Stress is something almost everyone has, we’ve all felt it. From the idea of your grades, when its time to pay bills on time, to even working a job, there are so many factors to stress and that can affect you. But how is it effecting our mental health?

Stress can negatively affect your mental health by making things more difficult. Many life situations can cause stress. Everyone deals with stress differently than others. Stress is our body’s response to an event that is something new or unsuspecting, it can happen in many situations.  Our body produces hormones that trigger a flight or fight response and activates our immune system to help us respond to dangerous situations.

Lots of things can cause stress:

Divorce

Separation from your partner or anyone

Trying something new

A ride at the fair

or Grades!

Stress can come with the feeling of being sad, angry or aggressive, anxious, frustrated or depressed. Your body might react by starting off with a headache, becoming nauseous, being bloated or constipated, sweating, heart palpation’s and even aches and pains. Stress is totally normal and you shouldn’t feel ashamed because a certain situation stresses or stressed you out, everyone experiences some sort of stress in their life.

According to The Mental Health Foundation, people who are more likely to experience some sort of stress are: people who are in debt, or financial insecurity, people who are in LGBTQIA+ due to the thought of prejudice or discrimination, and people who have disabilities or long-term health conditions. You might think to yourself: How might I help myself when I’m stressed? You can think about many things such as being aware, trying to change the situation and being more critic. Also being mindful. If in any moment, your stress starts to get worse, you could seek out and get professional help. Again, you shouldn’t be ashamed of being stressed in any situation, its common.

Stress can affect your mental health by causing depression and just burning out your body and making you tired. Stress can also affect your physical health by making daily tasks tiring and doing the things you enjoyed tiring as well. Stress is something that should be taken seriously and should not be ignored. There are 3 main types of stress: brief, chronic and acute stress. Out of all, chronic is one of the worst. Chronic stress is the type that is persistent and is really harmful to the health of your body. That’s why its important to try and ease stress you have so that you don’t develop something long-term.