research topics in natural resources management

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Natural Resources and the Environment Subject Guide — Research Topics

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Narrowing a topic

Sometimes narrowing to a specific topic does not come naturally and can be a difficult task. Here are some techniques available to make this process simpler.

• First, pick a topic in which you are interested. You will spend a lot of time with your topic and you will do a better job with it if you find the topic enjoyable. As you search through potential topics, note which pique your interest and follow them further.
• Look for a topic with some recent controversy or a set of related topics which can be compared and contrasted.
• Pick a topic which you have some hope of understanding. If you cannot understand the basics you will not be able to write about it. Not all topics are appropriate for undergraduate paper writing.

Some additional sites with help on choosing and narrowing topics are listed below.

• Choosing and Narrowing a Topic
• Narrowing a Topic
• Narrowing a Topic and Developing a Research Question
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Where to find possible topics for science papers

If you don't know on what topic you want to write a paper, start by looking in sources with broad spreads of relevant information. 

• Search any database by a particular journal or review journal (Science, Nature, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, etc.)
• Look for a classic topic in your textbook 
• Scan popular science sciences magazines such as Bioscience, Scientific American, Discover, etc.
• Go to the popular  website  www.sciencedaily.com which covers most aspects of science and search for a topic
• Search for ideas in the encyclopedias, handbooks or other books listed in this guide on a separate page
• If you have some idea of a topic, search for review articles on that topic in one of the science databases listed in this guide
• Search the table of contents of a journal which specializes in review articles, such as Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Search Strategies for Topics

Part of picking a topic will involve conducting literature searches. As you search for your topic(s) start with searches as BROAD as possible, while remaining relevant to your topic. Starting broad will give a breadth of coverage that allows you easy options for narrowing your topic. If you start with a narrow topic it is much harder to broaden your topic later to explore more options.

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What are your major concepts? Identify the main elements of your topic.

Think of related terms for your concepts. Use both common words and scientific terms.

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Methods and applications in natural resources management

• Published: 03 July 2014
• Volume 219 , pages 1–3, ( 2014 )

Cite this article

• Lluís M. Plà-Aragonés 1 ,
• Béla Vizvári 2 &
• Anders R. Kristensen 3  

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Acknowledgments

The guest editors are grateful to the Editor-in-Chief, Endre Boros, for his trust in this special volume. We are also grateful to all members of the ORAFM Working Group, to all contributors to this volume, and the numerous reviewers for carefully reading and commenting on the papers. Their dedicated volunteer work has had a significant impact on the quality of the papers. Finally, our gratitude and thanks to Katie D’Agosta for facilitating administrative matters.

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Authors and affiliations.

Department of Mathematics, University of Lleida, 73, Jaume II, 25001 , Lleida, Spain

Lluís M. Plà-Aragonés

Deptartment of Industrial Engineering, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, 10, Mersin, Trukey

Béla Vizvári

Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Groennegaardsvej 2, 1870 Frederiksberg C., Copenhagen, Denmark

Anders R. Kristensen

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Correspondence to Lluís M. Plà-Aragonés .

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Plà-Aragonés, L.M., Vizvári, B. & Kristensen, A.R. Methods and applications in natural resources management. Ann Oper Res 219 , 1–3 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1661-z

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Published : 03 July 2014

Issue Date : August 2014

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1661-z

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THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES: AN OVERVIEW AND RESEARCH AGENDA

Our intention is to inspire management scholars to take up the “grand challenge” to provide strategic and managerial insights in conversations and debates that have so far been held by policymakers, economists, natural scientists, and engineers. As organizations’ objectives can diverge from those of governments, citizens, and stakeholders, the interplay between corporate decisions, institutional and regulatory actions, societal pressures, and important externalities of extractive processes provides an exciting context for theoretical and empirical research. We provide examples of how natural resource scarcity is challenging businesses, governments, and industries at large to innovate technologies and business models, compete in natural resource markets, and collaborate across industrial, national, and cultural boundaries.

