Stress: What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | Causes | Symptoms

Let’s talk about what stress is. To make a very long story short (and believe us, it’s long), stress can be loosely defined as a situation that triggers a particular biological response from your body.

In most cases, we feel stressed when our bodies perceive a threat, which in turn activates our fight-or-flight responses through Stress Hormones to either combat the danger or run away from it.

Whether or not you’re not going to brawl, stress isn’t always bad. Really. Short doses of stress keep your body active, focused, and happy.

The adverse side effects that scare people start showing when a person is stressed for an extended period without any relief

How Stress Hormones Like Adrenaline Work:

When you perceive danger or a threat, the hypothalamus, found at the base of your brain, jumps into action.

It sends hormone signals to your adrenal glands, which in turn release the fight-or-flight hormones, which are supposed to help you fend off danger. The adrenal glands release two main stress hormones:

Adrenaline: The Fight or Flight Hormone

Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, is the primary hormone released in dangerous situations.

It helps your body react quickly to threats, raises your Normal Pulse rate, and propels your body to make sugar for fuel.

That being said, though, you can start seeing adverse side effects if your body experiences adrenaline surges too frequently.

Results can be both mental and physical, with common problems being:

• Insomnia : The name given to a mental disorder that can prevent you from sleeping by causing restlessness.

• Obesity : Continued pressure from stressors can result in eating disorders that lead to heavyweight gain

• Hypertension : Hypertension comes from continued nutritional and mental stress.

• Shortness of Breath : If your heart is beating too fast, which you can deduce from your pulse being above the Normal Pulse rate, it might not pump blood to all parts of your body.

• Heart Attack Symptoms : High amounts of adrenaline produced can result in heart attack symptoms or even a severe medical condition known as Broken Heart Syndrome.

Cortisol: High-Stress Hormone:

Cortisol, another one of the stress hormones released when your body perceives a threat, has a different focus than adrenaline.

It also rushes healing substances in your body that help with tissue repair and inhibits brain functions that aren’t necessary for dealing with an immediate physical danger. 

Like adrenaline, cortisol can save your life in a dangerous situation or even help you save somebody else’s life.

But again, just like adrenaline, there are various side effects to your cortisol levels staying too high for too long, like:

• Sleep Problems : If you’re worried about something that will happen tomorrow or thinking about an incident that already happened, your body might perceive it as a genuine threat. This causes sleeplessness, along with more severe sleeping problems down the line.

• Lack of Energy : This doesn’t need an explanation, does it? Since you can’t rest properly, you don’t get the energy you need to go about your daily activities.

• Type II Diabetes : Cortisol massively increases glucose levels in your bloodstream, which in turn raises the chances of contracting type II diabetes

• Mental Cloudiness : As good as cortisol might be, it’s imperative to manage your cortisol levels. Otherwise, mental cloudiness and memory problems will be just two of the many mental effects you’ll be suffering from.

Different Types of Stress: Differences in Sources and Periods

Lots of different categories categorize stress. Over time though, the most commonly accepted form has been measuring how often that type of stress affects a person. Following that rationale, there are three types of stress:

1. Acute Stress :

Acute stress is the body’s immediate reaction to a perceived or real threat. The threat could be anything, from a particularly challenging school test to a roller coaster ride or even a car crash.

If you narrowly miss being hit by a car, that rush you feel can be categorized as Acute Stress. 

Let’s get something out of the way: Acute Stress is not all bad. In fact, in most threatening situations, Acute Stress will prove helpful in saving your life.

The side effects of incidents of Acute Stress can include:

• Emotional Distress
• Rapid Heartbeat Far Above the normal heart rate
• Muscle Tension
• Pulse Above the Normal Pulse rate
• Headache and Back Pain
• Raised Blood Pressure
• Heart Attack Symptoms

Severe Acute Stress is a different story altogether. Incidents of Severe Acute Stress are usually life-defining incidents, like being kidnapped, tortured, seeing combat during military deployment, or other traumatic incidents.

People suffering from Severe Acute Stress have a chance of developing PTSD, a mental health problem that can severely inhibit your life

2. Episodic Acute Stress :

In simple words, Episodic Acute Stress refers to cases where a person keeps experiencing incidents of Acute Stress or even just anxiously worries about something. 

People working in high-tensions professions also experience Episodic Acute Stress due to the shocking things they often have to see or deal with.

Police patrolmen, detectives, firefighters, and military personnel deployed in active regions are good examples of high-tension professions, which is why Stress Relief procedures are always advised for these jobs.

Episodic Acute Stress makes people feel like their life is chaotic and usually makes people latch onto any source of stability in their life.

