Be cool, relax; your health depends on it.  Not only does stress reduce your productivity and effectiveness on a day to day basis, but it also has lasting effects on your body as well.  This is what’s going on inside when you allow outside circumstances to stress you out:

Step One: A stress response starts in the brain- when the brain detects a threat, a number of structures, including the hypothalamus, amygdale and pituitary gland, are on alert.  They exchange information with one another and then send signaling hormones and nerve impulses to the rest of the body to prepare to fight or flee.

Step Two:The body unleashes a flood of hormones- adrenal glands react to the alert and release adrenaline, which makes the heart pump faster and the lungs work harder to flood the body with oxygen.  The adrenal glands also release extra cortisol and other glucocorticoids, which help your body convert sugars into energy.  Nerve cells release norepinephrine, which tenses the muscles and sharpens the senses to prepare for action.

Step Three: These hormones can cause significant damage- When the threat passes, epinephrine and norepinephrine levels drop, but it danger comes too often, they can damage the arteries.  Chronic low-level stress keeps the glucocorticoids in circulation, leading to a weakened immune system, loss of bone mass, suppression of the reproductive system and memory problems.

source: Time Magazine


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