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Simon J D Schillebeeckx

The scarcity of natural resources is a topic of substantive interest for executives and policymakers. However, a systematic review of the management literature reveals natural resources have received limited attention despite their unique value for theorizing and understanding firm actions. Our analysis suggests that natural resources have 4 characteristics that are not idiosyncratic to the firm, but are still relevant to strategy. As such, natural resources have nuanced implications for the interpretation of resources within resource-based theories of the firm. We develop a preliminary framework that addresses how firms, governments, and industries behave in natural resource spaces and discuss implications and theoretical avenues for future research.

General trends in governance have an impact on natural resource management. The trend towards decentralisation and strengthening local democracy has affected the comparative influence of actors at different levels on the exploitation of natural resources. Trade is also likely to become an increasingly pressing issue. It has profound impacts on domestic and local governance of natural resources. There is also the issue of transparency relating to natural resource extraction. This is best exemplified by the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). Improving governance through greater transparency seems to be correlate with greater voice and accountability and a stronger business climate, though it is unclear whether there are any causal links.

Jessica Coria

The Extractive Industries and Society

Stefan Andreasson

International journal of legal information

victor essien

Annegret Flohr

Increasing demand for extractive resources, volatile markets and protectionist endeavours are currently heightening a well-known challenge of the developing world: Countries that possess significant amounts of natural resource deposits on average achieve lower development success in economic as well as in political terms. Research on this so called ‘resource curse’ stresses that effective governance is a key to achieving broad-based development from resource extraction. Consequently, more and more development actors – donor countries and their agents as well as NGOs and numerous newly created multi-stakeholder initiatives – are now focusing their attention on governance of the extractive sector. This publication is a condensed version of a study prepared for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The primary goal of this study was to map the growing field of actors working on development-related questions of natural resource governance. It also aimed to identify potential partners for GIZ from the universe of stakeholders. The study provides a conceptual framework for identifying partnership possibilities between stakeholders in the field of natural resource governance and applies the framework to a selected number of actors. The study’s scope is limited to stakeholders that are active on a global scale and to nonrenewable natural resources (oil, gas, and mining). It distinguishes four major groups of stakeholders: state actors, business actors, civil society actors, and multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Analele Universităţii Constantin Brâncuşi din Târgu Jiu : Seria Economie

Catalin Popescu

Natural resources are not homogeneous in nature, having certain features in the productive process that require grouping them into different categories by different criteria. Consequently, natural resources cannot be addressed all at once, but only distinctly, according to relevant criteria selected based on the proposed goals. This criteria selection process requires special features and econometric models representing the core of the present paper. Furthermore, the paper also intends to cover the social importance of understanding resources misuse, and alongside with the types and sources of inefficiency in resource management

Indian Journal of Spatial Science

Ashis Sarkar

The present paper is a review of political economy on empirical evidence related to natural resource rent and consequential economic prosperity where resource-rich countries reluctantly depend on their respective resource rents and capitals. With the modern growing relevance of natural resource abundance, dependence and capabilities toward regional economic prosperity, many resource-rich countries experience less rapid growth than the resource-poor countries. The impacts of resource rents towards their respective regional economy are the issue of severe concerns. As a result, this paper critically examined the nexus of natural resource abundance, dependence, and capabilities in relation to their respective regional economic prosperity relative to other regions of the world. The analysis shows that it is common for natural resource rents to mob out physical and human development, thereby slowing down economic growth. However, across resource-rich countries, heavy dependence on natural resources influences resource dependence and can subsequently impair saving and direct investment through slowing human capital growth and development. This study argued that benchmarking rents on the basis of capabilities should be precedence instead of focusing on natural resource abundance and dependence. The study also affirmed the assessments of natural resource rents gap, weaknesses and competitive advantages in the global economic arena.

Natural resources are not homogeneous in nature, therefore economic analysis of extractive industry fundamentally differs compared to agriculture, manufacture and services analysis. The main reason is that mineral resources are exhaustible resources; hence, in the mining industry an initial stock of reserves will exhaust over time. Therefore, this paper analysis the natural resource market according to several criteria: requirements of economic growth, future potential of environmental factors, scientific and technological progress and demographic change. Hence, this work deals with issues related to the limited character and scarcity of natural resources (supply) in relation to the development of demand (in the first part), and the mechanisms and economic laws that describe the supplydemand ratio of natural resources determined by economic and social factors (in the second part).

