Signs of Toxic Stress
Toxic stress affects the body in many ways. Some toxic stress syndrome symptoms in adults to look out for include: High hormone activity — the body's “fight or flight” hormone, cortisol, elevates blood pressure and, over time, can lead to adverse changes in inflammation and immunity.
Toxic stress can increase health risks including heart disease, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders, substance misuse, and has long-lasting negative consequences for cognitive functioning, behavioral health, immune functioning, and physical health.
Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without adequate adult support.
We may feel toxic stress when we face strong, frequent, or prolonged challenges. These can include abuse, neglect, violence, or substance use in the home. These experiences can trigger our body's stress response. This response floods our body with "fight or flight" chemicals.
Examples of toxic stress can include abuse (physical, sexual, emotional), neglect (physical, emotional) and household dysfunction (parental mental illness, domestic violence, parental incarceration).
The good news is that when a person is no longer exposed to constant experiences of threat and toxic stress, the brain can rest and begin to rebuild itself in healthier ways. The brain is capable of healing itself.
Our brain shuts down as a protective response to keep us safe when our nervous system is overloaded,” he says. Initially, emotionally numbing is helpful, because it helps calm our overwhelmed minds. Over time, it can be harmful and lead to behaviors with serious consequences to our emotional and physical well-being.
Toxic stress results in prolonged activation of the stress response, with a failure of the body to recover fully. It differs from a normal stress response in that there is a lack of caregiver support, reassurance, or emotional attachments.
Toxic stress is of a different order to ordinary stress in that it is persistent and systemic, the child has no control over their situation and nothing they can do will make a difference, they are powerless to change the situation and it is a more or less permanent situation.
feel isolated — disinterested in the company of family and friends, or withdrawing from usual daily activities. feel overwhelmed — unable to concentrate or make decisions. be moody — feeling low or depression; feeling burnt out; emotional outbursts of uncontrollable anger, fear, helplessness or crying.
There are three stages to stress: the alarm stage, the resistance stage and the exhaustion stage.
Being under heavy stress shortens their life expectancy by 2.8 years. These results are based on a study in which researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare calculated the effects of multiple risk factors, including lifestyle-related ones, to the life expectancy of men and women.
Repeated or severe activation of stress hormones can increase levels of inflammation throughout the body which can then, over time, lead to damage to the heart and arteries. Toxic stress can even damage the immune system leading to a higher risk of infection or development of autoimmune diseases.
Chronic stress- The APA defines chronic stress as stress that is constant and persists over an extended period of time. It is the most harmful type of stress to our overall health.
The heart beats faster than normal, pushing blood to the muscles, heart, and other vital organs. Pulse rate and blood pressure go up. The person undergoing these changes also starts to breathe more rapidly. Small airways in the lungs open wide.
Some detox programs say that side effects like fatigue, headaches, nausea, and anxiety are because of toxins leaving the body. These are most likely caused by not eating enough calories. Stress from doing a detox may make eating problems, such as binging, worse.
Symptoms of toxicity can be varied and may include: poor circulation, swelling, headaches, migraines, stress, anxiety, depression, allergies, poor skin, yeast, arthritis, fatigue, constipation, obesity, cellulite, sinus issues, gout, digestive disorders, cold/respiratory disorders, insomnia, bloating, and gas.
Red flags indicating a potential problem include: changes in eating habits, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, significant mood changes including depression, anxiety, panic or anger, demonstrating violent behaviors or utilizing alcohol, marijuana or prescription drugs to deal with stress.