Constant Worry Is Ruining Your Health: How Stress Disrupts Hormones and Memory

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): In today’s fast-paced world, life has become a relentless race where finding time for oneself feels like a luxury. The pressure of work, relationships, and future uncertainties has engulfed almost everyone, leading to chronic stress that silently damages both mind and body.

Health experts and Ayurveda practitioners agree when the mind is restless, the body slowly becomes a breeding ground for diseases. Excessive thinking or prolonged anxiety triggers the overproduction of cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone. While cortisol helps the body deal with immediate danger, continuously elevated levels disrupt the balance of other essential hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroid hormones.

This hormonal imbalance leads to rapid weight gain, particularly around the abdomen, and makes it extremely difficult to lose fat later. Over time, the body’s metabolism slows down, immunity weakens, and mental clarity begins to fade.

Stress also takes a severe toll on sleep patterns. Many people experience difficulty falling asleep, frequent night awakenings, or restlessness until late hours. Ayurveda explains that mental disturbances known as Manasik Doshas disrupt the body’s balance of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, affecting everything from digestion to deep sleep.

Constant anxiety leaves the brain and body drained of energy. Even after adequate rest, one feels exhausted, unmotivated, and sluggish throughout the day. The mind becomes foggy, memory weakens, focus diminishes, and decision-making becomes increasingly difficult. Ayurveda refers to this state as “Manovikara”, where both the mind and intellect fall into confusion and imbalance.

To overcome stress, one must first learn to understand and regulate the mind. Overthinking is not a solution, it is part of the problem. The key is to train the mind toward positive thinking and inner stability.

Ayurveda and modern science both recommend daily yoga, meditation, and pranayama to restore calm and hormonal balance. Practices like Surya Namaskar, Bhramari Pranayama, and Anulom-Vilom are known to soothe the nervous system and lower cortisol levels. Research also supports that regular meditation reduces stress hormones, enhances focus, and improves emotional well-being.

When the mind is steady, the body naturally regains its strength and harmony. True health, as Ayurveda teaches, begins not in the body but in a peaceful mind.