Jessica Steinberg

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• National Minerals Information Center From the USGS, statistics and information on the worldwide supply, demand, and flow of minerals. Statistics are organized by commodity, country, or state.

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Natural Resource Management Research Guide

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Breadcrumbs

Research: community involvement in natural resource management leads to less overexploitation.

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Paul Ferraro is co-editor and contributing writer of a special journal edition examining how communities might better manage their natural resources, and how researchers might produce more accurate research on the topic.

Article Highlights

• When communities are encouraged to become involved in the managing of local environmental resources, the repercussions are positive, new research shows.
• The accountability of local leaders to the citizenry increases.
• Also, the overexploitation of “common pool” natural decreases.
• Ferraro joined in project by researchers from several leading universities from around the world.

When government or nonprofit organizations encourage a community’s involvement in the managing of local environmental resources, the accountability of local leaders to the citizenry increases and the overexploitation of “common pool” natural resources such as forests and water decreases, according to a Special Feature of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

 “The Special Feature focuses on results from low- and middle-income regions of countries such as Costa Rica and Peru, where communities can’t depend on governments to meet all their significant needs. Still, the lessons can be applied generally across most societies,” says Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Paul Ferraro , a co-editor and contributing writer of the Special Feature, titled “Sustaining the Commons: Advancing Understanding of Common Pool Resource Management.”

Common pool resources are those with a finite supply – such as a trout stream or a pasture – whose benefits to the public at large are reduced if individuals make unlimited use of them.

A key upshot of the Special Feature’s findings is that they could help policymakers make the best use of their limited budgets for reducing human pressures on the environment, Ferraro says.

“An understanding of how to cause desirable outcomes is a necessary condition for good policy,” he adds. “In policymaking, we waste a lot of resources pushing on levers that don’t change anything on the ground. The Special Feature focused on determining whether pushing on the community-monitoring lever could change conditions on the ground in a good way, and the results imply that it could.”

As an example of encouragement associated with positive change: A nonprofit in Costa Rica gave citizens in 80 drought-prone communities a cell phone app they could use to monitor local groundwater use. When the researchers compared groundwater use in these communities to other communities that were randomly assigned to a control group, the communities with monitoring had pumped less water from their aquifers.

Another important goal of the Special Feature was “to demonstrate how scientists can generate more credible and generalizable evidence to support communities and the governmental and non-governmental actors that aim to help communities,” says Ferraro. 

What to Read Next

Talking Point

“Good environmental policymaking depends on good science,” he explains. “The challenge, however, is that scientists face professional incentives that don’t necessarily lead to good science.   The Special Feature discusses some of these incentives, such as professional rewards for impressive results, which reduce accuracy, and for being the first person to report on something, which reduces the incentive to repeat prior studies in new contexts and thus diminishes the ability to generalize what we know.

“The studies in the Special Feature were designed to align the public incentives for good science with the private professional incentives of scientists.  This was achieved in two ways; first, by encouraging the scientists to pose the same research question that was guided by the same theory and answered using the same methodology but was implemented in very different contexts – which enhanced generalizability; and second, by constraining what the scientists could do before and after they saw their results – which enhanced accuracy.”

WATCH: 8 Habits of Highly Effective Communities

In addition to three articles co-authored by Ferraro, “Sustaining the Commons” features ten articles co-written by researchers in political science, economics, and environmental sciences from institutions including the University of Michigan, Cornell University, New York University, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, University of Exeter, Wageningen University, and Nanjing University.  

“Understanding how we can make institutions and governance more effective is essential for successfully addressing the most important policy challenges of the 21 st century, ” says Ferraro. “The set of studies in this Special Feature is an exemplar of how such an understanding can be more effectively generated by partnerships between scientists and practitioners operating in synchrony across a wide range of conditions and using the very best scientific practices.”

