Stress: symptoms, effects, how to deal with it?

Stress disrupts the daily lives of millions of people and causes health consequences. Recognizing your symptoms allows you to adopt treatments to treat them. What are the causes?

Definition: what is stress?

Stress refers to the psychological mechanism implemented by the body to cope with a particularly trying situation or considered as such. Stress is a set of reactions of the body when it is subjected to external constraints. Stress can occur in response to any type of aggression, whether it is an infection, an organic pathology, an isolated symptom, or a psychiatric problem. This term is more often used in the sense of anxiety, anguish and thus relates to a rather psychological part.

What are the symptoms of stress?

•  Stress causes physical or psychosomatic symptoms, a third of which are linked to somatization:

                - Emotional manifestations such as irritability and aggression

                - Cognitive symptoms:

                  attention and memory problems, difficulty concentrating, mental
                  rumination. Certain disorders can also lead to addictive behaviors. Stress
                  can also 

• Stress leads to physiological problems such as:

               - digestive problems (ulcers, nausea, and vomiting are common digestive
                  symptoms caused by stress).

               - cardiovascular problems, such as an increase in heart rate accompanied

                 by this feeling of accelerated heartbeat, palpitations, high blood pressure,

                 or even an increase in bad cholesterol levels. - headache and migraine

                 attacks. Sometimes they manifest as hyperventilation (short, rapid

                 breathing), sweating, sweaty hands, bad breath, and diarrhea. Often,

                 episodes of stress cause insomnia and nightmares.

What are the causes of stress?

Stress can be caused by physical or sociopsychological factors (the most common cause) or by a genetic, viral, or parasitic disease. Stress causes an increase in heart rate and a decrease in blood glucose levels. The body responds by producing adrenaline which will supply oxygen to the muscles, as well as other hormones.

However, psychologists emphasize that "stress is not necessarily associated with anxiety-provoking reasons." It is possible to feel stress by worrying about missing a train or being late for an appointment. There is an imbalance between the individual's perception of the event. The presence of stress can affect anyone, sporadically or sometimes daily, becoming a real obstacle in daily life.

Stress is an “imbalance between an individual’s perception of an external constraint and the resources he or she has to cope with it.” The body then reacts to what it experiences, whether it is aggression or pressure. However, the psychologist emphasizes that: “Each individual reacts in a unique and adapted way to an event that they perceive as traumatic.” Stress is often associated with unresolved personal conflicts that lead to tension.

What are the differences between stress and anxiety?

Anxiety is a fear without an identified cause; the individual does not know what to relate this feeling to. Anxiety refers to multiple and recurring fears or worries linked to internal (lack of self-confidence, trauma) and external causes. These causes can be real or imaginary (anxiety linked to elements linked to reality, notion of personality trait, anxious dimension, outside of any stress factor). Stress, on the other hand, refers to worry linked to external causes (e.g.: financial problem, meeting with public speaking, etc.),” explain the experts.

What are the effects of stress?

A prolonged stressful situation can lead to psychological and physical exhaustion. Stress can be a triggering factor for various pathologies, such as cardiovascular diseases, eczema, migraines, etc. Stress caused by work is the leading cause of sick leave. The term burnout is often used. Stress causes an imbalance in the nervous system: it stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary and adrenal nervous systems. The sympathetic system, responsible for numerous activities independent of control, is then stimulated, causing a release of adrenaline, leading in particular to an increase in heart rate.

Stress can be temporary and occur in isolation; as it can also continue chronically and seriously hamper daily life.

What are the 3 phases of stress?

Stress corresponds to a set of body reactions that appear when the body is subjected to a sudden change in situation: it is called general adaptation syndrome.

According to the work of Hans Selye dating from 1975, there are 3 phases in the stress reaction: the alarm phase, the resistance phase and the exhaustion phase.

