Q&A: Why does stress feel bad?

Your brain unconsciously interprets many simple situations as threats to your existence—such as a disagreement with a spouse, a misbehaving child, a non functioning piece of equipment, a time commitment, even thoughts about yourself or anything else. All of these stressors can initiate the same stress response that animals depend on to survive life- threatening attacks. Humans usually don’t fight or run, so the chronic activation of the stress system leads to an accumulation of the stress hormones, which causes the basic function of health maintenance to be placed on hold.