energy for the response to danger or stress. As the hormones are used up, a situation of exhaustion sets in and the body senses extreme fatigue and cannot resist any more stress. Long-term stress has deleterious effects on the body.
The hormones produced during the reaction to stress can have negative effects on organs throughout the body (Nathan, 2002). Their effects on the heart, lungs, and blood vessels can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, and asthma. Diabetes can develop from prolonged high blood sugars produced by the glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids also affect the immune system, causing people under prolonged stress to be more susceptible to colds, flu, and many other diseases. When the response to stress occurs, blood leaves the stomach and intestines and moves to the muscles to prepare them for action. This can have negative effects on the digestive system.
The effects on the cardiovascular system are the most important stress-related health effects (Phillips, 1989). These include angina pectoris, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and cerebral stroke. Coronary risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking and lack of exercise can also be due to stress, either directly or indirectly.
Nordstrom (2001) found that work-related stress increased susceptibility to atherosclerosis in males. Using a questionnaire and ultrasound studies, she examined 467 workers for stress, common carotid artery intimamedia thickening, and focal lesions in the common carotid artery and bifurcation. The prevalence of carotid lesions among men who scored in the highest stress quintile was 36 percent, but only 21 percent in men who scored in the lowest quintile. There was also an increase in intimamedia thickening in the highest quintile group compared to the lowest quintile group. These differences were not found in women su...