Generally curious..
In: Biology
Stress *is* physical.
Oh sure it can have a psychological cause, and colloquially those might be what the word is used for, but what it actually is is a heightened state of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the body’s fight or flight response.
High blood pressure is an intended feature of the sympathetic nervous system. It helps get blood to your muscles if you’re trying to outrun a lion.
Maintaining high blood pressure for months or years in a row isn’t great for your heart.
All the blood vessels going to your digestive system get partially shut off since really if you’re running away from a lion you don’t have time to worry about digestion right now. Do *that* for too long and your stomach lining might not be able to rebuild itself as fast as your stomach acid is dissolving it.
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