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Because stress is very often a major component of contemporary life, the word itself has become part of our everyday vocabulary. No one is immune to stress. But when stress becomes a persistent negative factor in your life, it can cause a collapse of your body’s defenses, which, in turn, cause a breakdown in your resistance to illness, disease, chronic conditions, or mental disorders. Stressful situations produce reactions that can manifest themselves differently from one individual to another, and even from one gender to another. For example, it has been proven that the mere activity of talking to someone causes a stress response: In men, the blood pressure becomes elevated, and in women the blood pressure does not change as much as the heart rate Of course, the severity of a stress reaction varies in accordance with the Stimulus. A stimulus may be as minor as talking to someone in a position of superiority, or it may be a major trauma, such as the death of a spouse. A “stress scale” has been developed by Thomas H. Holmes, a doctor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. This scale establishes the relationship between significant events in a person’s life and physical or emotional disorders. To give you an example of how these events rank, the death of a spouse has a mean value of 100, a divorce 73, a marital separation 65, retirement 45, pregnancy 40, sexual difficulties 39, changing to a new school 20, and a vacation 13. Of those people who have a score exceeding 300 for the past year, almost 80 percent become ill in the near future; with a score of 150 to 299, about 50 percent become ill in the near future; and with a score of less than 150, only about 30 percent become ill. So the more life changes you experience, the harder you need to work to stay well. Your environment and your body are major culprits in the stress syndrome. External conditions in the environment that you may not recognize as stress stimuli can wreak their own havoc. These may include frequent exposure to crowds, exposure to danger, unsatisfactory domestic living conditions, undesirable weather, or noise. Those stresses which result from the body, from physiological sources, are of two kinds: avoidable and unavoidable. In the avoidable category are those that are the result of such conditions as poor diet or insomnia. Those in the unavoidable category include such conditions as aging or adolescence. Regardless of the type of stress your body is undergoing, the physical ailments that may result are many and varied: headaches, peptic ulcers, arthritis, colitis, diarrhea, asthma, cardiac arhythmia, sexual problems, circulatory problems, muscle tension, and even cancer.
Certain familiar illnesses, such as allergies, asthma, diabetes, and heart disease, may be inherited. That is, you may be predisposed to these conditions. There are three courses this type of health problem can take: (1) It may manifest itself at a relatively early age, or even at birth. (2) It may become evident during a period of extreme stress due to a dramatic change in your life pattern or during a time of difficult and prolonged personal demands. (3) It may remain as a dormant condition throughout your entire life. If your inherited health problem takes the third course, you have no need to worry. However, if you became the victim of an inherited illness or disease at birth or during your childhood, you can take action to combat or perhaps even alleviate the symptoms of your health problem. Similarly, if the problem surfaced at a time of extreme stress, you can first treat the stress and then focus on the specific symptom or condition.
When suffering from the shock produced by an injury or accident, your body reacts in a variety of ways. Three of the major reactions are (1) lower blood pressure, (2) a diminished pulse rate, and (3) a temperature below normal. In extreme cases, the shock can result in death. In all cases, the shock of accident or injury produces a breakdown of the body’s defense. Specifically, shock is a depression of cessation of the influences of the nervous system over various important bodily functions, principally the circulation and respiration. The results vary in intensity, depending on the patient and the injury. Therefore, the effect may be temporary or it may linger, resulting in a chronic condition. In this state, your immune system is weakened, and you are more prone to illness or general health problems. For example, some people become allergic to things that previously had not produced any allergic reaction at all. Of course, you can also experience illness, disease, or chronic disorders as a direct result of an injury or accident. These problems may include back spasms, arthritic conditions in the injured joints, tendonitis, numbness, tingling, cardiac arhythmia, colitis, or respiratory problems.
Hiv
(Human Immuno Deficiency Virus) is the virus that can cause AIDS
(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). HIV destroys certain cells
in the body, weakening the immune system and causing a person to
be defenseless again opportunistic infections such as: Studies show emotions have a tremendous impact on the immune system. Fear, anger, depression, and stress take their toll both emotionally and physically. These feelings are to be expected since the HIV/AIDS infected person faces many complex issues.
Symptoms of the disease range from deep emotional distress to pain caused by medical treatments and surgery. Some people experience pain associated with specific organs, fatigue, irritability, low blood count, infection, insomnia, and side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, such as nausea and vomiting. |