Stress​—A Modern Epidemic

HAVE you been infected?

It would be surprising if you haven’t, for it is a worldwide epidemic. Famous heart surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley has said that the problem “affects every twentieth-century man or woman.”

But this “infection” is not one that you can fight with antibiotics or have cut out on an operating table. Nor does the remedy lie in pills.

Stress has been likened to a dangerous virus that has infected modern man. You probably have noted its symptoms, even felt them yourself​—The knot of tension in your stomach. The splitting headache caused by the pressures of life. The feeling that ‘you’re going to explode,’ that you ‘just can’t take it anymore.’ The constant exhaustion.

The South African newsmagazine “To The Point” observed: ‘Beginning in the middle of the 14th century, the plague rampaged through Europe, killing a quarter of the population. But today, six centuries later, Europe and the West are facing a less dramatic but equally devastating and more insidious epidemic. Today’s disease manifests itself in many forms, but all are rooted in a single poison: stress. Dubbed the “Twentieth Century Killer,” stress arises mainly from the psychological demands of life.’

A Killer Epidemic

But is stress really so serious as to be called a “killer”? And should you personally be concerned about it, for yourself as well as for your family? YES!

Researchers are discovering that the modern epidemic of stress has contributed to or caused much disease and death. The same report in “To The Point” continued: “The physical ills [stress] generates now contribute to a vast number of hospital cases and deaths each year​—at least tens of millions.”

Recently “The Wall Street Journal” published a front-page article, “Research Is Indicating that Stress Is Linked to Physical Illness.” In part, the report said “that severe or prolonged stress can make the body more vulnerable to ailments ranging from skin rashes and the common cold to heart attacks and cancer.”

Oh, we might feel that a few rashes or colds are not too serious. But all of us can appreciate the seriousness of something that could give us heart attacks or cancer. If we have not been touched by those terrible maladies, we likely know individuals who have.

Some persons may imagine that the epidemic of stress, with its resulting damage, affects only adults in certain high-pressure jobs. But if that were so, why would Dr. Cooley have said that it affects us all? No, stress today afflicts young and old, including many persons whom we might not think would be affected.

In the article “Stress Gives Children Diseases of Adults,” Japan’s “Daily Yomiuri” reported that stress is causing many youths to fall victim to ulcers, heart ailments, diabetes, obesity and exhaustion.

Also, many adults who have to deal with today’s youths are suffering ill effects from stress. An Ontario, Canada, study showed “that teachers die four years earlier than members of other professions and stress is one of the contributing factors.” Many mothers can easily believe that. With just one or two children, mothers today often are under so much stress that they feel frazzled constantly.

Children come into the picture in another way, too. After years of research in Europe and Canada, Dr. Dennis Stott concluded: “Stresses on pregnant women​—particularly the tensions of unhappy marriage—​are causing widespread physical, mental and emotional damage to children in the womb.”​—Toronto Star.

Even if you are well aware of today’s stresses​—feeling that this epidemic has already hit you or your loved ones—​could you explain what “stress” actually is? How does it affect your body? And, perhaps of greatest interest and importance to you, what, in practical terms, can you do to cope with stress?

What Is This Thing Called “Stress”?

YOUR boss yells at you, even though it was someone else who made the mistake.

The teacher at school laughs at you in front of the class.

While you are busy cooking the supper meal your child knocks over a vase and the phone starts ringing.

Yes, you know what stress is​—at least to some extent.

When we think of stress, many of us have in mind such pressures of life, or more severe ones such as loss of a mate or mounting bills. But how many of us know what goes on in our body during stress? How can these bodily changes affect our health? What are the symptoms of damaging stress? And how can we best cope with the stress we face, so as to find more happiness and peace?

What Is It?

“Stress” means different things to different people. The term conveys to many the thought of tension or pressure. But that is only part of the picture.

In newspaper accounts of some airplane crashes you may have read that stress led to metal fatigue, causing a part to fail and the plane to crash. That stress was a force on a piece of metal that tended to strain or distort it. It snapped. The plane crashed.

In some ways it can be similar with human stress. It is some physical or emotional thing that affects our body, to which we need to adapt or else we may be harmed. Some examples: You are out in the sun on a hot day. Your body heats up. That is a form of stress. Or you exert yourself in a ball game or when hoeing the garden. Your muscles get tired, because there is a temporary chemical imbalance in them. That is stress, too. Yet you have regulating devices to counteract such stress and restore a healthy balance. One is perspiration to cool your body. Another is a good night’s sleep, which allows your muscles to restore themselves. The stress passes.

