CURTIS BOVEE
STAFF WRITER

In America, stress is incredibly common and, should you give it the opportunity, can consume your life.

The physical and mental repercussions resulting from stress aren’t worth it.

The stress response in animals is nothing short of amazing. It prepares them to either defend themselves or flee from a dangerous situation by utilizing a number of mechanisms before conscious awareness of the threat. These mechanisms include increasing blood flow to muscles via blood pressure and heart rate, increasing the field of vision, and increasing perspiration to control body temperature. If you ever needed to flee from a stray pitbull, this response would be necessary. Clearly, this response isn’t needed every time stress occurs.

The American Institute of Stress (AIS) lists 50 common signs and symptoms of stress on its website. Stress can cause anything from chest pain to forgetfulness to all sorts of psychological problems. In essence, stress creates mayhem inside the body. It is especially important as a college student to reduce or control what is stressful. Included by the AIS under signs and symptoms of stress are headaches, depression, insomnia, disorganization and difficulty learning new information, all of which are detrimental to school productivity.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the top causes of stress in America include money, work and the economy. In a financially driven society, these stressors are going to exist for a long time, directly impacting the prevalence of chronic stress in America.

Chronic stress is the more extreme and long-term repercussion of stress and has serious health effects. Chronic stress causes hypertension, creating an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, cerebral vascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases. As stated by the AIS, 43 percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress, and 75 – 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or disorders.

Placing an emphasis on controlling and managing stress will not only enable improved performance in school, but it will ultimately promote a longer, healthier life.