Stress is an adaptive response to the physical and psychological forces and pressures that challenge an organism (Selye, 1978). Hans Selye was a Canadian researcher who coined the term "stress- in order to describe a series of responses that were observed in laboratory animals that were subjected to severely disturbing physical and emotional threats. He observed and recorded the animals' responses and discovered that some of the animals experienced ulcers, heart attacks, hypertension, arthritis, kidney damage, and other diseases. Selye's experiment demonstrates how unrelenting physical and psychological stress can kill an organism (Rosch, 2002). These findings are applicable to the human condition where protracted levels of stress from a variety of life events eventuate in serious physical pathology. Specifically, this paper will explore the link between stress and cardiovascular disease. The first segment of this paper will describe some common causes of stress and examples of how different individuals cope with it. Next, the issue of stress and it's indirect influence on cardiovascular disorders and other diseases will be addressed. .
Stress is experienced at multiple levels by different individuals. In other words, something that may be stressful for one person may be pleasurable for the next. A roller-coaster is a great example of this. On a coaster there are the people that close their eyes, clench the safety bar for dear life and can t wait to get off. Contrastingly, at the front of the coaster there are the thrill seekers that stay wide eyed for the entire time and relish in every steep plunge. And then there are those that are bored with the ride, maybe because they have been on the same ride many times before. In terms of emotional resources, some people are not as equipped as others to deal with the roller coaster of life with its ups and downs and unexpected twists and turns.