Overview

Definition

You've got a major report due at noon, and it's not finished yet. Your daughter is close to flunking algebra. This morning, you sat in a horrible mess of traffic on the highway. Feeling stressed?

Stress can hurt you or help you. When you are stressed, your body gets ready to deal with a crisis. The brain triggers the adrenal glands to kick into high gear by releasing a surge of adrenaline, the body's rocket fuel. The heart rate and blood flow quicken to give cells extra oxygen. Cortisol or hydrocortisone is also released to help the body repair itself later on. Also, endorphins surge to act as painkillers. Your pulse and breathing rate spike, pupils dilate to let in more light, perspiration increases and digestion slows. The body is aroused and energized and temporarily does not feel pain.

This is a natural process called the classic "fight-or-flight" response. Do you stay and fight the danger or do you run from it? Your stress response can help you get through a pressing deadline at work or help you adjust to a major change, such as the arrival of a new child. However, chronic stress affects your quality of life and your physical and mental health.

Chronic stress can lower your immune system. Stress also can bring on angina (chest pain), arrhythmia (irregular heart rhythms) and even heart attack or stroke. Stress can worsen conditions such as type 2 diabetes, asthma or gastrointestinal problems. Also, stress can lead to depression or it can be a major tip-off that you have a mental illness such as generalized anxiety disorder.

Stress affects each of us differently and we all react differently. Some of us are better able to withstand great stress. Much of our reactions to stress depend on our upbringing, personalities, genetic makeup, coping methods and past experiences with stress. A factor in dealing with stress depends on your strategies in coping and your social network.

Sometimes people under a great deal of stress eat poorly, drink too much, smoke and neglect their health. These behaviors and habits have a double-edged sword. Not only are the actions themselves bad for your body, but the cause of these behaviors - the stress - causes great strain and damage to your physical and emotional health. It's a vicious cycle. Stress just perpetuates the bad habits and lifestyle choices. If you are stressed and worried all the time, you aren't going to be thinking about kicking bad habits.

Chances are, you probably aren't sleeping that well either. So you end up not feeling well during the day and are less able to cope with the stress load.

Prognosis

The good news is that stress is manageable. If you learn simple relaxation techniques, identify the causes of your stress - your "stressors" - and change your thinking about stressful situations, you can reduce stress and lessen its effects on your body. If your stress is related to an anxiety disorder or depression, you can be successfully treated with psychotherapy, medication or both.

More on Stress

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This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.