1. Men and women cope with the mental effects of stress very differently.
Interestingly, men are much more susceptible to intense aggressive mental or emotional reactions to stress than women. The fight or flight instinct usually results in some sort fight, physical, emotional or otherwise, and internal conflicts take a lot of energy out of you. On the other hand, women live an average of 7 years longer than men and it's possible that the difference lies in their management of stress; behaviors like talking more and expressing emotions ease mental and emotional stress, and such behaviors generally come more naturally to women than to men.
2. Stress causes the brain to be extra-sensitive to pain.
While under prolonged stress, the brain sends messages to the body that the pain threshold needs to be lowered. Even though it could hurt more than usual, keep exercising. Make sure to postpone any activity that might be painful. Ironically, during the fight or flight response, you are less sensitive to pain but body can?t hold this position for long. Eventually, the opposite takes place.
3. The stress response in the brain means well.
Though the mental effects of stress are challenging, it may help to remember that the brain is actually trying to help. Once the stress response has been set off, the brain finds it difficult to get back to a normal place. The brain wants to take care of you so it keeps you ready to act until everything seems safe. Unfortunately, many of our lifestyles rarely offer long term safety from stressors so stress management is key.
4. The mental effects of stress slow down brain function.
When brain function slows, fatigue and a frustrating inability to concentrate often result. These conditions naturally lead to bad decisions and poor judgment and even more stress can come from related mishaps. Memory loss occurs because too much cortisol (stress hormone) prevents brain from accessing old memories and providing foundation for new ones and the anxiety related to stress causes our thoughts to jump around in an annoyingly fractured manner.
5. Excessive experiences with mental effects of stress can lead to serious mental illness.
The etiology, or the origins, of many long-term mental illnesses take psychotherapists, psychiatrists and psychologists back to a stressful time in the client or patient's life. Symptoms like paranoia and insecurity mark many stress-induced emotional disorders, thanks to the limbic system (the emotional part of our brain) dealing with excessive numbers of messages from the nervous system alerting the body to trouble.
