STRESS: IMPACT RESEARCH SUMMARY Why should you take action to
reduce stress in your life when everyone has stress? "Stress is
really a component of every disease," says James Rosenbaum, MD.
Take a look at the adverse health effects of chronic stress:
Cardiovascular illnesses. Chronic stress has been shown to
increase the heart rate and blood pressure, making the heart
work harder to produce the blood flow needed for bodily
functions. Long-term elevations in blood pressure, also seen
with essential hypertension (high blood pressure not related to
stress), are harmful and can lead to myocardial infarction
(heart attack), heart failure, abnormal heart rhythms, and
stroke. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007)
Obesity. "We have known for over a decade that there is a
connection between chronic stress and obesity," Herbert Herzog,
PhD, of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney,
Australia, says in a news release. "We also know that NPY(a
molecule the body releases when stressed ) plays a m