Stress leads to manifestations (may it be physical or mental) and may appear in varying ways and degrees on different people. It can make anyone irritable, overwhelmed, and anxious. It can also lead to difficulty in breathing, panic attacks, insomnia, dizziness, sweating, and more. For me, personally, stress comes in the form of being overwhelmed– there’s this surging feeling of panic that I feel when I am especially stressed. I also experience headaches and have trouble sleeping and concentrating. Additionally, and this might be something that many people could relate to, I find myself “eating the stress away” or stress eating– which eventually leads to weight gain. Upon learning about the endocrine system, I found out that clinical manifestations occur as a response to the level of stress. Glands related to stress might affect the production of other hormones, which results in the manifestations. The hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to produce a hormone which then signals the adrenal glands and so on. The feeling of anxiety, for example, is a result of increasing levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. The adrenaline, from adrenal glands, increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and slows down other bodily functions.
References:
American Psychological Association. (2018, November 1). Stress effects on the body. https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body.
Signs and symptoms of stress. Mind. (2022, March). https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/stress/signs-and-symptoms-of-stress/