If you’ve been looking for information about herpes from stress or cold sores from stress, you’ve come to the right place because by reading this article you’ll get tips on taking action to cure herpes forever and manage stress.
By reading the article you will learn the real cause of herpes is not stress, but a virus to which stress opens the door for it to act by weakening your immune system.
You will also learn about a protocol for the treatment of herpes developed by a British doctor. With this protocol you will eliminate the virus from your body.
As you apply herpes treatment, you can use stress management techniques developed by specialists that will help you manage tensions.
This article is divided into parts; you can read all of them or select the ones of most interest to you. I talk about stress in the first part and about herpes from stress and its treatment in the last part.
Which part do you want to read first? Click on its title |
What is stress? |
How many types of stress are there? |
What causes stress? |
What are the symptoms of stress in humans? |
Myths about stress |
How to manage stress? |
Treatments for herpes from stress |
Final notes about herpes from stress |
What is stress? [↑]
I will analyze in this part the origin of the word stress and the definition of this concept.
Origin of the word stress
The word stress has its origin in a writing error because it was used in substitution of the word strain which means fatigue in the context of mechanics.
Hans lived in a boarding house with mechanical engineering students. As he was not yet a good knowledge of the English language, he used the word stress instead of strain because that was the sound he heard when his housemates spoke of the effects of the strain on materials.
He wanted to use the word strain in medicine as a metaphor because he said the effects of permanent tensions on human beings are similar to the consequences of strain on materials.
Dr. Selye published a very important article in English using the word stress. After that this word was incorporated into the scientific language in the medical and psychological context and into the English language with its current meaning.
The definition of stress
American psychologist Andrew Baum of the American Psychological Association[2] defines stress as:
A negative emotional experience accompanied by biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes directed toward adaptation, either by manipulating the situation to alter the stressor or by accommodating its effects.
Stress is your body’s reaction to events that cause you tension, called stressful events or stressors. Although it is a negative emotional experience, sometimes this reaction is beneficial when you need to accomplish a task that requires concentration, but if the stress is prolonged in time, it will cause damage to your health.
How many types of stress are there? [↑]
Have you ever wondered how many types of stress there are? The answer to this question generates qualifiers of the word stress.
The types of stress are conceptualized on the basis of criteria (Table 1). According to their duration, three types are recognized: 1) acute stress, 2) episodic acute stress and 3) chronic stress.
If we take as criteria the activity that generates stress, we can identify the following types: 4) workplace stress and 5) academic stress.
Table 1: Types of stress according to different criteria | |
---|---|
Criterion | Type of stress |
Duration of stress | Acute stress, episodic acute stress and chronic stress. |
Cause of stress | Workplace stress, academic stress, school stress, student stress, post-traumatic stress, environmental stress, caloric stress, thermal stress, surgical stress and geopathic stress. |
Consequences of stress | Emotional stress, cognitive stress, physiological stress, mental stress, metabolic stress, muscular stress, nervous stress, ocular stress and psychological stress. |
Age of the stressed person | Child stress, adolescent stress, juvenile stress and geriatric stress. |
What is acute stress?
Acute stress is short-term stress that disappears quickly. It arises as your body’s response to everyday situations. You may feel acute stress when too much traffic hinders you from getting to work on time, or you feel pressure to deliver an order to a client.
Once the stress factor is not present, your acute stress disappears so this type of stress can be beneficial to you in controlling situations.
Acute stress does not usually have serious consequences for your health.
What is episodic acute stress?
If acute stress is repeated frequently in your life, you will experience episodic acute stress.
Episodic acute stress is characteristic of people who are always in a hurry and yet do not complete tasks on time or are late. They are usually people who assume many responsibilities and feel pressured to fulfill them.
What is chronic stress?
Chronic stress is permanent stress due to the existence of situations from which you cannot find a way out.
The adaptation of people to chronic stress is one of the characteristics that identify this type of stress. This adaptive attitude generates an emotional state that can lead to suicide and cause several illnesses including cancer.
If you are infected with the herpes simplex virus and suffer from chronic stress, it is very likely you will have periodic outbreaks of herpes from stress due to the weakening of your immune system.
If you are a smoker and suffer from chronic stress your smoking will increase which can cause you serious health problems.
Chronic stress can also lead to excessive consumption of beverages or foods causing obesity.
If you are overweight or want to avoid it, I recommend Chrissie Mitchell’s Favorite Food Diet program.
