According to the American Institute of Stress:

• 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress
• 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or disorders
• An estimated 1 million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550,000,000 workdays lost annually because of absenteeism

Let’s add to that information a three-year study conducted by a large corporation that showed 60% of employee absences were due to psychological problems such as stress.

It gets worse… Dr. Elissa Epel, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco, helped conduct the research and then co-wrote a report that identified a direct link between stress and aging. Dr. Epel says, “This is the first time that psychological stress has been linked to a cellular indicator of aging in healthy people.”

Although these might be alarming statistics, stress is actually an important part of survival. We can put some of the blame of our stress and anxiety on our distant ancestors.

In our effort to survive during the Cave Age, we developed the fight-or-flight response – eat or be eaten. When we were stalking the wooly mammoth to eat, or were being stalked by the saber-toothed tiger to be eaten, we developed the ability to manipulate our body chemistry. In these fight-or-flight situations, our mind utilizes adrenaline to direct blood to our larger muscles in our legs and arms, and our brains start firing faster in order to improve our reaction time. These abilities are critical to our survival and a fundamental element that still resides in our genetics.

What has changed over time is how often we use this ability. The fight-or-flight response was designed for short-term use only. Once the threat is overcome, the chemicals are reabsorbed into our system and we naturally calm down. Unfortunately, most of us have our switch stuck in a permanent “on” position and continually flood our body with stress chemicals.

The primary difference between useful stress and harmful stress is how often it occurs. Eustress, the useful form, occurs when stress leads to actions that are beneficial to the person. You might also hear the term “state anxiety” which is anxiety of either a temporary nature or is specific to a particular stimulus. Short term stress is vital to mobilize us into action. Distress, the harmful form of stress, is long-term and, in the case of what is called “trait anxiety”, is a general state of anxiety. Long term stress breaks down our bodies and forces our bodily defenses to focus on the stress chemicals and not defending against such diseases as colds, stroke, cancer, ulcers and coronary heart disease.

Long-term stress harms us mentally and physically. Yet, why do most people wait until they are sick to take action? We are well aware of the harmful effects, and yet we continue with the damaging behavior.

There are four main sources of distress: environment (such as weather, noise, traffic and pollution), social stressors (such as deadlines, financial problems, and disagreements), physiological (such as menopause, illness, accidents and poor nutrition), and, the most insidious, your own thoughts. Fortunately, you can take action, now, to reduce or eliminate your stress both mentally and physically.

Soon to follow: Practical solutions to reduce both mental and physical stress.