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SUCCESS STORY: Emerging leaders boost natural resource management

USAID Biodiversity empowered marginalized and vulnerable groups to voice their experiences about natural resource management.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Biodiversity (Jal Jangal) program is improving natural resource management (NRM) initiatives by uplifting marginalized and vulnerable populations.

In the Kailari Municipality of Sudurpaschim Province, the USAID Biodiversity team convenes multi-stakeholder dialogues (MSD), bringing together people from vulnerable and marginalized groups with government leaders and other stakeholders to address NRM issues, or the way societies manage the supply and access to the natural resources they rely on for their survival.

MSD sessions cover equitable access to natural resources, women’s participation in NRM decision-making, benefit sharing, climate change adaptation, alternative livelihoods, and access to information. They provide marginalized people with leadership opportunities to engage directly with decision-makers and see the positive impact of their contributions.

The Kailari Rural Municipal Chairperson, Ramsamaj Chaudhary, advocated for the Plastic-free Palika Act and the passage of the municipal Environment Protection Act, after participating in the first MSD in his municipality. Among other things, these policies prioritize Indigenous and marginalized groups' receipt of grants for nature-based enterprises such as leaf plate and paper crafts production.

“The discussions have further highlighted why policies are important for conservation and to (marginalized people),” said Chaudhary. In addition to supporting the environmental policies in his municipality, he now agrees on the importance of including marginalized groups in the NRM policy-making process.

Members of vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as women, girls, people with disabilities and Dalits, are often hardest hit by disasters. Supporting them in engaging with local leaders and stakeholders can bridge gaps, ensuring their interests are considered in policy making.

“I was very nervous but excited to lead a group discussion at the MSD,” said Mangala Sunar, an educated Dalit community member from Madhuwan Municipality who had been unable to find employment due to caste discrimination. “My team’s support helped me present our ideas clearly to a large audience and boosted my confidence.” The municipality was so impressed with her and she was offered a six-month position as a facilitator in the land commission section in the municipal office.

USAID Biodiversity (Jal Jangal) completed 27 MSD sessions in the program's priority working areas and engaged 1,407 people of diverse ages, genders, and ethnicities including, 42 percent women, 210 Dalits, 27 people with disabilities, and five people from religious minorities. This inclusivity ensures that everyone's voice is heard and valued.

USAID Biodiversity (Jal Jangal) is a five-year program designed to work with local communities, governments, and conservation practitioners to conserve nature, enhance human well-being, and safeguard Nepal’s biodiversity. The program aims to improve ecosystem health, fight environmental crime, and improve communities' ability to prepare for and adapt to impacts caused by climate change and natural disasters.

Everyone reaps the rewards when marginalized and vulnerable groups are included in discussions.

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USAID Biodiversity

USAID Biodiversity will build on past successes in conserving Nepal’s forestry and freshwater resources to support local communities, governments, and conservation practitioners to strengthen biodiversity conservation and adapt to climate change, protecting the country’s precious natural resources.

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Build Your Research Skills with the Medical Center Library’s Fall 2024 Research Workshop Series, Beginning Aug. 22

The  Medical Center Library will begin its  Fall 2024 Research Workshop Series on Aug. 22.

Held on Zoom, the virtual seminars help students, faculty, and staff improve and expand their research skills and make more efficient use of library resources. The workshops are primarily concerned with research competencies in the health sciences, but the subjects are pertinent to researchers across a variety of disciplines. 

The Fall 2024 series will cover topics that range from data management and systematic reviews to open educational resources, artificial intelligence, and health disparities literature.

In late September and October, four workshops in the “Horrors of Bad Research” mini-series will address some of the frightening consequences of flawed research, along with strategies for keeping your work fear-free. 

The workshops are free to attend and open to all UK students, faculty, staff, and affiliated researchers. Pre-registration is required to attend workshops. Attendees who have registered will be provided with a recording of the presentation. 

Find more details and register for the workshops , and contact  [email protected] with any questions.

