Stress has been featured prominently in the news as a major health epidemic for some years now and the situation is continuing to worsen as an increasing number of workers say that they are suffering increasing stress in the workplace. In fact the workplace is now the leading environment for stress among adult Americans. However levels of stress have also risen for children in the past few years and many now link this to a loss of religious and family values, a lack of social support and also corporate greed.

Nowadays, stress is much more of a danger than it was a decade ago and seems to be more extensive and more invasive than before with much greater stress coming from psychological instead of physical threats.

Stress leads to a rise in heart rate and increased blood flow leading to higher blood pressure. Blood sugar levels also increase to provide the body with the additional fuel that it requires to fight stress and the body is programmed to move blood away from the stomach when we are stressed to provide additional strength for our legs and arms as part of what is often called our “flight or fight” response.

Stress also produces anxiety and chronic depression as well as to skin and gastrointestinal problems and interferes with the work of a number of the body’s main organs. It also causes impairment of the body’s immune system that in unable to shake off viral disorders from the common and not particularly serious cold to serious conditions such as cancer and AIDS.

Stress related to a work environment directly influences such things as absenteeism and productivity and the business climate gets progressively worse with competition these days at an all-time high. The pressure that is placed upon employees to produce and the continual concern about job security can result in numerous conditions including neck pain, back pain, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, ulcers and heart attacks. 

Lots of things can lead to stress including just sitting at a computer monitor for eight hours every day or more, meeting targets or having someone continually watching you. In these situations the results are usually seen as depression and a range of physical complaints which result in lost work time.

Taking the steps needed to manage the stress in your life could well be the nicest gift you can give yourself and just a few quite simple changes to your life can make a huge difference to how you handle stress. For instance, taking just 20 minutes out of your day to walk will reduce your level of stress as will talking to friends, prayer and meditation and eating a healthier diet. Take the time to learn several methods of relaxation because deep breathing and relaxation exercises can go a long way towards reducing your stress levels.