•  The alarm phase: The alarm reaction is the first phase of the stress process in the face of aggression, during which the first manifestations appear: short and accelerated breathing, increased heartbeat, and increased blood pressure. Lump in the throat or stomach, anxiety, anguish... These reactions are caused by the release of hormones, such as adrenaline, whose action time is a few minutes and whose function is to prepare the fast-acting body. The psychologist specifies that “this type of stress is qualified as acute (transient) stress as opposed to chronic stress (which is lasting)”

• The resistance phase: It corresponds to the second phase of the process of adaptation to stress. When the aggression (stressors) continues, the adaptation reaction causes the establishment of a process of resistance to the aggressive situation. This step, extending the first phase, will help protect the body from exhaustion by offsetting the energy expenditure caused to cope with stress. Other hormones, glucocorticoids, are secreted during this stage, allowing an increase in the blood sugar level necessary for the body, the heart, the brain and the muscles. During this phase, affected subjects adopt different behaviors: some prepare to face stress, others continue to live as if it did not exist by playing the policy of "burying their heads in the sand" or else avoid stress. situations that can provoke it, a model also called “flight to fight”.

• The exhaustion phase: The body, overwhelmed and constantly solicited by the stressful situation which continues and intensifies, no longer succeeds in mobilizing its resources and becomes exhausted. He can no longer cope with the attacks because of their intensity. The body breaks down, no longer able to cope with all these attacks. Psychic and biological reserves are exhausted. It is during this phase of exhaustion that certain pathologies can appear requiring the body to stop racing.

What treatments against stress?

The cause of stress must be identified and addressed. “If stressful situations persist and become dangerous for health (overwork, pressure, harassment), escaping from them is then the only solution to recover” confirms the psychologist. The practitioner also emphasizes the importance of consulting a professional. Cardiac coherence exercises, the practice of yoga, relaxation and sport are solutions to combat stress when it has not yet reached its critical level. There are also anti-stress medications such as anxiolytics when anxiety persists at too high a level for a prolonged period of time.

How to treat stress naturally?

• St. John's Wort is known for its antidepressant and calming properties. According to the European Medicines Agency, the traditional use of St. John's wort is recognized for its effect against temporary psychological exhaustion and tendencies towards mild and temporary depression. It also acts on anxiety, nervousness, stress, sleep and emotional balance. For stress-related sleep disorders, St. John's wort is generally consumed in the form of a flower decoction or capsules (dry extracts). In cases of depression caused by stress, St. John's Wort is recommended for greater effectiveness in the form of a mother tincture, drops or EPS (standardized plant extracts).

• Hops belong to the Cannabaceae family, it is an anti-stress plant. The female flowers of hops, its cones, are renowned for their soothing and sedative properties. They are taken in the form of herbal tea (bitter). The cones can be dried, then crushed, and taken as a capsule or liquid extract.

• With a pleasantly lemony taste, the flowers and leaves of lemon balm are traditionally consumed in the form of herbal tea, tincture, or liquid extract to concentrate their effects, to combat mental stress, overwork and nervous agitation. It is called “the plant of detachment” in the sense that it helps to let go and take a step back.

• Passionflower is traditionally used for its calming effects. It helps fight stress, soothes slightly anxious and nervous states. Passionflower is generally taken in the form of an infusion, but it is more effective and easier to dose in the form of an alcoholic extract (mother tincture).

• Valerian is recognized for its anxiolytic properties. It is recommended as a herbal tea for sleep disorders linked to stress. This sedative plant promotes the onset of sleep. Given the bitterness of the plant, it is rather recommended to consume it in capsule form. The decoction of its roots and the liquid extract of valerian are in fact renowned for being undrinkable.



• Escholtzia has calming, antispasmodic, and analgesic properties. It is particularly effective in the form of EPS (Standardized Plant Extract) when sleep is not restorative and stress causes nocturnal awakenings. Escholtzia can be administered in the form of herbal tea (aerial part of the flower), mother tincture (in drops) or liquid extract.


• Rhodiola, called "athletes' root", is a stimulant that helps fight anxiety, depression and manage fatigue generated by stress. The plant is more effective in the form of EPS (Standardized Plant Extract). • Mucuna is rich in L-Dopa, an amino acid used to fight Parkinson's disease, stress-related depression, and apathetic states. It is consumed in the form of herbal tea and standardized plant extract (EPS) to concentrate its effects, in order to reduce the effects of stress while maintaining a good psycho-physical balance. It is also used in this form to stimulate a libido annihilated by stress.

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