The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked, and stress-related tension builds.

Stress levels affect health, but the effects are not immediately seen. Imbalances of cortisol and other stress-related hormones weaken health over time. Practicing stress management techniques can help minimize the effects of stress on your health.

Emotional and physical changes that happen in your life, illnesses, and environmental components such as extreme heat, cold, or altitude, and toxins cause stress. Pushing your body too hard at work or at play will soon deplete your body of the energy it needs to restore itself and result in your becoming over stressed.

Inappropriately handled stress can be devastating. It lowers our resistance and makes us more vulnerable to illness and disease. The increased inner pressure can cause our health to deteriorate resulting in a variety of serious physical problems. Stress victims can become emotional cripples and physiologically old and run down long before their time. Stress can cause a loss of not only health, but also loss of jobs, loss of families, even loss of life.

Blood pressure fluctuates with age. It gradually increases, as we grow older. It is also known to vary according to the varying hours of the day. But, it has been medically proven that emotional and psychological disturbances due to acute or chronic causes of stress precipitate high blood pressure in human beings.



Behavioral effects of tension are easier to understand. When people are under pressure, it's more likely they will turn to chemicals such as nicotine or alcohol for relief.

Chronic stress induced homeostasis changes and immune reduction, tends to affect the balance between oxidants and antioxidants in the body. Many on-going studies have found that alteration in this balance in favor of oxidants may result in pathological responses causing functional disorders and diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. It can also accelerate the aging process. For, oxidation increases electronegative constituents in body molecules mutilating the 'blue print' of the cells. Multiplication of distorted cells can set in cancer.

Stress affects the mind, body, and behavior in many ways- all directly tied to the physiological changes of the fight-or-flight response. The specific signs and symptoms of stress vary widely from person to person. Some people primarily experience physical symptoms, such as low back pain, stomach problems, and skin outbreaks. In others, the stress pattern centers around emotional symptoms, such as crying jags or hypersensitivity. For still others, a change in the way they think or behave predominates.

Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems.
Heart disease is the number one killer of American women. High blood pressure, heart attacks, heart palpitations, and stroke may be stress related cardiovascular conditions.

Visualization can be a powerful tool to help you improve your life circumstances, but it can also serve as a handy technique for transforming stress and anxiety into peace, happiness and confidence!

Stress and anxiety can quickly become a vicious cycle that keep you feeling powerless and frightened. The more stressed you get, the more your thoughts and emotions will move toward the negative side, which only makes you feel more stressed!

Using visualization to transform these feelings can stop the cycle by switching your focus to something more positive and uplifting.

First and foremost, it's helpful if you can remove yourself from the stressful environment and engage in some relaxation techniques like meditation or deep breathing before you begin your visualization, because your mind will be more receptive if you're calm and centered.

Once you've moved yourself into a more relaxed state, bring to mind a scene that soothes and calms you. You can choose a natural setting like a beach or forest, or imagine a place that is representative of relaxation such as a spa or temple. Imagine yourself being in this place, feeling balanced and calm.

Rather than simply "seeing" the images in your mind, make an effort to mentally transport yourself to this calm setting and engage as many of your senses as you can. Imagine that you can smell the fresh air or incense in the temple; imagine that you can feel the rich earth beneath your feet, hear the roar of ocean waves or bird song, and feel the cool breeze moving through your hair. The more you can involve your senses, the more "real" the scene will seem to you, and the more effective it will be in calming you.

One of the more fascinating measures taken for stress relief can be had with an art therapy. With so many different forms of therapy today it's tough to know which are the most effective for which condition, but art therapy enjoys great success in helping people suffering from a collection of conditions that are both physical and mental. If you are looking for an exciting method for relieving stress, art therapy is a good option.

An art therapy session will help you show others how art can lead to self awareness and understanding, as well as how soothing it can be to engage in the creative process. Taking the time to focus on a piece of art alone can make a tremendous difference in how we live and think and can reduce stress amazingly. Art therapy also helps people to discover things about themselves based on what they draw.