Stress Diseases Affect Health, Part 1

The term "stress diseases" is applied to conditions which show bodily symptoms originating from the nervous and parasympathetic systems.

Diseases like toxic goiter (hyperthyroidism/thyrotoxicosis), high blood pressure (nonrenal hypertension) and duodenal ulcer belong to this group.

When life was less stressful, such diseases were rare. But with the rush and hurry of modern life they have become more common.

Unfortunately, stress diseases attack the most useful members of society: the intelligent, ambitious and hard-working ones. Those who are placid and less ambitious seldom suffer. Thus we find people living closest to nature, such as primitive savages, completely free from these complaints. Nature, it seems, takes a heavy toll among those who disobey her laws; the occurrence of these diseases is more prevalent in developed and industrialized countries.

Those who combine hard work with considerable responsibility and anxiety are potential victims of the stress diseases. We find executives, doctors and other professionals suffering from duodenal ulcer. Irregular working hours and hurried meals combine to produce that state of anxiety and nervous tension which leads to eventual breakdown.

Nobody can digest and enjoy a meal if he is worried and upset. Is it any wonder that a state of constant worry and anxiety can cause digestive disorders that may lead to duodenal ulcer?

Competition is intense in modern society and a person must strive hard to make a difference in a highly competitive environment. If he is fortunate enough to succeed, he must fight harder to stay on top. There is the constant fear that somebody might displace him. At the start, there are frustrations confronting him and anxieties to overcome. Then let us not forget that the worst enemy is--you guess it--himself.

For financial reasons, marriage may not be possible until the professional is ready to support a family. Often he may be embittered by lack of worldly success, sometimes even the envy of those who have gotten on better than himself adds to his unhappiness.

(In the next posting, we will address the relationship between mental-emotional stresses and bodily disorders, commonly known as "psychosomatic diseases")