Stress dan bagaimana mengatasinya

How stress affects your health

Feature Digest
Worldroom.com

The morning of the family holiday dinner, you wake up with a pounding headache. With visions of a crowded kitchen and a hectic schedule dancing in your head, you immediately know the source of your headache � stress.

From headaches to heart disease, stress is indicated as a factor in many illnesses. Stress may aggravate an existing health problem. Or, stress may trigger an illness if you're at risk for the condition.

Your stressors are unique
Situations that create stress are as unique as you are. Your personality, genes and experiences influence how you deal with stressors.

For you, a big family dinner may be stressful. Other people might enjoy the increased activity and responsibility but find stress in situations that are beyond their control, such as changing relationships with their children.

Generally, stress is what you feel when the demands on your life exceed your ability to meet those demands. The stressor may be external, such as the death of someone close to you or a sudden change in activity level. Or, it may be an internal stressor such as an illness.

Adults commonly list top stressors as family, finances and work. Older adults often feel social isolation is their biggest source of stress.

How stress and illness interact
Many of the physical reactions that help you fight or take flight can damage your health in the long run:

Immune system � Cortisol produced during the stress response may suppress your immune system, increasing your susceptibility to infectious diseases. Studies suggest bacterial infections such as tuberculosis and group A streptococcal disease increase during stress. Stress may also make you prone to upper respiratory viral infections such as cold or flu. Cardiovascular disease � Under acute stress, your heart beats quickly. You're more susceptible to angina (a type of chest pain) and heart rhythm irregularities.

If you're a "hot reactor," acute stress may add to your risk of a heart attack.

As a response to daily stress, hot reactors exhibit extreme increases in heart rate and blood pressure. According to the theory, these surges may gradually result in injury to your coronary arteries and heart.

When stress persists, increased blood clotting as a result of the stress response can put you at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Little data suggest stress leads to chronic high blood pressure in people with no family history of the condition.

Other relationships between illness and stress aren't as clear-cut. But stress may worsen symptoms if you're prone to these conditions:

Asthma � If you have asthma, a stressful situation can make your airways over-reactive and precipitate an attack.

Gastrointestinal problems � Stress can make your symptoms worse if you have a gastrointestinal disorder such as an ulcer or irritable bowel syndrome.