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years, and perhaps even decades. Whereas infectious 

diseases are treatable by medication, lifestyle diseases 

are, for the most part, preventable or correctable by 

altering the habits and behaviors that contribute to their 

etiology. Previously, it was suggested that an association 

existed between stress and disease. Current research, 

however, suggests that there may, indeed, be a causal 

factor involved with several types of diseases, particu-

larly heart disease, obesity, and auto-immune diseases. 

Regardless, it is well understood that the influence of 

stress weakens the body’s physiological systems, thereby 

rapidly advancing the disease process. The most noto-

rious lifestyle disease, coronary heart disease (CHD), 

continues to be one of the leading causes of death in 

the United States, far exceeding all other causes. The 

American Heart Association states that one person 

dies from heart disease every 34 seconds. Although the 

incidence of CHD has decreased over the past decade, 

cancer—in all its many types—continues to climb the 

statistical charts as the second leading cause of death. 

According to 2012 statistics from the American Cancer 

Society (www.cancer.org), cancer claims the lives of one 

out of every four people in the United States. Alarming 

increases in suicides, child and spouse abuse, self-

mutilation, homicides, alcoholism, and drug addiction 

are only additional symptoms of a nation under stress. 

Today, research shows that people still maintain poor 

coping skills in the face of the personal, social, and even 

global changes occurring over the course of their lives.

Originally, the word stress was a term used in physics, 

primarily to describe enough tension or force placed 

on an object to bend or break it. Relaxation, on the 

other hand, was defined as any nonwork activity done 

during the evenings or on Sunday afternoons when 

all the stores were closed. On rare occasions, if one 

could afford it, relaxation meant a vacation or holiday 

at some faraway place. Conceptually, relaxation was 

a value, influenced by several religions and repre-

sented as a day of rest. The word stress as applied to 

the human condition was first made popular by noted 

physiologist Hans Selye in his book The Stress of Life, 

where he described his research: to understand the 

physiological responses to chronic stress and its rela-

tionship to disease (dis-ease). Today, the word stress is 

frequently used to describe the level of tension people 

feel is placed on their minds and souls by the demands 

of their jobs, relationships, and responsibilities in their 

personal lives. Oddly, for some, stress seems to be a 

status symbol tied to self-esteem.

The stress phenomenon, as it is referred to today, 

is quite new with regard to the history of humanity. 

Barely a household expression when your parents were 

your age, use of the word stress is now as common as 

the terms global warming, iPads, and smartphones. In 

fact, however, stress in terms of physical arousal can 

be traced back to the Stone Age as a “survival mecha-

nism.” But what was once designed as a means of sur-

vival is now associated with the development of disease 

and illness that claims the lives of millions of people 

worldwide. The American Institute of Stress (www.

stress.org) cites the following statistics:

 

■

43 percent of all adults suffer adverse health 

effects due to stress.

 

■

75 to 90 percent of all visits to primary care physi-

cians are for stress-related complaints or disorders.

Stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, 

including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, acci-

dents, cirrhosis, and suicide. Some health experts now 

speculate that perhaps as much as 70 to 85 percent of all 

diseases and illnesses are stress-related.

Comprehensive studies conducted by both the Amer-

ican Psychological Association (APA) and the Harvard 

School of Public Health in Association with NPR 2014 

provided a host of indicators suggesting that human 

stress is indeed a health factor to be reckoned with. 

Prior to 1955, the leading causes of death were the 

sudden onset of illness by infectious diseases (e.g., polio, 

rubella, tuberculosis, typhoid, and encephalitis) that in 

most cases have since been eradicated or brought under 

control by vaccines and medications. The post–World 

War II era ushered in the age of high technology, which 

considerably altered the lifestyles of nearly all peoples 

of every industrialized nation. The start of the 21st 

century has seen the influence of high technology dra-

matically alter our lifestyles. The introduction of con-

sumer products, such as the washer, dryer, microwave 

oven, television, DVD player, laptop computer, and 

smartphone, were cited as luxuries to add more leisure 

time to the workweek. But as mass production of high-

technology items increased, so too did the competitive 

drive to increase human effort and productivity, which 

in turn actually decreased leisure time, and thus created 

a plethora of unhealthy lifestyles, most notably obesity.

Currently, the leading causes of death are dominated 

by what are referred to as lifestyle diseases—those dis-

eases whose pathology develops over a period of several 

 

The Nature of Stress

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