Stress Is The Number 1 Health Problem In America Today

Written By Chouhab on vendredi 23 janvier 2009 | 06:20

By Donald Saunders

Stress has been in the news as a health epidemic since the early eighties and the situation is continuing to worsen as a growing number of workers report that they are suffering increasing stress at work. In fact the workplace now constitutes the leading environment for stress among adult Americans. However stress levels have also risen for children in recent years and a lot of people now link this to a loss of family and religious values, isolation, a lack of social support and also corporate greed.

Nowadays, stress is far more of a danger than it was just ten years ago and looks to be more extensive and more invasive than ever with a lot more stress coming from psychological instead of physical threats.

Stress causes a rise in heart rate and greater blood flow leading to higher blood pressure. Levels of blood sugar also increase to give the body the extra fuel which it needs to fight stress and the body is designed to push blood away from the stomach when we are stressed in order to provide extra strength for the legs and arms as part of what is often called our "flight or fight" response.

Stress contributes to anxiety and chronic depression together with skin and gastrointestinal problems and interferes with the working of a lot of the body's major organs. It can also create an impairment of the immune system which cannot shake off viral disorders from the not particularly serious cold to very serious diseases such as AIDS and cancer.

Stress in the workplace directly influences such things as employee absenteeism and productivity and the business climate progressively worsens with competition today at an all-time high. The pressure placed upon employees to produce and the continual concern about job security can produce a number of conditions including neck pain, back pain, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, ulcers and heart attacks.

Many different things can cause stress including just sitting at a computer monitor for eight hours every day or more, meeting deadlines or having someone continually watching you. Here the results are often seen as depression and a host of physical complaints which result in lost working hours.

Taking the necessary steps to manage the stress you have in your life could well be the best gift that you can give yourself and a few fairly simple alterations to your lifestyle can make a huge difference to the way in which you handle stress. For instance, taking a mere 20 minutes out of your day to walk will reduce your stress as will talking to friends and colleagues, prayer and meditation and following a healthy diet. Take the time to learn some relaxation techniques because breathing and relaxation exercises can considerably reduce your stress levels.

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