What is workplace stress?
Workplace stress or job stress is stress caused by situations that arise on the job such as an excessive burden of responsibilities, unsatisfactory work relationships, or an inadequate work environment.
One of the characteristics of workplace stress is its tendency to become chronic stress or at least episodic acute stress.
What is academic stress?
Academic stress is the stress caused by situations that occur in the study activity such as preparing for exams and submitting a thesis.
Students who do not usually study every day may suffer from academic stress because they become finalists and feel pressured by time to appropriate the knowledge and skills required by the study programmes.
What causes stress? [↑]
Although the situations that can generate stress vary from person to person, a set of events that often cause stress has been identified. These events or stressors have been grouped into two types.
The first type of possible causes of stress include so-called major stressful events such as: 1) the death of a close relative, 2) divorce or separation of the partner, 3) change of home, 4) separation of a child, 5) health problems of one’s own or a close relative, 6) marriage, 7) birth of a child, 8) loss of employment, 9) start or end of school and 10) retirement.
The second type of possible causes of stress are the so-called small events that make up a long list that includes situations such as: 1) arguments with your partner, 2) problems with your partner’s relatives, 3) displeasure with work, 4) overwhelming work responsibilities, 5) conflicts with your neighbors, 6) being rejected by people close to you and 7) proposing goals beyond your real possibilities.
What are the symptoms of stress in humans? [↑]
Here we talk about symptoms of stress in humans because animals also suffer from stress.
Symptoms depend on the type of stress.
Stress symptoms by type
Acute stress symptoms are: 1) emotional agony, 2) muscle problems, 3) stomach problems, or 4) transient overexcitation.
Acute episodic stress and chronic stress have more severe symptoms. Symptoms of episodic acute stress are: 1) prolonged overexcitement, 2) severe headaches, 3) migraine, 4) chest pain, or 5) high blood pressure.
Symptoms of chronic stress are: 1) excessive tiredness, 2) depression, 3) chest pain, 4) erectile dysfunction, 5) loss of sexual desire, 6) tremors and dizziness, 7) repeated recall of traumatic events, or 8) uncontrollable fear.
The symptoms of workplace stress and symptoms of academic stress are also well identified.
Diagnosis of stress
If you suffer from chronic stress, you may also have anxiety disorders because stress and anxiety are two very related states of tension: anxiety is one of the effects and symptoms of stress.
Stress is not a disease; it is a condition that requires timely diagnosis and attention. If not, it can cause illnesses, some of them serious.
If you want to make a stress diagnosis, take the symptoms into account, although you can have stress without symptoms because they can be camouflaged with medication. You may also have some of these symptoms and not suffer from stress.
The first thing you can do to diagnose your stress is to think if you’re under pressure from any of the stressful events I’ve mentioned in this article.
Can stress cause cold sores?
The answer to this question is based on the fact that the cause of herpes is a virus called herpes simplex. There are two types: herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2). When the immune system weakens, this virus becomes active and herpes outbreaks appear.
The virus remains in the body of infected people and is activated from time to time. When the virus becomes active, these people have a herpes outbreak and the virus will be present in the outbreak areas and in body fluids such as saliva and genital secretions.
Herpes simplex virus type 1 usually causes outbreaks in the upper body primarily on the mouth, face, and eyes, although it can also cause herpes on the genitals.
Herpes simplex virus type 2 causes outbreaks in the genitals and nearby areas; it can also affect the upper parts of the body, but less often than herpes simplex virus type 1.
The herpes simplex virus way of transmission is physical contact with infected people (hosts) when the virus is active or with objects that have been used by people with an outbreak.
The virus cannot remain active for long outside its host. For this reason, its transmission by contact with objects is only likely if we touch the objects immediately after being used by an infected person.
The herpes simplex virus can be activated when the immune system is weakened by the action of cortisol secreted by the adrenal glands due to stress.
Myths about stress [↑]
Myths about stress are characteristics attributed to stress that do not correspond to its true nature.
Each individual has a unique personality and the factors that cause tension in one person may not cause it in another. There are also individual differences in the reaction to factors that can cause stress.
Stress can be good or bad depending on how you handle it and how long you’re under stress.
Your body reacts to stress by sending hormones to the blood (e.g. cortisol and adrenaline) which usually cause an increase in the tension in your muscles, your concentration, your blood pressure and your pulses.
These reactions are good in the short term because they can help you take control of your stressful situation, but in the long term they can be harmful.