Fall 2024 Series

The Fall 2024 workshops begin in late August and run to mid-November. Below, find a detailed description and registration link for each:

• Thursday, August 22, 2024
• Get to know what services and research resources your library offers. Learn about time saving tools for accessing full text and setting up search alerts.
• Register here.  
• Wednesday, September 4, 2024
• Learn how to search for health disparities focused literature in PubMed. Become familiar with the Medical Center Library’s Searching Health Disparities Literature Research Guide.
• Thursday, September 10, 2024
• Whether you have already been asked to complete a review, are brainstorming your own project, or simply want to build your research skills, this is your chance to learn about evidence syntheses from an expert. Join us and gain valuable knowledge to help you succeed in your research endeavors.
• Wednesday, September 25, 2024
• Whether it’s a large-scale deception or the small-scale spinning of results, bad research is everywhere and it’s impacting clinical practice. This presentation will discuss the scope of the problem and inform participants of ways they can become more informed consumers of health sciences literature through critical appraisal. 
• Wednesday, October 9, 2024
• Systematic reviews are an increasingly popular study that has long been considered a “gold standard” of evidence synthesis. However, a quick look at published reviews shows that many fall quite short of the gold standard moniker. Why are so many failing to meet the necessary high standards? And what should you know about standards and requirements before you take on an advanced review project? 
• Wednesday, October 16, 2024
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is an ever-growing presence in our lives, and it has its benefits. However, misunderstandings of AI’s limitations have led to it being misused in research. Learn about the proper and improper application of AI in health sciences research and how it’s impacting health sciences literature. 
• Wednesday, October 23, 2024
• If not managed well, research data can go wrong in any number of ways, and the consequences range from minor inconveniences to retractions of published findings. Fortunately, you can protect yourself from data disasters large and small using good data management techniques. This presentation will cover some all-too-common data horror stories that researchers experience and how you can guard against them. 
• Monday, November 11, 2024
• Open educational resources (OER) are free and open access alternatives to commercial course materials. In this session, we will cover the background of textbook costs in the US and their impact on students, then go over what OER are and how they work (both practically and in terms of copyright). We will then address how to find, adopt, and create OER for health sciences. The concluding discussion will include recommended resources and ways to get involved with open education communities, as well as an overview of support available at UK.
• Thursday, November 14, 2024
• Every database speaks a different “language”. By learning to translate search queries into multiple databases, we can expand the scope of our research and ensure that all relevant studies are included. Join our experts to learn how to translate and the tools available to assist you. Common mistakes and tool pitfalls will be discussed.
• Register here.

The Reviews Are In

Past workshop participants have universally applauded their experience. In surveys following the workshops, 100% of participants who filled out the survey indicated that they had learned something new. 

“This was the clearest presentation of concrete steps for data management that I've ever seen,” commented one participant. Other commenters raved about the new techniques, tools, and resources they were able to add to their research repertoires.

Workshop contents met the expectations of 100% of participants who filled out the survey. 

Experience them for yourself – and catch up on what you’ve missed in prior years. The MCL has  past workshop recordings and associated slides available for public view. Topics include:

• Introductory tutorials for tools, resources, and software used in health sciences research
• In-depth guidance and advanced search training for popular databases
• Extensive coverage of systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis projects

In the mood for more? Visit our  Research Workshops & Tutorials page to find all of UK Libraries’ offerings, including our  Digital Scholarship & Data Workshops & Events .

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• Build Your Research Skills with the Medical Center Library’s Fall 2024 Research Workshop Series, Beginning Aug. 22 - Aug 15, 2024
• Discover Decades of Lexington History with the John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader Photographs - Aug 1, 2024
• Saving Stories: UK Alumnus and Hall of Fame Broadcaster Tom Hammond Recounts His Most Memorable Olympics Call - Jul 26, 2024

• Find Your Calm: Managing Stress & Anxiety

Stress Symptoms

What Is Stress?

Stress is your body's response to a challenging or demanding situation. When you feel stressed, your body releases certain hormones. Your hormones are chemical signals your body uses to tell your body systems what to do. The hormones your body releases when you're stressed get you ready to meet the challenge or demand in your environment. During the stress response, your body gets ready to flee or fight by increasing your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure.