But today it is common to think of stress in connection with emotional pressure or tension, which also can produce bodily changes. When we do not appreciate what changes are occurring in us, we may not know how to cooperate with our body’s efforts to adapt.

“Fight or Flight”

Without intending to put you under any tension, we invite you to imagine yourself in this situation: You are walking down a dimly lit street one evening. Up ahead you see three young toughs crossing the street toward you. What happens inside you?

Sensing a possible danger, you feel as if an alarm goes off. You tense and begin breathing more deeply. The hormone adrenaline surges into your bloodstream. Your liver releases stored sugar. The sugar and fat (cholesterol) levels in your blood rise, fueling you for peak performance. Your heart beats faster. More blood flows to your muscles. You are alert, prepared for swift action or decisions. This “fight or flight” response is triggered by emotions such as fear or anger.

However, this response is not of itself bad or harmful. In this case it might ready you to run faster than you thought you could. Or it might help you to control yourself and give a mild answer if insulted. (Prov. 15:1; Matt. 5:39) But the same response also readies you for productive work or play, as in an exciting ball game. Suddenly the ball is coming at you! You must catch it and throw it back quickly. You are keyed up and ready to act.

What, though, if you are under prolonged emotional strain so that you are constantly in this alerted, excited state, with no relieving action for which your body is ready?

For instance, a man has to inspect parts on a rapidly moving assembly line, or he feels that his boss dislikes him, or he must endure at a task that bores or frustrates him. Or a woman has been deserted by her mate. She feels rejected, yet now she must battle the pressures of a secular job, while caring for the children and home in the evenings.

When someone is regularly in such a tense state, with little relief or understanding of how to cope, stress is common. In fact, some authorities term that state “distress,” for it is harmful, prolonged, severe stress that can easily damage the body.

This constant, excessive stress threatens the body’s normal equilibrium. Among other things, it can cause cholesterol to accumulate in the arteries or produce hardening of the arteries. The lymphatic system and white blood cells can be affected, hindering the body’s ability to fight disease and react to foreign substances.

Symptoms You Can Look For

You may feel that no one needs to tell you when you are under stress. But are you sure? It is true that sometimes you can feel the tension or pressure. Yet in many cases persons fail to link certain symptoms with stress. Hence, they may at best take action to deal just with the symptom, never really touching the underlying cause. That may be so with any of us.

For instance, a 39-year-old man got a particularly demanding job assignment, which for months required concentration and extra-time work in the evenings and on weekends. He began sleeping poorly and developed pain in his lower back that special exercises and treatments did not relieve. Was the troubled sleep caused by his back problem, or the other way around? Actually, when the period of intense work was past, both symptoms disappeared. Why? What do you think?

Some common symptoms of excessive stress or tension are:

Unusual irritability: Others notice and even comment that you are more easily angered or disturbed by petty things.

Troubled sleep: It takes you longer than normal to fall asleep, or you find yourself waking up and, for hours, unable to doze off.

Altered breathing: You catch yourself in a pattern of short, shallow breathing with no apparent reason.

Muscle stiffness: Not attributable to healthy work or exercise.

Uneasy or painful stomach: May be associated with loss of appetite or inability to eat more than small amounts at one time.

Excitableness: Change in normal patterns, so that one becomes a nonstop talker, easily begins shaking or trembling over small things.

We shouldn’t assume, of course, that the appearance of any one of such symptoms proves we are the victim of extreme stress that is damaging our health. A person may have back pains because of lacking sufficient exercise, or because he strained muscles due to improper lifting. Someone else may have trouble sleeping because he eats shortly before retiring or drinks coffee or tea in the evening. But if you have some of these symptoms for no accountable reason, you might consider whether you are becoming a victim of damaging stress.

Consider the Causes

No one likes to think about the various pressures on him. Why not just forget our troubles? many think. But since stress can have such harmful results, it would do us good to note a few of the common causes of stress today. If we are aware of these, and perhaps recognize that some of these are affecting us, we will be better equipped to counteract or cope with stress.

The accompanying chart identifies what researchers found to be among life’s most stressful problems or situations. Have you been involved in one of these? Then you likely have experienced stress.

Many persons find that their environment causes stress. They may live in a crowded city where they are always on the defensive, being jammed or squeezed. Steady loud or grating noise also causes stress. This should be noted especially by persons who must live or work under noisy conditions and who then “relax” by punishing their ears with shrill, pounding or blaring music. Poor air can add to one’s burden of stress, too.

