Stress has been in the news as a health epidemic since the early eighties and this situation is continuing to get worse as more and more workers say that they are suffering increasing stress at work. In fact the workplace now constitutes the leading environment for stress among American adults. But stress levels have also risen for children in the past few years and a lot of people believe that this is linked to a loss of religious and family values, insufficient social support and simple corporate greed.

Today, stress is much more of a danger than it was a decade ago and looks to be more extensive and more insidious than before with much more stress coming from psychological instead of physical threats.

Stress produces a rise in heart rate and greater blood flow leading to higher blood pressure. Levels of blood sugar also rise to provide the body with the added fuel that it requires to fight stress and our body is programmed to push blood away from the stomach when under stress to provide additional strength in the legs and arms as part of what is often referred to as our "fight or flight" response.

Stress also produces chronic depression and anxiety as well as to skin and gastrointestinal problems and disrupts the work of a number of the body's major organs. It also causes impairment of the body's immune system that in unable to shake off viral conditions from the not particularly serious cold to serious diseases such as cancer and AIDS.

Stress at work directly influences things like employee absenteeism and productivity and the business climate increasingly worsens with competition nowadays at an all-time high. The pressure which is placed upon workers to produce and the continual concern about job security can produce a host of conditions including neck pain, back pain, stroke, hypertension, ulcers, diabetes and heart attacks.

Many different things can cause stress including simply sitting in front of a computer screen for seven hours a day or more, meeting targets or having someone checking on you constantly. Here the results are usually seen as depression and several physical ailments which result in lost working days.

Taking the necessary steps to manage the stress in your life may well be the nicest gift that you can give yourself and your family and a few quite simple changes to your life can make a huge difference to the way in which you handle stress. For example, taking only 20 minutes each day to walk will lower your stress as will talking to other people, meditation and prayer and eating a healthier diet. Take the time necessary to master some relaxation techniques because deep breathing and relaxation exercises can considerably reduce your level of stress.