Stress and Diseases
Closely Linked With Free Radicals

Watch this Video about Stress and Diseases

People today are plagued by stress. The links between stress and diseases are almost too numerous to count. If you are like most, you are no stranger to stress.

Health stress, for example, is a very big problem for many. The links between stress and diseases are compelling. Which chronic disease torments you or your family? 75% of people have one chronic disease and 50% suffer from two or more chronic diseases.

This woman suffers from migraine headaches. She says, “Oh no, I have another migraine coming on. I’m so tired of having headaches all the time and sometimes I just want to hide or even die.”

She feels such frustration at the lack of control over her health and she is so demoralized and worn out. People, in North America, today, suffer from more 100 different chronic degenerative diseases.

This man suffers from work stress. His common mantras include, “I can’t believe I missed that deadline. My boss is going to kill me. Why did this have to happen? I’m going to lose my job for sure.”

Emotional stress resulting from high-pressure jobs is absolutely out of control. I’m sure he’s not the only one with these thoughts. Statistics show that graduates today will change jobs at least 14 times before age 38. How many jobs have you had so far?

Work stress is just one of many categories that are pushing people to the edge and can be a key component in the link between stress and diseases.

What about stress associated with technology and computers? Somebody long ago said that computers were supposed to lower stress levels, but we all know how far from the truth that statement turned out to be. This woman says, “I hate computers. They never work.” She’s admonishing herself because she didn’t back up a file and now she knows she must face the music for losing all her work.

Family stress is a very big category. This person faces the problem of what to do about his elderly parent who needs to go into assisted living, a situation affecting millions of people across North America every day. He’s so worried about his mom and thinks it’s just not fair.

He knows that she doesn’t want to go into a home and feels like he’s betraying her. He feels terrible, but what choice does he have because he can’t look after her himself and he feels completely trapped. It's very likely that the stress and diseases link is a major reason why his mother needs to go into a home.

There are 78 million people in the United States, who are between the ages of 45 and 64 in 2010, so we know this problem is only going to get worse.

Let’s not forget the struggling parents. With two parents working in most homes, kids have a lot of free reign. This woman says, “My kids are driving me crazy. I can’t take it. I never get a moment’s peace.

I never have any time just for me. She feels so guilty because sometimes she wishes she didn’t have kids at all. With poor diets, peer pressure, and high stress lifestyles, parenting is not to get easier any time soon.

Self-imposed stress or anxiety is also a very big problem. We are brutal towards ourselves. In fact, we are masters at self-abuse. This man says, “How could I have been so stupid. I must be some kind of an idiot. What was I thinking? I should’ve known better. There’s no excuse.”

We never cut ourselves any slack. In our crazy, high-stressed lives, we have become very poor at putting ourselves very high on our own priority lists. The extreme emotion that we keep repressed within us may be the single largest reason why the link between stress and diseases is so strong.

Relationship stress is something most of us have felt on more than one occasion. This woman says, “I want a divorce.” She’s frustrated because she doesn’t think that he understands her after all these years and she’s confused because she still thinks she loves him and she wonders if she could’ve done something differently. She feels so frustrated and ripped off, because marriage wasn’t supposed to be like this and she feels so trapped.

There is a war on successful relationships these days. It seems, if you are happily and peacefully married, there is something wrong with you.

The biggest one of all is financial stress. Bills, bills, bills. This person says, “I’ll never get out from under this debt. He asks, “Where does the money go?” Bills, bills, bills.

He gets so angry that he just wants to hit something as the debt climbs higher and higher every month. With the world facing a global economic crisis, the financial challenges people face are not going to get easier anytime soon.

The causes of stress mentioned so far are all fairly well-known. The average person is no stranger to at least several of them. However, all the major types of stress and diseases can be grouped into two two major categories that affect us everyday of our lives. All of the causes of stress I have mentioned so far fall into the category called “emotional stress”, but it seems that few people have heard of the other stress category, known as “oxidative stress.”

We understand emotional stress to be that fight or flight response, when the body releases adrenaline and cortizol hormones to help us deal with challenges and threats; however, what few understand is how much damage emotional stress does on overall health and wellness.

Another term, with which many people are becoming familiar, is “free radicals.” These are a major player in the war between stress and diseases. While many of us have heard this term, because of the extensive coverage of this topic in the media, I wonder how many of us truly understand the concept of free radicals, in detail. Could you explain the definition of a free radical if you were asked? Do you understand how they are produced in your body? Do you understand how much damage these little monsters can actually do to you?

Simply put, the most important thing people need to understand is that uncontrolled emotional stress causes free radicals to be produced in huge quantities in our bodies and when too many free radicals are produced and left unchecked, severe oxidative stress occurs and this oxidative stress leads to serious chronic degenerative disease.

Significant scientific data, accumulated over the past 30 years has proven that more than 200 chronic degenerative diseases are all caused by the oxidative stress, brought on by overproduction of free radicals. Emotional stress is not the only thing that causes the production of free radicals, but it is one of the key factors.

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