Background: A stress response is triggered by any physical or psychological stimulation that disturbs balance. Stressors are the stimuli, and the stress response is the physiological and behavioural changes that occur as a result of being exposed to them. Body systems such as the sympathetic-adreno-medulla (SAM), hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), and immunological systems are activated in reaction to stressful situations. It's an adaptability process that helps the body deal with challenges provided by an internal or external stressor. It has maladaptive and detrimental effects on the body's physiology when a stressor is too severe, frequent, or long-lasting (chronic stress). For example, persistent stress can create maladaptive reactions such as depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and heart disease.
Objective: Aim of the review article to give an overview about stress and its influences on life.
Methods: PubMed, Google scholar and Science direct were searched using the following keywords: Stress, Internal or external stressor, Chronic stress, Depression and Anxiety. The authors also screened references from the relevant literature, including all the identified studies and reviews, only the most recent or complete study was included between January 2001 and September 2021. Documents in a language apart from English have been excluded as sources for interpretation was not found. Papers apart from main scientific studies had been excluded: documents unavailable as total written text, conversation, conference abstract papers and dissertations.
Conclusion: Stress can cause headaches, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, skin diseases, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety, among other conditions.