You are right to be concerned about the negative effects of stress on health. You hear it all the time from friends and family “I’m so stressed out.” Thats because there are a lot of stress causes in todays fast paced world - there’s job stress, family stress, world stress and the stress that comes from plain old existential anxiety - that life is hard and that we and our loved ones ain’t gonna be here forever.

That’s a lot of stress. Too much stress in fact. The trouble is all this stress can wreak havoc on our bodies and negatively impact our health. You can’t beat stress. Life is stressful and there will always be challenging times. But what happens when the peaceful times in between get shorter and shorter? What are the real effects of stress on the body?

One of the major symptoms of stress is anxiety. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in America. According to research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, they are the number one mental health problem among American women while for men anxiety comes second after alcohol and drug abuse. For adults over 65, the most common mental health issue they face is anxiety. The grand total of all affected is over 19 million people in America!

So how does stress affect health?

The sad fact is that the effects of stress on the body can be harmful to our health. Prolonged stress does impact negatively on our bodies. Stress accounts for, either directly or indirectly, up to 80 percent of all illnesses. Some of the adverse health effects of stress are; elevated blood pressure and higher likelihood of stroke. Chronic stress can interfere with the body’s immune system, making individuals more prone to catching illnesses, allergic reactions, autoimmune, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer.

Not only does stress effect our health directly, but when we are under stress, we also tend to respond with more unhealthy behaviors such as drinking, eating poorly, smoking, working harder and foregoing sleep. It can all add up to an unhealthy cocktail mix.

Ok. So now that you are feeling even more stressed - here’s the good news. There is relief from stress. Though stress will always be in our lives, we can learn to react differently to life’s stress and adopt a system of stress management, that can reduce the negative effects that stress causes on our lives. The thing to do is to learn how to react in more healthy ways to the stress that life throws us. We can learn new ways of coping with stress, whether its stress in the workplace or at home. We can adopt mechanisms and healthier behaviors that introduce stress reduction into our lives.

It definitely is possible to eliminate the negative health aspects of stress and anxiety from your life! Let’s go on the journey to learning these healthier ways of coping with stress and incorporating and embracing stress reducing techniques and stress relief into our lives and routines.