The ethics behind diseases caused by chronic stress: It is not the same for us all!

Stress is a physical response of the body when it believes that it is under attack, at which point the body is moving into a “fight or flight” state resulting in the release of hormones like adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine to help the body escape danger (“What is stress?”, n.d.).  The two major forms of stress are acute stress, an adaptive response occurring for short periods of time, and chronic stress, a maladaptive response that carries on for a prolonged time and can lead to disease (American Psychological Association, n.d.). 

In all individuals, chronic stress is known to be disrupting to all your body’s processes due to overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones, and this continuous disruption of the body’s processes is what leads to an increased risk of disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, diabetes, etc. (“Chronic stress puts your health at risk”, 2016).   Forty-three percent of all adults suffer from adverse health effects, costing America $300 billion annually (“The effects of stress on your body”, n.d.).  However, when you continue to break down this general statistic there is an alarming connection between socioeconomic status and ethnic minorities suffering more stress-related health consequences in comparison to the white American (APA, n.d.; Bulatao, 1970).

Individuals of ethnic minorities and lower socioeconomic status have additional stress in their lives including perceived discrimination, acculturative stress, environmental and neighborhood stress, and socioeconomic, daily, and family stress (APA, n.d.).  Perceived stress is the stress that accompanies experiencing daily racism and discrimination, and acculturative stress stems from the tension and anxiety that is felt when trying to adapt to the dominant culture’s orientation and values (APA, n.d.).  Environmental and neighborhood stress is stress associated with living in more dangerous and polluted neighborhoods, and the socioeconomic, daily, and family stress comes from the stress of being impoverished, having a lower social position, and poor family functioning (APA, n.d.). 

This means that you are more likely to suffer from a chronic disease just because you are poor or a person of color with, a lot of the time, socioeconomic status being tied to ethnicity creating compounding effects, and that is just a social injustice that should raise extreme concern. We should be critically thinking about how we have let this happen and the ways in which we can combat health disparities that should not exist.  

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Fact Sheet: Health Disparities and Stress. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from

                  http://www.apa.org/topics/health-disparities/fact-sheet-stress.aspx

Bulatao, R. A. (1970, January 01). Stress. Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK24685/

Chronic stress puts your health at risk. (2016, April 21). Retrieved December 03, 2017, from

                  https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037

The Effects of Stress on Your Body. (n.d.). Retrieved December 03, 2017, from https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-

                  management/effects-of-stress-on-your-body

What Is Stress? (n.d.). Retrieved December 03, 2017, from http://www.stress.org.uk/what-is-stress/