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Does stress itself cause poor health, or does stress cause high blood pressure and unhealthy habits, which cause poor health? (monyet.cc)

submitted 1 year ago by Uno@monyet.cc to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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title. I feel like you always hear stuff to the liking of "high stress leads to poor health," but I am kind of wondering exactly why this occurs.

For instance, it's said that stress can cause:

Aches and pains.
Chest pain or a feeling like your heart is racing.
Exhaustion or trouble sleeping.
Headaches, dizziness or shaking.
High blood pressure.
Muscle tension or jaw clenching.
Stomach or digestive problems.
Trouble having sex.
Weak immune system.

Imagine, hypothetically, that I were to have a high stress life, but still had good sleep, low blood pressure, and a slow heart rate, while also staying away from unhealthy habits like drinking or addiction.

Would my health still be worse than a person who lives an equivalent, but less stressful life than me?

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[–] halfempty@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stress causes the body to release high levels of cortisol, which can have various harmful effects throughout the body if at high levels persistently. For example, I have Central Serous Retinopathy due to high cortisol, and have been advised by my Ophthalmologist to reduce my level of stress.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

You’re lucky your ophthalmologist has a model of causation for this stuff.

I had a vitreous degeneration in both eyes. It must have been caused by something but when I asked my eye doctor his response was “this happens in X% of people”.

Like his entire knowledge of the disease’s etiology is “it’s probabilistic”. He didn’t seem to understand what I was asking when I asked for risk factors.

Doesn’t inspire much confidence.