How stress symptoms affect your body

Advice from Dr Dean Burnett

Dean explains how stress affects your body and what you can do to help:

• stress is the first stage of the fight-or-flight response
• stress releases cortisol, suppresses our immune system, interferes with our digestion and can alter our blood pressure
• stress makes us focus more on the negative and puts us in a more irritable state
• mindfulness, recognising and changing negative thought patterns, going outside and getting more exercise can reduce your stress levels