Stress has been called America’s number one health challenge.

Surveys of the American public indicate that over 75% of all visits to primary care doctors or hospital Emergency rooms were due to health problems related to stress.

Stress is a physiological or psychological response to events in your environment that represent a change in circumstances that is perceived by your body or mind as a threat. An ongoing emergency mode of responding to stressors can lead to stress burnout.

Prolonged and repeated activation of your stress response can take a heavy toll on your body, increasing the chances for stress related illness and disease to occur. Chronic stress or stress burnout can eventually contribute to disease states such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, insomnia, strokes, ulcers, weight gain or weight loss.

Due to the increasingly hectic pace of life in our society, and given that change of almost any kind can induce stress, it is helpful to know how to reduce or minimize stress so that you can avoid stress burnout and lead a healthy, happy, and productive life.