Stress is often called the “twentieth century disorder” due to its omni-present nature these days. It is what accompanies fame, success, money, technological advancement which are the things that everybody in this aspires.

In this fast paced world, everything needs to be perfect and up to the mark. The result is stress. Stress is nothing but, how our body reacts to different challenging and taxing situations that we face in life. These situations are generally seen to be created at the work place.

Stress and work:

Stress prevails everywhere, in every field, every age group and every region. In today’s world of cut-throat competition and sky high expectations, it is very important to manage stress, rather reduce it. Stress and work are seen to be closely related terms these days. The more competitive the firm you work in, the more you have chances of being stressed. Life becomes all about work, files, shares, documents, presentations, meetings, deadlines, clients, less sleep, less food and not to forget, stress. Life is fast, life becomes hectic and the individual eats sleeps and drinks tension. And the result shows on the body and mind.  Stress is small amounts is favorable as it increases the competence of an individual. But excess of everything is bad and same is the case with stress. If one’s stress levels cross a limit, the situation can be grave and a psychiatrist may need to be seen.

Combating stress:

Stress has physical as well as psychological symptoms, same way, reducing stress includes both managing its physical repercussions along with instilling a positive attitude towards life. While managing stress, the following aspects should be kept in mind:

Laughter:
Laughter is the best medicine to help a person recover from conditions of stress and depression. It is important for a stressed individual to never stay alone and express himself always.

Proper sleep and food:
A stressed out individual needs to take a short break from work ands relax in order to refresh the body and soul and prepare them for more challenges of life.

Physical aspect:
To be able to cope with stress, one needs to first analyze and understand how his body reacts to a challenging situation. Medication needs to be taken in order to overcome the consequences like back ache, insomia and fatigue. It is human tendency to evaluate everything mentally and that at times leads to a condition of stress. So to keep stress away, have a dose of laughter every time you feel low.
Stress and health are closely linked to each other. It is well known that stress can induce risky body-mind disorders and immediate disorders such as dizzy spells, anxiety, tension, insomnia, nervousness, depression and muscle cramps can all result in chronic health problems. In the long run these disorders may also affect our immune, cardiovascular and nervous systems.

How does it affect our health?

When the stress is overburdened people tend to eat irregular and tend to sleep less which affects the health. In stress we may harm our self both physically and mentally. Recent research have also shown that stressful life events can hasten the progression of AIDS in HIV-positive patients and also shows that disease progression to AIDS was more rapid in the presence of severe life stressors, absence of social support systems, negative attitude, and elevated cortisol levels. Some other health effects are:
* Asthma: a stressful situation can make the airways over-reactive and precipitate an attack in asthma patients which is too dangerous.
* Migraines/ Backaches: It is now established that stress, cognitive appraisal, coping and migraine are reciprocally related and it is detrimental to the body and can cause back pains, neck pains and headaches which then becomes worst pain as the tension increases.
* Ulcers and digestive disorders: In severe stress conditions blood supply to the stomach is restricted that hampers normal digestive functions. Also, the function of the entire intestine is controlled partly by the nervous system, which in turn is directly affected by stress and including one's diet during stress can offset gastrointestinal disorders such as an ulcer or irritable bowel syndrome. These symptoms become worst if somebody is already suffering from gastrointestinal disorders.
* Cancer and Neuro-Degenerative Disorders: A research study showed stress induced reduction in T-Lymphocytes where white blood cells that destroy cancer cells in the human body are leading to an increase in metastasis. Even women suffering from breast cancer reestablished the fact that stressors cause lowest levels of natural-killer-cell activity in the body.
There are many other diseases that affect the health such as flu, pneumonia and common cold.

How to overcome these health affects?
By learning stress management you can keep your health good because stress affects your health badly which harms you physically and mentally.