Stress Archive

Simply observing the breath can damp down stress and open a door to a more healthy and mindful lifestyle.

Psychological stress has a devastating effect on health. Research shows that people with heart disease do worse over time if they don't control stress, and stress seems to be associated with a higher risk for cancer. Stress is strongly associated with poorer memory and more aches and pains. However, reducing stress helps you sleep more restfully and control high blood pressure.

Millions of Americans have turned to meditation to reduce stress, ease anxiety, and relieve depression. Although there aren't any risks associated with the practice, there also hasn't been much medical evidence to confirm meditation works. To add some medical validity to the claims about meditation, researchers analyzed 47 studies involving some 3,500 participants. Their review, which was published online January 6, 2014, in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that meditation did improve anxiety, depression, and pain, although it didn't have much of an effect on eating habits, sleep, weight, or attention. One of the techniques studied in the review was mindfulness meditation, which teaches practitioners to sit calmly and quietly and focus their mind inward so they can connect with their body. If you're interested in learning more about this practice, look for a class at a local college or community center.

The symptoms may be short-lived, but you should take them every bit as seriously as you would a true stroke.

You might have heard a transient ischemic attack (TIA) referred to by its more common nickname, "mini-stroke." This moniker has led to a lot of confusion about the true nature of a TIA. "Because of what the term implies, everybody thinks it's just a tiny stroke. The truth is, the symptoms can be pretty severe," says Dr. Natalia Rost, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Acute Stroke Service at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The real connection between stress and heart disease, and what to do if you're under too much pressure.

You're stuck in traffic, late to an important appointment. Your breath quickens. Your heart races. Your muscles tense. As your anxiety builds, you might even feel like you're on the verge of having a heart attack.

Reduce emotional stress to avoid heart attack.

Emotional stress imperils 70% of people with heart disease.

Millions of baseball fans will tune in tonight for the opening game of the World Series. Boston Red Sox versus St. Louis Cardinals. Sportswriters are saying it will be an interesting series between two well-matched teams. Football fans have it easy. They have to sit through just one big game to decide the year’s champion. For us baseball fans, it could take seven games spread over nine days to determine this year’s champion. That means fans need to approach the series as a marathon, not a sprint. Pay attention to sleep, exercise, food, alcohol, and emotions. The Red Sox and Cardinals are two very likable teams. Commentators point out that these guys play the game the “right way.” The players themselves say it’s going to be fun. Let’s see if we fans can remember that baseball is a game. This World Series should be fun to watch. Whoever you’re rooting for, have fun watching.

Q. I hear that stress causes our cells to age faster. Is there something to this, or is it just more nonsense to worry about?

A. I think you're probably talking about research showing that stress affects a critically important part of every cell in our body—the telomeres. If so, it is not nonsense. In fact, it's part of a discovery so important that it led to the Nobel Prize.

For some children, beginning kindergarten represents a scary transition. They wonder about making new friends and getting used to a new teacher—will they be able to find the bathroom, where will they eat snack, how will they fit in? There are several ways to help make the transition a smooth one. These include acknowledging the child’s fear as real and appropriate while offering reassurance, talking about the transition in a positive way, doing play therapy at home, visiting the school beforehand if possible, and reading to the child about starting kindergarten.

It helps reduce stress and anxiety, which can lower heart rate and blood pressure while reducing harmful hormones.

There's more to heart attack and stroke prevention than medications, exercise, and diet. The latest research confirms that people who practice meditation are significantly less likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die within five years. "Meditation can be a useful part of cardiovascular risk reduction," says cardiologist Dr. Deepak Bhatt, a professor at Harvard Medical School. "I do recommend it, along with diet and exercise. It can also help decrease the sense of stress and anxiety."

How does meditation affect you physiologically? "It appears to produce changes in brain activity. It also can lower your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, oxygen consumption, adrenaline levels, and levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress," says Dr. Bhatt.

Memory slips are aggravating, frustrating, and sometimes worrisome. When they happen more than they should, they can trigger fears of looming dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. But there are some treatable causes of forgetfulness.