Stress
has become the number one malady of our time. The constant
pressure associated with living in a fast-paced world has
created an environment where nearly everyone feels the effects
of stress.
Stress is a term
used to describe the wear and tear the body experiences in
reaction to everyday tensions and pressures. Change, illness,
injury or career and lifestyle changes, are common causes
of stress, however, it's the effects of stress, like pressure
and tension, that we feel in response to the little everyday
hassles—like rush hour traffic, waiting in line, and
too many emails—that do the most damage.
Stress is the body
and mind's response to any pressure that disrupts its normal
balance. It occurs when our perception of events doesn't meet
our expectations and we are unable to manage our reaction.
As a response, stress expresses itself as resistance, tension,
strain or frustration that throws off our physiological and
psychological equilibrium, keeping us out of sync. If our
equilibrium is disturbed for long, the stress can become disabling
and create numerous health problems.
Stress and the
effects of stress are often misunderstood. We look at outside
events as the source of stress, but in fact stress is really
caused by our emotional reactions to events. The stress we
experience in today's world often goes unnoticed and unmanaged.
Many people have simply adapted to stress in an unhealthy
way, resigned to thinking it's “just the way it is”.
Unfortunately, lack of stress management has created a pandemic
of low-grade anxiety and depression.
Health Effects
of Stress?
The effects of stress in people are seen physically, mentally
and emotionally. According to the American Institute of Stress,
up to 90% of all health problems are related to stress. Too
much stress can contribute to and agitate many health problems
including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, depression
and sleep disorders. Additional studies confirm the debilitating
effects of stress on our health:
Three 10-year studies
concluded that emotional stress was more predictive of death
from cancer and cardiovascular disease than smoking. People
who were ineffectively managing stress had a 40% higher death
rate than non-stressed individuals.
A Harvard Medical
School study of 1,623 heart attack survivors found that when
subjects got angry during emotional conflicts, their risk
of subsequent heart attacks was more than double that of those
remained calm.
A 20-year study
of over 1,700 older men conducted by the Harvard School of
Public Health found that worry about social conditions, health
and personal finances all significantly increased the risk
of coronary disease.
Over one-half
of heart disease cases are not explained by the standard risk
facts, such as high cholesterol, smoking or sedentary lifestyle.
According to a
Mayo Clinic study of individuals with heart disease, psychological
stress was the strongest predictor of future cardiac events,
such as cardiac death, cardiac arrest and heart attacks.
How to relieve stress?
In order to effectively relieve stress it's important to understand
it's not the external events or situations that do the harm;
it's how you respond to those stressful events. More precisely,
it's how you feel about them that determine whether you feel
the negative effects of stress and ultimately relieve stress.
Emotions, or feelings,
have a powerful impact on the human body. Emotions like frustration,
insecurity and depressing feelings are stressful and inhibit
optimal health and relief from stress. Positive emotions like
appreciation, care, and love not only feel good, they promote
health, performance and well-being.
HeartMath's research
has shown when you learn how to intentionally shift to a positive
emotion, heart rhythms immediately change. A shift in heart
rhythms may not seem important but in fact it creates a favorable
cascade of neural, hormonal and biochemical events that benefit
the entire body. The stress relief effects are both immediate
and long lasting.
emWave™ Personal
Stress Reliever™ is designed to help you learn how to
change your emotional state and heart rhythms to reduce stress
levels and revitalize your entire body.