Not all stress is bad. In small doses, stress can help you accomplish tasks or prevent you from getting hurt. For example, stress is what makes you slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a suddenly stopped car in front of you. That's a good thing.

But people handle stressful situations differently. What stresses you out may be of little concern to someone else. 

Stress can be a short-term response to something that happens once or only a few times or a long-term response to something that keeps happening. Our bodies can usually handle short-term stress without long-term effects. But long-term or chronic stress can make you sick, both mentally and physically.

The first step to managing your stress is to know the symptoms. But recognizing stress symptoms may be harder than you think. Many of us are so used to feeling stressed that we may not know it until we get sick. Read on to learn more about the various symptoms you may have when you're stressed.

Difference between stress and distress

Stress is a normal reaction to challenges in your physical environment or in your perceptions of what's happening around you. Experts consider distress to be stress that is severe, prolonged, or both. Distress is when you feel you’re under more stress than you can handle.

Emotional Stress Symptoms

Mental symptoms of emotional stress include:

• Feeling more emotional than usual, especially feeling grumpy, teary, or angry
• Feeling anxious, overwhelmed, nervous, or on edge
• Feeling sad or depressed
• Feeling restless
• Trouble keeping track of or remembering things
• Trouble getting your work done, solving problems, making decisions, or concentrating 

Physical Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of stress that you might feel in your body include:

• Clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth
• Shoulder, neck, or back pain; general body aches, pains, and tense muscles
• Chest pain, increased heart rate, heaviness in your chest
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling more tired than usual (fatigue)
• Sleeping more or less than usual
• Upset stomach , including diarrhea , constipation , and nausea
• Loss of sexual desire and/or ability
• Getting sick more easily, such as getting colds and infections often

Respiratory distress

This is when you aren't getting enough oxygen or are having to work really hard to breathe. If you or a loved one has symptoms of respiratory distress, you need to call 911 and get to the ER as soon as possible. Signs include:

• Breathing faster than usual
• Color changes of your skin, mouth, lips, or fingernails. A blue color around your mouth, lips, or fingernails usually shows you aren't getting enough oxygen. Your skin may also look pale or gray.
• Grunting when you breath out
• A whistling with each breath (wheezing)
• Nose flaring
• Chest sinking below your neck or under your breastbone with each breath (retractions)
• Increased sweating, especially cold, clammy skin on your forehead
• Leaning forward while sitting to help take deeper breaths

Cognitive Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of stress that affect your mental performance include:

• Trouble getting your work done, solving problems, making decisions, or concentrating
• Feeling less commitment to your work
• Lack of motivation
• Negative thinking

Behavioral Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of behavioral stress include:

• Changes in your eating habits; losing or gaining weight
• Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
• Using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to feel better
• Avoiding your friends and family; isolating yourself from others
• Failing to meet your deadlines
• Increased absences at school or work
• Doing your work more slowly
• Exercising less often

Symptoms of Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is when you experience stress over an extended time. This can have negative effects on your body and your mental state, and it can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, anxiety, and depression.

In general, the symptoms of chronic stress are the same as those for shorter-term stress. You may not have all these symptoms, but if you have more than three symptoms and they last for a few weeks, you may have chronic stress. Potential symptoms to look for include:

• Aches and pains
• Changes in your sleeping patterns, such as insomnia or sleepiness
• Changes in your social behavior, such as avoiding other people
• Changes in your emotional response to others
• Emotional withdrawal
• Low energy, fatigue
• Unfocused or cloudy thinking
• Changes in your appetite
• Increased alcohol or drug use
• Getting sick more often than usual

Is It Stress or Something Else?

You may be dealing with something more serious than day-to-day stress if you have symptoms over a period of time even though you've tried to cope using healthy mechanisms. Long-term stress is linked to number of mental health disorders, such as:

• Chronic stress
• Substance use disorder
• Disordered eating

It may be time to visit your doctor if you're struggling to cope with the stress in your life or you have mental health problems from long-term stress. They can help you figure out ways of coping in a healthy way or refer you to a mental health professional who can help you.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is mental health condition that you may have after you have or witness a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, accident, or violence. PTSD overwhelms your ability to cope with new stress. PTSD can lead to symptoms such as intrusive memories, avoidance behaviors, and hyperarousal. 

