Stress and Its Effects on the Human Body

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Stress and Its Effects on the Human Body [Name] [University] Abstract Stress has many negative effects on the human body. While stress is well-known for causing physical bodily harm, this paper will discuss its potential to cause psychological, cognitive, and even social harms. It would no doubt benefit people to be aware of these dangerous stress-related risks. The purpose of this paper is to teach useful knowledge that may enable people to prevent such stress along with the dangers that accompany it. Through such teaching, people can also learn how to cope and relieve already-existing stress. This paper will discuss various types of stress and how each one affects us in specific ways. One of the key dangers it will focus on is the hindrance of memory retrieval due to high amounts of stress. This not only affects people cognitively, but this can also affect them in social situations. Anticipatory stress is another factor this paper will focus on as it reduces one’s decision-making ability. Regarding the link between stress and its effects on the body, researchers have discovered a peptide located in the brain called orexin (hypocretin) that, with proper testing, could soon provide a treatment for stress and depression. Researchers began studying orexin further when they discovered the substantial link between the systems affected by stress and those affected by the orexin system. “The relationship between orexin and stress is noteworthy, given that chronic stress is a reliable predictor of depression, and may be necessary for establishment of the disorder.” (Arendt, 2013). Stress serves as an activator to orexin neurons in the hypothalamus, but orexinergic receptors are located throughout the brain. Stress is inhibited and depression is potentially limited by proper functioning of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, but when these areas of the
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