It's no secret that being stressed can leave you physically weak and mentally exhausted, too. The unfavorable effects of stress that you may encounter, sadly, can keep on going. Health experts say that poor management of stress can in fact trigger the development of various medical issues, many of which can be rather serious. Some examples are heart disease, cancer and diabetes. That is why it's a good idea for you to engage in a number of stress-busting pursuits on a regular basis. An effective way to lower your stress and fend off its numerous health complications is by signing up at the yoga loft Bethlehem residents pay a visit.

Whenever you're facing a really challenging task, stress hormones flood your bloodstream. That's okay because such makes it possible for you to do what needs to be done. However, it is a cause for alarm if for several weeks or months your body is flooded with stress hormones all the time.

Being stressed all the time causes the blood pressure to remain higher than 120/80 mmHg even while the person is at rest. Such is referred to by health authorities as hypertension, which is one of the various risk factors for heart disease. The World Health Organization or WHO confirms that majority of deaths all over the planet is due to heart disease.

Aside from hypertension, another known risk factor for heart disease that long-term stress can bring is high bad cholesterol levels. The problem with having too much bad cholesterol is that it can cause your arteries to become hardened and clogged. You don't want that to happen to your arteries because such can increase your risk of encountering either a heart attack or stroke.

Being stressed constantly is also known to cause elevated levels of sugar in the bloodstream. Doctors say that this is something that can pave the way for an incurable disease, and that's type 2 diabetes. Poor management of type 2 diabetes is known to lead to severe wound infections, leg amputation, nerve damage, kidney failure and heart disease.

There is another very serious health nightmare that long-term stress is known to bring, and it's none other than cancer. Such can be blamed on inflammation that a stressful life can cause. Scientists say that inflammation can have an unfavorable impact on the way cells behave, and some of them may ultimately develop into cancer.

Your mental well-being can be affected by stress, too. Leading a very stressful life is actually one of the reasons why anxiety is an epidemic these days. In some instances, excessive stress can lead to depression. A vicious cycle can strike because both anxiety and depression can aggravate your stress levels.

Needless to say, it's very important for an individual to keep his or her stress levels to a minimum. Doing yoga on a regular basis is one of the most effective stress-relieving activities out there. Aside from reducing stress, yoga is also known to encourage weight loss, strengthen the immune system, alleviate body aches and improve posture.