This is harmful in its way since it can make you very clingy to significant others or your family. This type of stress can have lots of side effects, which can include:

• Irritability : When you keep experiencing stressful situations, it’s not surprising that you’d be irritated or cranky the entire day

• Unintended Hostility : Irritability and being stressed out can make you hostile to people who’ve done nothing to deserve it, harming both your professional and personal relationships.

3. Chronic Stress :

It is one of the worst types of stress. Chronic stress refers to cases where you’re stressed out for significantly extended periods.

It’s the long-term version of Episodic Acute Stress, stretching for years and years.Among the different types of stress, Chronic Stress has the worst side effects, with some commonly seen consequences of having it being:

• Anxiety
• Cardiovascular Disease from an elevated normal heart rate
• Depression
• Weak Immune System
• Headaches
• Sleeping Problems

The Looming Threat of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

PTSD, which stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a psychiatric disorder and stands today as one of the worst mental side effects of intensely traumatic situations.

An estimated 1 out of 11 people are diagnosed with PTSD every year, with women having almost twice the chance of developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD has always been a thing, having been known as ‘shell shock’ or ‘combat fatigue’ among soldiers in the past.

The thing is, though, active deployment of military personnel isn’t the only source of Post

Traumatic Stress Disorder: It can be caused by any traumatic situation, like being kidnapped, living through a natural disaster, or even very narrowly escaping a horrible traffic accident. 

What Are the Symptoms of PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder comes with a rap sheet of side effects that can make life hell for anybody. Commonly, you’ll see mental side effects like:

1. Avoidance:

People who have PTSD will actively avoid reminders of the incident that caused it in the first place.

They can begin avoiding people, places, or even activities that remind them of the traumatic incident.

Their hesitance to talk about the event itself also presents a significant problem when trying to treat them

2. Intrusion :

The victims are constantly plagued by intrusive thoughts like disturbing memories and flashbacks of the traumatic event. Sometimes, dreams and flashbacks can make them feel like they’re reliving the event

3. Changes in Cognition, Behavior, and Reactivity :

Suffering the effects of PTSD changes the way a person perceives things. They might wrongly blame other people for the traumatic incident or even feel a sudden loss of self-confidence.

These changes can also manifest themselves as angry or destructive outbursts. A lot of the time, these outbursts will be very self violent as well.

Stress Relief In the Modern Age

Lowering Your Cortisol Levels Naturally: 5 Quick Steps

The stress hormone cortisol is meant to save your life, but in many cases, high cortisol levels can result in dramatically increased stress levels.

Weight gain, blood pressure, diabetes, low energy levels, and insomnia are just some of the many effects of high cortisol levels and different types of stress.

To lower your cortisol levels, introduce  Stress Relief changes into your life that change your lifestyle for the better. Here are some recommendations to help you do just that:

Get Enough Sleep : Insufficient amounts of sleep, along with sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea, are some of the leading causes of high cortisol today.

Have a regular bedtime routine, and stay away from nicotine and alcohol, both of which prevent sleep.

Maintain Healthy Relationships : You could be the most introverted person in the world, and yet, humans are social animals.

Whether it’s friends, family, or a loved significant other, maintaining a healthy relationship introduces a much-needed sense of stability into your life.

Improve Your Opinion of Yourself : Feelings of shame, inadequacy, or inferiority contribute to mental stress and cortisol levels.

Learning to forgive yourself and others is a considerable step towards improving your mental stability and opinion of yourself

Spread Out Your Diet : Unhealthy foods, like oil and processed food, will raise your heart rate above the normal heart rate, making you more prone to heart attacks and strokes.

In addition, it’s also advised to avoid foods that increase cortisol levels, like sugar products.

Exercise Daily : Exercising is an excellent solution for Stress Relief. Jogging, lifting, and rope-jumping, combined with meditation or yoga, can keep you mentally and physically healthy for years!

Conclusion: Can Stress Affect Me While I’m Physically Fit?

While the Internet and international multimedia have gone a long way towards increasing awareness of stress worldwide, they’ve also spread a fair bit of misinformation about it.

Many people seem to think that they won’t feel the effects of stress if they’re physically fit, which is… kind of wrong and right at the same time.

Firstly, yes, exercise helps a lot in stress relief. A workout routine can relieve both mental and physical stress on your body and help you sweat out the various pollutants that your skin absorbs over the day. 

However, being in good shape will go a long, long way towards ensuring that you’re equipped to deal with the side effects of different types of stress.

For example, good physical fitness massively decreases the chances of a stressful incident resulting in a heart attack.

Wish You A Good Health!