort foods is one way that people often cope with stress, but this can actually do more harm than good. Most comfort foods tend to have high fat and salt content, and this can be damaging to the heart.

 

 

3. Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease related to how the human body makes insulin. Some doctors believe that if one constantly experiences chronic stress, this could actually lead to insulin dependent diabetes. This is especially true for those that are already at risk of contracting diabetes.

 

 

4. High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a chronic disease and is extremely common, especially in people that live in the United States. Stress is known to increase blood pressure. Therefore, if one experiences chronic stress, it could lead to someone with high blood pressure problems developing anything from a stroke to actual heart failure.

 

 

5. Pain

Although stress in and of itself does not cause physical pain, it can actually aggravate pain conditions that already exist, through repetitive strain injury. According to a specialist from Brantford Mall Dental Office, chronic stress can also cause jaw clenching, which often leads to temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders.

 

 

6. Skin Problems

The most common skin problems that stress causes are acne and eczema. It has even been known to cause itchy skin rashes.

 

All in all, stress can cause a lot of different physical health issues, especially if one is experiencing chronic stress.

 

Categories: affect, blood pressure, chronic stress, comfort foods, experiences chronic, health issues, high blood, human body, mind and body, nbsp nbsp, physical health, Stress, ways

The Dangers of Having Unprotected Anal Sex

When people think about sexual wellness issues, such as STIs and STDs, they usually think about issues related to their wellbeing following on from vaginal intercourse or oral sex. It is true that most STDs are transmitted in this way, but there are some that can be transmitted via anal sex. This can be a devastating blow to people who choose to have anal sex as a way of avoiding the risks of unprotected sex.

 

In actual fact, some studies have now shown that STDs are more easily transmitted through anal sex rather than vaginal sex, because the skin of the anus is thinner than the skin of the vagina. The anus also offers no natural lubrication and therefore the skin is more prone to tears. These open tears or sores give any STDs (especially those like hepatitis or HIV) a direct route inside the human body.

 

Anal sex causes a certain level of trauma to the human body, and that can be a difficulty, especially when it comes to HIV.

 

You can catch every type of sexually transmitted disease that exists through having anal sex – including HIV, HPV (genital warts), herpes, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and hepatitis B. Not only can all of these STDs be easily transmitted through the thin skin that surrounds the anus, but the partner who penetrates the other during anal sex is at risk of getting a disease too, as the anus is a prime area where bacteria can propagate. Even if a condom is used, the risk remains because the sores of diseases such as genital warts and herpes can be present inside and outside of the anal opening, which makes contact with the infection far more likely. Anal herpes can even be transmitted when there are no active sores present.

Categories: anal, anal sex, anus, dangers, easily transmitted, genital warts, human body, Sex, skin, STDs, transmitted

Genuine Wellness Benefits of Spending Time in the Wilderness

We all know that an active, outdoorsy lifestyle is beneficial to your health from an exercise standpoint, but scientific research is increasingly suggesting that simply spending time in nature has health benefits as diverse as protecting against heart diseases, depression and even cancer.

 

Outdoor holiday specialist Salop has investigated the top theories surrounding the health benefits of nature and why we should be getting out of the office and into the country more often.

 

 

Sunlight

The benefits of sunlight have already been reported in areas like mental health, particularly for treating depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but sunlight can do so much more for the human body.

 

Earlier this year, scientists at the University of Colorado found that, on average, people on camping trips are exposed to around 400% more sunlight than during their working week.

 

Whilst this may seem like a trivial figure, sunlight has a plethora of benefits for the human body. Firstly, sunlight causes the body to create vitamin D, which medical science suggests is the best of the vitamin alphabet.

 

Whilst other vitamins are necessary for a healthy body, epidemiologic research shows that vitamin D may have properties that will contribute to protecting against stroke and heart disease.

 

Furthermore, exposure to natural rather than manmade light, greatly affects the quality of sleep we get. The aforementioned University of Colorado researchers measured a group of volunteers’ melatonin (the hormone that creates sleepiness) levels during their normal lives and during a camping trip.

 

During their lives in the city, melatonin levels in the bloodstream were high several hours after waking. However, after a few days camping and with limited access to manmade light the subjects’ melatonin levels became higher at night and lower in the morning. Melatonin levels were essentially synchronising with the rising and setting sun. To cap it off, the subjects reported feeling better rested than they had before the trip.

 

 

 

How Walks in the Country Could Prevent Cancer

Exciting research from the Nippon Medical School into the traditional Shinto practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, has suggested that spending time in nature increases the number of natural killer cells (NK) in the human body.

 

NK are the elite guard of the immune; these lymphocytes fight off the worst infections and diseases and have even been shown to battle effectively against cancer.

 

Researchers led a 12-strong group of volunteers (all male and of a similar age) on a three-day shinrin-yoku in the Japanese forestry. Their NK levels were measured each day of the trip and the results were quite remarkable.

 

Each subject’s NK levels had increased since they went on the trip and were highest towards the end of the trip. This study was repeated several times with different groups of men in different areas of Japan and the results were the same.  What’s more, the subjects’ NK levels remained consistently high for around a month after the trip had ended.

 

A dozen Japanese men had their NK levels taken during their normal workaday lives. They then had the same tests done twice during a three-day shinrin-yoku. The results were nothing short of astounding. Not only were the NK levels much higher than in the pre-forest walking sample but the levels remained consistently high for nearly a month after the trip had ended.

 

Japanese scientists are now working feverishly to ascertain exactly why this is the case, as the potential benefits to staving off infections are incredible.

 

Science may not have all the answers yet, but mother-nature has a fair few health and wellness secrets up her sleeves.

Categories: Benefits, body nbsp, consistently high, human body, melatonin levels, nbsp nbsp, nk levels, shinrin yoku, Spending Time, trip nbsp, Wellness, wildernes