For many of us, stress and anxiety have become so much a part of our daily experience that we fail to notice its harmful effects. It can build up gradually over days, weeks and months until eventually, we recognize symptoms of emotional or behavioral disturbance. There are both physical and cognitive effects of stress. Physical effects include tight muscles, rapid and shallow breathing, increased blood pressure and heart rate , adrenaline secretion and sweating.
Cognitive effects can include difficulty concentrating and memory problems.
Anxiety can be a disorder in its own right in the form of psychophysiological disorders, phobias and panic attacks. It is also the engine, or driving force behind such disorders as self medicating by substance abuse, performance of obsessive compulsive rituals, domestic violence, and eating disorders. It is useful to think of ourselves as having a range of reactions to stress at its various levels. At the very lowest levels of stress we might feel peaceful and relaxed, although if we spend too much time at these low levels we might find that we are not challenging ourselves and we might not be productive. At the highest stress levels we might be dysfunctional as the excess tension and energy is channeled into symptoms, as mentioned above.