The continual desire to thrive against all odds even with the current global economic and other livelihood challenges coupled with various natural and man-made disasters has subjected humanity incessantly to physical, physiological and psychological stress traceable to different etiologic stressors. This has consequently resulted into increasing prevalence in stress and stress-related diseases worldwide. Hence, this paper reviews stress as it relates to appetite, digestion, nutrient metabolism, immunity and other diseases with a view of creating public awareness on this concept and the possible stress management techniques. The search engines used are HINARI, PubMED and Google Scholar. Stress can have both orexigenic and anorexigenic effect thus influencing appetite and food intake via the metabolic activities of glucocorticiods and Neuropeptide Y commonly produced during a fight-or-flight response to stress. Vagus nerve activation which occurs during stress directly and profoundly influences metabolic responses to food via altered digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients thus pre-disposing the body to malnutrition. Glucocorticoids may adversely affect immune system by suppressing the helper T-cells and over-expressing the T suppressor cells thus inhibiting the body’s defence mechanism against both infectious and non-infectious diseases. More still, glucocorticoids have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes via increased hepatic blood glucose by increased gluconeogenesis and may exacerbate or inhibit tumorigenicity in cancer progression. Regular exercise, healthy diet, deep breath exercise, adequate sleep and limiting exposure to stressors if possible are generally effective in coping with stress and managing stress.

stress, nutritional status, health status