These symptoms can cause significant problems in your work or relationships. T alk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you've had or witnessed a traumatic event and have disturbing thoughts and feelings about it for more than a month, if your thoughts and feelings are severe, or if you feel like you're having trouble getting your life back on track.

What Are the Consequences of Long-Term Stress?

Ongoing, chronic stress can trigger or worsen many serious health problems, including:

• Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders
• Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease , high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and strokes
• Obesity and other eating disorders
• Menstrual problems
• Sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in men and women
• Skin and hair problems , such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss
• Gastrointestinal problems, such as GERD, gastritis , ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome

Help Is Available for Stress

Stress is a part of life. What matters most is how you handle it. The best thing you can do to prevent stress overload and the health consequences that come with it is to know your stress symptoms.

If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed by stress, talk to your doctor. Many symptoms of stress can also be signs of other health problems. Your doctor can evaluate your symptoms and rule out other conditions. If stress is to blame, your doctor can recommend a therapist or counselor to help you better handle your stress.

Stress Takeaways

Stress is your body's response to a challenging or demanding situation. It can affect you physically, mentally, and behaviorally, especially when you have chronic stress. Chronic stress is when you are stressed for an extended time. Chronic stress can make it more likely for you to develop other mental health disorders, such as anxiety or depression. It can also affect your heart health and digestive health. If you're stressed and having trouble coping, it may be time for you to see your doctor or a mental health professional.

Stress FAQs

What can extreme stress cause?

Extreme stress, especially if it's prolonged, can cause emotional distress. And stress from a traumatic event, which is usually extreme, can cause posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These are more serious cases of stress that overwhelm your ability to manage on your own. You may need to get a professional's help to get back on track. If you feel like you're having trouble managing your emotions, talk to your doctor. They can help you or direct you to someone who can help you.

Can stress make you throw up?

Yes, stress can make you throw up. Your digestive system is one of the many systems that stress can affect. In fact, you may have a whole range of other digestive symptoms, such as nausea, pain, and constipation or diarrhea. Not everyone has stress nausea or vomiting, but you may be more prone to it if you have a gastrointestinal condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or you have anxiety or depression.

You may be able to tell if you're stress vomiting if your episode passes when the stress goes away. If it doesn't, then your episode may be caused by something else. It's time to get checked out by your doctor if you have more than a couple of episodes or you can't figure out what's causing them.

Show Sources

Chu, B. Physiology, Stress Reaction , StatPearls Publishing, 2024.

American Psychological Association: "Stress effects on the body."

MedlinePlus: "Stress."

Mayo Clinic: "Stress management," "Emotional exhaustion: When your feelings feel overwhelming," "Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

Cleveland Clinic: "Emotional Stress: Warning Signs, Management, When to Get Help," "Stress Nausea: Why It Happens and How To Deal. "

Johns Hopkins Medicine: "Signs of Respiratory Distress."

Helpguide.org: "Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes," "Understanding Stress."

Yale Medicine: "Chronic Stress."

Department of Health and Human Services: "Stress and Your Health."

American Institute of Stress: "Effects of Stress."

How to Feel Better in Less Than 15 Minutes

Need a quick pick-me-up? These simple steps can get you moving and boost your mood - fast!

Heart-Pounding, Stomach-Knotting: Stress and You

From knots in your stomach to headaches, heartburn and chronic health conditions, stress can lead to a variety of health issues.

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Self-care doesn't have to cost a lot. These simple steps can boost your mood and get you moving.

Natural Remedies to Alleviate Anxiety

These natural remedies can help ease your anxiety. Learn how they work - and when to see a doctor.

Is My Stress Level Too High?

From pain to digestive problems and more, the signs and symptoms of too much stress are easy to spot - once you know what to look for.