--- title: This is Your Body on Stress description: A new study shows stress came harm self control. Here's what it does to the rest of your body. canonical: https://time.com/4000295/this-graphic-shows-what-stress-does-to-your-body/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-17T15:57:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:07.781Z article:section: Health og:title: This Graphic Shows What Stress Does to Your Body og:description: Your sex life, your stomach and your self control all take a hit og:url: https://time.com/4000295/this-graphic-shows-what-stress-does-to-your-body/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Graphic Shows What Stress Does to Your Body twitter:description: Your sex life, your stomach and your self control all take a hit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Graphic Shows What Stress Does to Your Body > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: How Dogs Help Veterans Cope With Post-Traumatic Stress [Watch (HLS stream): How Dogs Help Veterans Cope With Post-Traumatic Stress](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8gW0ZGsw.m3u8) (5:11)  _Published 2010-11-11. Struggling with post-traumatic stress, veteran David Sharpe says he found a dog at a shelter that saved his life. Now, with a group called P2V, he pairs other vets with rescued pets._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) and [Heather Jones](https://time.com/author/heather-jones/) Aug 17, 2015 3:57 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) and [Heather Jones](https://time.com/author/heather-jones/) Aug 17, 2015 3:57 PM UTC Americans need to relax. Over 40% of people in the U.S. say they are not doing enough to manage their stress, and the consequences of that could lead to all sorts of health-related problems. A [recent study](http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273%2815%2900627-3?%5FreturnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627315006273%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) published in the journal _Neuron_ showed people who are stressed have more difficulty with self-control and are more likely to choose to eat unhealthy food. If you’re like many Americans, you often be stressed about work and money, but there are good reasons to take time out of your day to relax. Here’s some examples of how stress affects your entire body.  Heather Jones ### 5 Horrible Habits You Need to Stop Right Now  Do Not Email First Thing in the Morning or Last Thing at Night “The former scrambles your priorities and all your plans for the day and the latter just gives you insomnia,” says Ferriss, who insists “email can wait until 10am” or after you check off at least one substantive to-do list item. Chris Pecoraro—Getty Images  Do Not Agree to Meetings or Calls With No Clear Agenda or End Time “If the desired outcome is defined clearly… and there’s an agenda listing topics–questions to cover–no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes,” claims Ferriss, so “request them in advance so you can ‘best prepare and make good use of our time together.'” Sam Edwards—Getty Images/Caiaimage  Do Not Check Email Constantly Batch it and check it only periodically at set times (Ferriss goes for twice a day). Your inbox is analogous to a cocaine pellet dispenser, says Ferriss. Don’t be an addict. Tools like strategic use of the auto responder and Boomerang can help. Jetta Productions—Getty Images  Do Not Carry a Digital Leash 24/7 At least one day a week leave you smartphone somewhere where you can’t get easy access to it. If you’re gasping, you’re probably the type of person that most needs to do kick this particular habit. by nacoki ( MEDIA ARC )—Getty Images/Flickr RF  Do Not Let People Ramble Sounds harsh, but it’s necessary, Ferriss believes. “Small talk takes up big time,” he says, so when people start to tell you about their weekends, cut them off politely with something like “I’m in the middle of something, but what’s up?” But be aware, not everyone agrees with this one (and certainly not in every situation), and you may want to pay particularly close attention to norms around chit chat when traveling internationally. Reza Estakhrian—Getty Images _Read next:_ [_How To Calm Your Monkey Mind and Get Things Done_](http://time.com/3984561/zeigarnik-effect/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429) ## Transcript >> Cheyenne is my savior. She is the love of my life. She has always been there for me through thick and thin. Oh, I woke you up. Oh, now, you're up. Uh- huh. My name is David Sharpe, and I served for six years in the United States Air Force, Security Forces. It all started right after 9 / 11 when we got forward deployed again to Uzbekistan, and a couple of our buddies didn't make it back. And so, I went-- I came back home finally in March of 2002 and I pretty much segregated myself from my family and friends. My friends-- We would go out, they would say, " Hey, Dave, do you want a beer ?" I'm like, " No, I'm good. I'm gonna cruise around this bar and when I look at-- the first guy who looks at me longer than two seconds, I'm gonna pop him ." They said, " We can't hang out with you anymore, Dave. You're out of control ." I was like, " Fine, I don't need you any ways ." So, my friend came over, and he said, " Let's check out this Pit Bull Rescue ." I said, " Oh, yeah. I want a-- I'm a fighter. I want a fighting dog ." I go down there, and there's this one puppy that's not paying me any mind, but all the others are all around me. And then I remember, she came over to me and she, like, licked my hand, sniffed it, and left. And then she came-- just laid back down in the dirt in the opposite side of that pen, and I said, " I'm gonna get her ." Cheyenne, you remember that? Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. You bum! You're a bum. You are a bum. She's a baby. This is a baby! Big baby. This is her. I brought her home, and about a couple weeks later, she witnessed me punching the holes in the walls and beating up the refrigerator door, and this was normal for me during this time. I see this little tail, out of the corner of my eye, and I look down at her, and she's looking at me, you know, doing this back to-- waving her head back and-- back and forth, and I looked down at her, and I just picked her up and took her back to my bed and just started crying and talking about everything that happened, what I experienced, what I'm going through. And it felt like a 10, 000- pound weight was lifted off my chest. It literally did. >> When I first got back from my deployment, I remember we were sitting in a coffee shop, and I just felt like everything was closing in on me, and I just wheeled myself out of the coffee shop as soon as possible, and I just sat back and waited for it to blow up. I was having flashbacks. These were crazy. I'm like cut down little-- I ended up picking up Zapper from the P2V foundation. There are certain things that, you know, I only talk to Zapper about. Not that I don't think my family understands or wanna hear. Come here. Come here. It's just that, you know, you always have that thing, " Will they judge me over this or not ?" -[ unk ] over there? >> Yeah. A little bit. >> You know, you just really don't want to tell your story to somebody. You got these doctors who've not-- you know, they've heard it, they haven't seen it, you know. So, you just talk to your dog, man. Talking to Zapper, he just lets me get it off my chest and get it out there. >> Eighteen veterans commit suicide each day in this country. Eighteen. Also, on the other end of this spectrum, there's 4 million animals, sheltered animals, killed in this country every year. So, that's what we do. We take 4 million, and we pair them up with 6, 500 per year. It's kind of like a Match. com between a shelter pet and a veteran or emergency first responder. This little guy was used for fighting. He was a toy for other dogs to beat up on and they don't have a choice. And right of the-- Sorry. What a better companion to have than a veteran, like us, or a firefighter or a police officer to help this little guy out, right? He has the physical scars on the outside, but we have the mental scars on the inside, so that's where we heal each other and meet in the middle of the road, you know? I could share anything and everything with her, unconditional love. And so, really, like, I got a good family that loves me, friends that love me-- I love you -- and I got her. Come here. Sit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4000295/this-graphic-shows-what-stress-does-to-your-body/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4000295/this-graphic-shows-what-stress-does-to-your-body/"},"headline":"This Graphic Shows What Stress Does to Your Body","datePublished":"2015-08-17T15:57:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:07.781Z","description":"A new study shows stress came harm self control. 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