Stress

            
            
             Stress is defined as a state of tension that is created when a person responds to the demands and pressures that come from work, family and other external sources, as well as those that are internally generated from self imposed demands, obligations and self-criticism. Stress is both additive and cumulative. It adds up over time until a state of crisis is reached and symptoms appear. These symptoms may manifest themselves psychologically as irritability, anxiety, impaired concentration, mental confusion, poor judgment, frustration and anger. They may appear as physical symptoms. Common physical symptoms of stress include: muscle tension, headaches, low back pain, insomnia and high blood pressure. .
             There are many factors that can stress in one's life. Environmental factors such as if the weather is too hot or too cold, or anything that effects your body's internal environment may be stressful. There's also hormonal factors such as pre-menstrual symptoms, post-partum, and menopause which is a time in a woman's life when their hormone levels decline which could cause enough stress on the body to produce over stress in many women. Taking responsibility for another person's actions, changes occur in your own life which you have little or no control. Taking responsibility for another person's actions is a major stressor.
             Stress is the epidemic in the western world; over two- thirds of office visits to the physicians are for stress related illness. Stress is a major contributing factor either directly or indirectly, to coronary artery disease, cancer, respiratory disorders, accidental injuries, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide; the six leading causes of death in the United States. Stress aggravates other conditions such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, herpes, mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, and family discord and violence. The stress epidemic is an extremely costly one. The medical cost alone have been estimated in the United States at well over 1 Billion dollars per year.