We all experience some form of stress on a regular basis - that’s called being human. Our innate stress mechanisms keep us protected from threats, and some “good stress” can help us adapt and develop healthier routines.
Long-term stress is a different animal. Its damaging effects are not always obvious at first, but they can sneak up on us over time, and lead to a host of chronic conditions. Understanding the different types of stress can help prevent longer-term stress from taking its toll.
Temporary Stress
Short-term stress is part of life. Your Wi-Fi goes out right in the middle of an online meeting. A traffic jam makes you late for the airport. You have a disagreement with your child/parent/significant other/friend. Experts have broken down short-term or temporary stress into different categories, to help you identify the types of stress you may experience on a day-to-day basis.
- Anticipatory Stress: Worrying about an upcoming exam or big presentation
- Time Stress: Feeling time pressure, or having too much on your plate on any given day
- Situational Stress: Feeling upset when seeing the news
These types of stressors are fairly easy to neutralize, and it’s easy for your body and mind to recover and move on.
Long-Term Stress
When day-to-day stressors happen more frequently, or the sources of stress are more serious, the impacts of long-term stress can start to take hold. Long-term stress often begins to manifest as symptoms that can be explained away - like headaches, indigestion, or trouble sleeping. Over time, these symptoms can turn into more significant concerns:
- More frequent illnesses and infections: Long-term stress suppresses your immune system, making it harder to fight off illnesses.
- Cognitive decline: Lack of focus, memory loss, and cognitive impairments are attributed to long-term stress
- Digestive issues: Stress tends to land in people’s gastro-intestinal systems, triggering ulcers, gut inflammation, and heartburn
- Cardiovascular difficulties: Long-term stress can create chronic high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
The list goes on. There are few conditions that long-term stress isn’t linked to.
Combatting Long-Term Stress
When it comes to long-term stress, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Incorporating stress management techniques into your weekly routine, even when you don’t “feel stressed,” will help prevent the symptoms of long-term stress from sneaking up on you. We recommend the inflammation-fighting and calming effects of Premium Pure CBD as one easy way to keep stress at bay.
The good news is that ultimately, we’re in charge. While we can’t control all of the circumstances that might cause stress, we can prevent it from wreaking havoc on our health and happiness.
