Stress Management: The Stress and Disease Connection

Stress is the body's reaction to a certain degree of stimulation. Anything out of the ordinary that happens to you causes your body to experience stress. Some of that stress feels good, even great. Without any stress at all, life would be unexciting. Stress is not, by definition, necessarily bad, but it certainly is not always good, either. In fact, it can cause dramatic health problems if it happens to you too often and for too large.

Stress is such a broad term, and there are so many different kinds of stress, affecting so many people in so many different ways, that the word stress itself may seem to defy definition. Just to complicate things further, what is stressful to one person might be exhilarating to another.

One can control some potential stress on your body. For instance, you can determine what and how much you eat and how much you exercise. these stress fall into the physiological stressor category. Then there are environmental stressors, such as pollution.

One of the most common reactions to stress is compulsive eating. The best way to handle this impulse is to find a healthier way to deal with our feelings at times of stress.

While experts disagree on which diseases are caused by stress and which are attributable to other factors, such as infections or genetics, an increasing number believe that the interrelatedness of the body and mind means that stress can contribute to, if not actually cause, almost any physical problem. And physical illness and injury can contribute to stress.

The result is a spiral of stress and disease and more stress and more disease, which can ultimately cause serious damage to the body, mind and spirit. The 'which came first' question may be irrelevant, as may quibbling about which conditions are or are not caused by stress. Managing stress-whether it is the cause or result of physical problems-will put the body into a more balanced state, and a body that is more balanced is in a better position to heal itself. It will also help the mind to deal with physical injury or illness, reducing suffering. Managing stress may not necessarily heal you, but it will make your life more enjoyable.

That said, please remember that stress and management techniques should never be used as a complement to the care you are ready receiving - or should seek - for your physical illness or injury. Follow the advice of your doctor, and give your body's natural healing mechanisms an extra boost by getting debilitating stress out of the way.