Page 33 - Workbook2E

1 Your Body’s Stress Response
Your response to stress can affect nearly every physical system in your body, so it will be ready to produce energy to move—the fight or flight response. Here are just a few of the body’s reactions to stress:
1. Increased heart rate to pump more blood to the working muscles
2. Increased blood pressure to deliver more blood to working muscles
3. Breathing increases to supply muscles with oxygenated blood for energy
4. Widening of blood vessels of the arteries, particularly arms and legs
5. Increased blood sugar level for higher metabolism
6. Makes fat stores available as an energy source for prolonged activity
7. Increased muscular strength
8. Decreased blood flow from digestion to allow more blood for working muscles
9. Eye pupils enlarge to take in more light
10. Increasedperspirationtocoolyoudownwhenexertingenergy
Unfortunately, all these physical responses to stress are quite ineffective when dealing with events that threaten your ego, finances, or emotional well-being. As a result, what was designed as a means of survival is now linked with the development of disease and illness claiming the lives of millions of people.
Stress Linked to Health
The National Center for Health Statistics in 2000, released a report showing human stress is indeed a critical health factor. Research showed between 70 and 80 percent of all disease and
illness is stress-related, such as coronary heart disease, cancer, kidney and liver disease, migraine headaches, infertility, ulcers, insomnia, and hypertension. All of these can be linked to “lifestyle diseases,” or illnesses developing over a period of many years.
Before 1955, the leading cause of death was infectious diseases, (polio, rubella, tuberculosis, typhoid, etc.) Most of these have been eliminated or brought under control by vaccines. However, the era of higher technology and greater consumer products—designed to add more leisure time—instead has brought increased competition, and resulted in a shift from physical to more mental labor. Advances have made
it possible to contact anyone, anywhere, anytime—meaning you can literally work 24 hours a day.
All this progress has resulted in an overload of unhealthy lifestyles. Coronary Heart disease is the most deadly lifestyle disease and the leading cause of death in the United States.
Stress and Your Life
“Relax Joe... it burns less energy!”
“The only thing more certain than death and taxes is stress.”
~ Groucho Marx
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