For this reason, the phrase zero-stress, which is usually used to express a favorable emotional situation, is not always an expression of good physical and mental health.
This myth is a false belief because you may be stressed and have no symptoms.
This myth leads to unhealthy attitudes because those who assume it neglect important secondary symptoms such as headache and heartburn.
In the following sections of this article I will mention other stress myths that are closely related to the topics I am going to discuss.
How to manage stress? [↑]
Stressful factors are everywhere and therefore we can do little to control them.
Have you ever heard this myth?
If we pay attention to this myth we should assume a conformist attitude according to which it does not make sense to look for an answer to the question referring to how to combat stress and anxiety.
Although this myth is assumed by many people affected by stress, there are those who assume other attitudes to situations that generate tension.
Attitudes that we consciously or unconsciously assume in stress management are called stress management approaches.
There are four approaches to stress management: 1) action-oriented approach, 2) emotion-oriented approach, 3) acceptance-oriented approach, and 4) adaptation-oriented approach.
The action-oriented approach is applicable when stressors can be changed. It is based on identifying these factors and modifying them.
The emotion-oriented approach is applicable when we cannot modify the stressors. It is based on identifying these factors and changing the way we handle emotions under the action of these factors.
The acceptance-oriented approach is applicable when we cannot change the stressors and emotions their action causes us. In this case we let the factors act and turn a blind eye, although in the short and long term this attitude can cause damage to our health.
The adaptive approach also applies when we cannot change the stressors or the emotions that cause us. It is based on adapting to the stressful situation in order to divert the action of the factors towards other people.
There are a variety of stress management techniques that are easy to apply. We recommend David Bonham-Carter’s book that explains these techniques with practical examples.
Treatments for herpes from stress [↑]
In this section I will talk about herpes and its relationship to stress and answer a number of frequently asked questions.
Herpes is treated using three main ways. The first way is based on fighting the virus directly, the second on fighting it indirectly by strengthening the immune system, and the third uses a combination of the two.
How to fight the herpes virus directly?
One of the most commonly used ways to fight the herpes virus directly is the use of systemic antiviral agents such as acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir, which are marketed in different presentations. The antiviral agent to be used depends on several factors including the area of the outbreak.
There are antivirals specifically used for herpes in the eyes, such as 0.15% ganciclovir gel or 1% trifluridine drops.
Another alternative to fighting the herpes virus directly is through the use of natural remedies.
Cold sores can be treated with the use of light-emitting devices that kill the virus at the site of the outbreak.
All of these herpes treatment options do not remove the virus from your body; they just decrease the time of the outbreak.
How to fight the herpes virus by strengthening the immune system?
There are several ways to strengthen your immune system to prevent herpes outbreaks. I recommend the following:
-
- If you’re a smoker, quit smoking.
- Eat fruits and vegetables in your diet and avoid saturated fats.
- Manage your stress.
- Control your body weight avoiding obesity.
- Avoid alcohol, or use it sparingly.
- Get at least 8 hours of sleep a day.
- Wash your hands frequently specifically before consuming food.
- Avoid eating moldy foods.
What is the best treatment for herpes?
The best treatment for herpes should directly fight the virus and also strengthen the immune system so that the body itself prevents outbreaks.
This protocol structures treatment in three stages and it is able to remove the herpes virus from your body.
The Ultimate Herpes Protocol is contained in a book; you can download it from its official website.
The book has been translated into French and Spanish.
If you are franco-speaker, you can download it from this link.
If you prefer to read it in Spanish, you can download the book in Spanish from this link.
Final notes about herpes from stress [↑]
Stress is a response of your body and mind to factors that cause tension. You must learn to manage stress because if it becomes chronic stress, it will cause very dangerous illnesses for your health.
Prolonged stress weakens your immune system, and if you’re infected with the herpes simplex virus, you could suffer herpes from stress.
When we say herpes caused by stress or cold sores caused by stress, we are hiding the true cause of herpes because stress is not the cause, but a trigger for herpes outbreaks.
The phrase herpes from stress indicates that stress is a trigger for herpes.
You may be going through the opposite situation: herpes is a factor that is causing your stress and anxiety. For this reason, if you eliminate the virus from your body, you will be able to lower the tensions that act on you and control stress.
If you’ve found this article about herpes from stress helpful, share it with your friends on social networks.
References:
1. ↑ Hans Selye. Wikipedia. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Selye
2. ↑ American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org
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