Stress Awareness Month: Impacts of Stress
In the last blog post we focused on the types of stress to set us up for today’s discussion about the impacts of stress. We covered acute, chronic, episodic acute, traumatic, environmental, psychological, and physiological stress. While going through the different types of stress was maybe not the most engaging reading, it did help bring a couple things to light, like how there is connection between the different types of stress. We saw this most clearly talking about physiological stress. Additionally, we covered the importance of stress and why we experience it as well as how, if it becomes chronic or traumatic, for example, can lead to lasting impacts. While we will cover more about the topic of what other factors, in conjunction with stress, determine how we respond to stress in a future post it is worth mentioning with a brief example here to keep us grounded. One study found a relationship between stress and cognition that was moderated by neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness (Zhu et al., 2022). The effects of neuroticism and agreeableness helped with modulating the adverse effects of short-term perceived stress on cognition, while conscientiousness lessened the adverse effect. So while reading the rest of this post remember, the picture is more complex. This just gives us the basics.
Physical Health
What physical health consequences can arise from chronic stress? (Dhabhar, 2018; Franklin et al., 2022; Roberts & Karatsoreos, 2021; Salleh, 2008; Yaribeygi et al., 2017; Zafar et al., 2021)
Headaches
Cardiovascular diseases (high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, superior plasma cortisol)
Muscle tension
Gastrointestinal problems (stomach upset, irritable bowel, ulcers)
Weakened immune system function
Metabolic issues like obesity
Accelerated cellular aging
Type 2 Diabetes
HPA Axis Dysfunction
Telomere Shortening
Inflammaging
And this is not an all inclusive list! There are many more potential health impacts that could be added to this list. Our stress response is designed to help us get through challenging times, but it is not designed to be turned on all the time. We can see the consequences of leaving our stress response turned on all the time, not just physically, but in other domains as well.
Mental and Emotional Health
Now let’s look at the mental and emotional health side of things. (Braund et al., 2019; Girotti et al., 2024; James et al., 2023; Lei et al., 2025; Malykhin et al., 2025; Yaribeygi et al., 2017)
Anxiety
Depression
Irritability
Lack of motivation
Cognitive impairment (memory problems)
Feeling overwhelmed
Structural brain changes (atrophy in the hippocampus, changes in synaptic terminals = reduced capacity for memory and emotional regulation)
Can contribute to neurological conditions
Emotional negativity bias
Increased risk of cognitive impairment
Again, this is not an all encompassing list. It is just to give you an idea of what stress can do to our mental health. At this point, we have the opportunity for a good reminder about the mind-body connection since we have talked about the physical and mental health consequences. Stress is a good example of how the mind and body are connected and both vulnerable to the impacts of stress.
Behavioral and Social Health
What about stress and our behavior and social engagement? Here we can also talk about the impacts of stress. And, chances are some of these may be showing up in your own life. (Cameron & Schoenfeld, 2018; Cotella et al., 2015; Girotti et al., 2024; McEwen, 2017; Radley et al., 2015; Sheth et al., 2017; Staicu & Cuţov, 2010)
Overeating or under-eating or utilization of comfort foods
Alcohol/tobacco misuse
Reduced exercise
Social withdrawal
Loss of interest in pleasurable activities
Impaired cognitive flexibility, decision-making, and working memory
Sleep loss
Adolescent behavior changes in anxiety-related and passive coping strategies
Irritability
Anger
This list could continue as well, but we will not continue this list any further because the idea is not to scare anyone. Rather, the idea here is that stress infiltrates many aspects of our lives, which means it is something that needs our attention. We are worth the time and effort when it comes to taking care of ourselves.
We spent much time in the last post talking about the different kinds of stress. Now we will come back to this point. There is a lot of overlap of impact between the different types of stress. Let’s look at environmental stress as our example. In one study they looked at air pollution, climate change, solar radiation, and meteorological conditions and their impact on different health outcomes, such as respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and gastrointestinal, renal and urogenital, neurological and psychological health, infectious and skin diseases, and major cancers, and let’s say the outcomes were not good (Sundas et al., 2024). Additionally, many of us experience many types of stress throughout our lives, which leads to cumulative impacts. For people who report high levels of cumulative stress in many different life domains and across time the negative impacts of daily stress are worse for their health (Haight et al., 2023). It’s time to take stress seriously. Do not wait. Today is the day.
