Stress is a silent killer !!

The world is witnessing many changes; we are forced to go through all sorts of difficulties to achieve our objectives, in the process we endure stress which little by little generates mental and physiological reactions which lead to many health hazards.

So, can one control stress and lead a healthy life? Dr Aruna Ramakrishnan, gynecologist, child specialist and general physician, enlightens us on how to go lead a stress-free life.

Stress generally happens when you fail to complete your work on time. Fright and flight lead to stress. When you can’t manage your work you normally tend to feel afraid more and try to escape from your work. In the present scenario, we find a lot of stress even in school-going children as all parents want their child to come first in class and win competitions. These young minds suffer excess pressure imposed on them. Likewise, marketing people ranging from 21 to 40 years of age are stressed to a greatest extent as they are bound to achieve their sales targets on time.

What is it we gain from this sort of stress, pressure, tension and anxiety in life? It is nothing but loads of illness. Heartburns, known as acid peptic disease (APD), is one of the results of stress; secondly, hypertension, which leads to added internal side-effects like temporary palpitation and heart-related problems also comes with stress. Stress also leads to diabetes mellitus, says Dr Aruna Ramakrishnan.

To avoid such trouble, we ought to lead a stress-free life, our internal rhythm should not be affected which is possible by doing some recreational activities. Yoga and meditation help vastly in controlling stress, and doing exercise regularly, laughter therapy, having good food habits like consuming green vegetables and avoiding salt and junk food which leads to obesity in future, all help fight stress, explains the doctor.

In foreign countries, employees work hard for five days from Monday to Friday. They relax completely during the weekends and resume work the next week. We follow many unwanted habits from other countries; we must follow some good methods from overseas which help in reducing stress.

Twentyfive years ago, men were more stressed than women. But with women now working the same hours as men and also managing the household work, they are also stressed out. Further, at present, competition is getting tougher to maintain their position at the work place. Consequently, they are as stressed out as the men, feels the doctor.

On the other hand, men feel that if they devour drinks they will be free from stress, but it is not so. They slowly get addicted to alcohol and in the later stages they land up with liver damage.IT people are the worst hit due to stress. Nowadays women are more in this field and due to enormous stress and pressure, infertility has become common, says the gynaec.
Besides ‘stress incontinence’ occurs where one cannot hold urine which happens after 50 years of age and usually it’s not common.

“Stress is a silent killer,” warns the doctor.When you keep the pressure within yourself for a long time and let it out one day, its consequences will be severe. In this mechanical world, the best and easiest way to control stress would be following our ancestors' rule of being punctual and calm as far as possible.