Stress has been widely reported in the news as a health epidemic for more than twenty five years now and the situation continues to worsen as more and more workers report they are increasingly suffering stress at work. Indeed work is now the main environment for the development of stress among adult Americans. But levels of stress have also risen for children and teenagers in recent years and many people now link this to a loss of religious and family values, a lack of social support and simple corporate greed.

Stress today is far more dangerous than it was just ten years ago and looks to be more extensive and more insidious than ever with much greater stress coming from psychological rather than physical threats.

Stress produces a raised heart rate and greater flow of blood leading to higher blood pressure. Levels of blood sugar also rise to give the body the added fuel it requires to fight off stress and our body is programmed to move blood away from the stomach when we are stressed in order to provide extra strength for our arms and legs as part of what is often called our "fight or flight" response.

Stress also produces anxiety and chronic depression as well as to gastrointestinal and skin problems and disrupts the working of a lot of the body's major organs. It can also create an impairment of the immune system which cannot fight off viral disorders from the common and not especially serious cold to serious conditions such as AIDS and cancer.

Work related stress directly influences things like employee absenteeism and productivity and the business climate increasingly worsens with competition these days at an all-time high. The pressure that is placed upon employees to produce and the constant concern about job security can lead to a variety of conditions including back pain, neck pain, stroke, hypertension, ulcers, diabetes and heart attacks.

All sorts of things can create stress including just sitting in front of a computer screen for six hours each day or more, meeting deadlines or having somebody continually monitoring you. Here the results are frequently seen as depression and a number of physical complaints that give rise to lost working hours.

Taking the steps to manage the stress in your life might be the nicest gift you can give yourself and your family and a few quite simple changes to your life can make a huge difference to how you handle stress. For example, taking just 20 minutes out of your day to walk will lower your stress level as will talking to friends, meditation and eating a healthy diet. Take the time necessary to master several relaxation techniques because deep breathing and relaxation exercises can go a long way towards reducing your stress levels.