A green, blue, and yellow neon swirl background. A black figure of person with their head down, shoulders slumped over, and two fingers touching while the rest of the fingers are folded into a fist.
take action today moment:
Today is the day! It is time to take stress seriously. If you read last week’s post and took the time to think about what type of stress is showing up in your life, now is the time to address the depth and manifestations of the stress in your life. Begin to put the picture together or puzzle pieces together. How is stress showing up in your life? Is there something you would like to address?
Learn More About the Types and Impact of Stress:
I’m So Stressed Out! Fact Sheet
Stress won’t go away? Maybe you are suffering from chronic stress
References
Braund, T. A., Palmer, D. M., Tillman, G., Hanna, H., & Gordon, E. (2019). Increased chronic stress predicts greater emotional negativity bias and poorer social skills but not cognitive functioning in healthy adults. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 32(4), 399–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2019.1598555
Cameron, H. A., & Schoenfeld, T. J. (2018). Behavioral and structural adaptations to stress. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 49, 106–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2018.02.002
Cotella, E. M., Gómez, A. S., Lemen, P., Chen, C., Fernández, G., Hansen, C., Herman, J. P., & Paglini, M. G. (2019). Long-term impact of chronic variable stress in adolescence versus adulthood. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 88, 303–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.08.003
Dhabhar F. S. (2018). The short-term stress response - Mother nature's mechanism for enhancing protection and performance under conditions of threat, challenge, and opportunity. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 49, 175–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2018.03.004
Franklin, B. A., Eijsvogels, T. M., Pandey, A., Quindry, J., & Toth, P. P. (2022). Physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiovascular health: A clinical practice statement of the ASPC Part I: Bioenergetics, contemporary physical activity recommendations, benefits, risks, extreme exercise regimens, potential maladaptations. American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 18(18), 9922. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189922
Girotti, M., Bulin, S. E., & Carreno, F. R. (2024). Effects of chronic stress on cognitive function - From neurobiology to intervention. Neurobiology of Stress, 33, 100670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2024.100670
Haight, B. L., Peddie, L., Crosswell, A. D., Hives, B. A., Almeida, D. M., & Puterman, E. (2023). Combined effects of cumulative stress and daily stressors on daily health. Health Psychology, 42(5), 325–334. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001281
James, K. A., Stromin, J. I., Steenkamp, N., & Combrinck, M. I. (2023). Understanding the relationships between physiological and psychosocial stress, cortisol and cognition. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 14, 1085950. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1085950
Lei, A. A., Phang, V. W. X., Lee, Y. Z., Kow, A. S. F., Tham, C. L., Ho, Y. C., & Lee, M. T. (2025). Chronic stress-associated depressive disorders: The impact of HPA axis dysregulation and neuroinflammation on the hippocampus-A mini review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(7), 2940. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26072940
Malykhin, N., Serrano, J., Pietrasik, W., & Hegadoren, K. (2025). Effects of duration and intensity of psychological stressors on mental health outcomes. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 187, 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.05.012
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Radley, J., Morilak, D., Viau, V., & Campeau, S. (2015). Chronic stress and brain plasticity: Mechanisms underlying adaptive and maladaptive changes and implications for stress-related CNS disorders. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 58, 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.06.018
Roberts, B. L., & Karatsoreos, I. N. (2021). Brain-body responses to chronic stress: A brief review. Faculty Reviews, 10, 83. https://doi.org/10.12703/r/10-83
Salleh M. R. (2008). Life event, stress and illness. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences. MJMS, 15(4), 9–18.
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Staicu, M. L., & Cuţov, M. (2010). Anger and health risk behaviors. Journal of Medicine and Life, 3(4), 372–375.
Sundas, A., Contreras, I., Mujahid, O., Beneyto, A., & Vehi, J. (2024). The effects of environmental factors on general human health: A scoping review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 12(21), 2123. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12212123
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Zhu, X., Yan, W., Lin, X., Que, J., Huang, Y., Zheng, H., ... & Chang, S. (2022). The effect of perceived stress on cognition is mediated by personality and the underlying neural mechanism. Translational Psychiatry, 12(1), 199. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01929-7