Highly Variable People react to stress quite differently. What is stressful for one individual may not be stressful to another individual. Moreover, each individual has his or her optimal level of stress whereby too little or too much perceived stress degenerates into distressful reactions as seen in the U-shaped chart below. And distressful reactions can vary from anger, anxiety and depression to muscular tension, gastrointestinal disturbances, elevated blood pressure, rapid heartbeats, chest pains as well as a multitude of other symptoms. Continued high stress levels leads to increased risk for coronary disease, lower immune system response and for many, overeating.
Depression is often a major component of stress.
How Exercise Works Exercise provides the individual with a sense of control by simultaneously decreasing the individual's depression, anxiety and muscle tension. The exact neuro-chemical mechanism that accomplishes this is still unclear. It should last between 2 to 7 hours. And if you continue to exercise, you probably can sustain this reduced stress level over the length of your exercise program. This popular stress test enables you to determine your own stress level.