We already mentioned some stressful aspects of many jobs. But what adds to the problem for many is the competitive spirit centered on ‘getting ahead’ or acquiring the luxuries that others have. (Compare Ecclesiastes 2:22-24; 4:4.) Doctors in the Federal Republic of Germany “blame most of the country’s stress on the ‘Leistungsgesellschaft’, or ‘performance society’, in which the pursuit of material achievement and conspicuous consumption, born with the German ‘economic miracle’, is still the major feature.”

While sleeplessness may be a symptom of stress, with some it is a cause. They push themselves, trying to squeeze too much in a day, and thus deprive themselves of needed sleep. Also, staying up late to watch TV news or programs, especially those that produce tension, can hurt in two ways​—reducing the amount of sleep and hindering sound sleep.

Tense, competitive driving in heavy traffic; constant disharmony in the home or with in-laws; worry over inflation or the dwindling buying power of one’s money; a move to a new school or neighborhood; letting life’s minor irritations produce steady, even though suppressed, anger. These are additional causes of a stress problem for many persons.

While physically and emotionally we are equipped to recover from stress, the effects of stress tend to be cumulative. Complicating this is the fact that as we age (perhaps speeded up by stress itself) our ability to respond to stress diminishes.

But there is no reason for you to despair as if stress is just another burden you cannot escape or overcome. Studies reveal that some 25 percent of survivors of years in Nazi concentration camps​—certainly an extreme in prolonged stress—​displayed no resulting stress-related physical problems.

So you can do something about this thing called “stress.” And there are even reasons why you can look forward to permanent relief from the problem of stress in your life.

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LIFE’S MOST ‘STRESSFUL’ SITUATIONS

RANK LIFE EVENT

1 Death of spouse

2 Divorce

3 Marital separation

4 Jail term

5 Death of close family member

6 Personal injury or illness

7 Marriage

8 Fired at work

9 Marital reconciliation

10 Retirement

11 Change in health of family member

12 Pregnancy

13 Sex difficulties

14 Gain of new family member

15 Business readjustment

Based on research by Drs. T. Holmes and R. H. Rahne​—“Modern Maturity.”

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(For fully formatted text, see publication)

YOUR BODY RESPONDS TO STRESS

Fear or anger produces the “fight or flight” response

HEART

beats faster

LUNGS

faster breathing

LIVER

sugar and fats into blood

STOMACH

digestion slows

EYES

pupils dilate

MUSCLES

tense, ready for action

ADRENAL GLANDS

powerful hormone released

You Can Cope With Stress​—But How?

YOU may realize that stress is now epidemic and that it can dispose you to serious illness. But what can you do about it?

As mentioned in the previous article, one of the most important steps is to identify the cause or source of your stress. Volume 1 of “Understanding Human Behavior” explains why this is so vital: “Remember that stress exists when a physical or psychological problem is keeping mind and body on constant if not necessarily high-level alert. In many cases the physical and psychological problems need only to be identified for them to be removed [and] the stress will inevitably disappear.” The point is, if you can isolate clearly in your mind what is putting you under stress, your response to it will likely be less severe even if the cause cannot be avoided.

Let us, though, focus in on some practical suggestions that certainly can help you to cope with stress that you may face.

Try to Adapt

Some persons strive to get away from much of what produces stress. For instance, they may change where they live or work so as to get away from tension-producing conditions, such as working where it is noisy or smelly, or living in a crowded, dirty city.

That may help, but such drastic measures are not always needed to reduce stress. For example, to reduce the stress of commuting on crowded buses or highways, some leave earlier or later. They profitably use the waiting time to read, study or write letters. But, more importantly, by adapting in this way they gain confidence that they are in control of their lives, which experts say is a key to coping with stress.

Adaption can help parents. Some parents seem to careen from one crisis to another. What may be needed to decrease the stress from this source is for them to establish firm, consistent guidelines for the children. The Bible has proved to be an excellent source of wise advice on living with and training children. (Compare Ephesians 6:1-4; Proverbs 29:15, 17.) Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses who have applied that godly advice have benefited by facing less stress.

As another illustration, what could you do to adapt if noise is adding to your stress? At home, shutting the windows, putting up drapes to absorb sound or closing the door to a room where a radio or television is being used may help. Similar steps might be possible on the job, or you could consider using small ear protectors to reduce noise-produced tension. Similarly, keeping your living or working area neat and clean may cut down on stress by making your surroundings more pleasant for you.

Likely any adaptions of this sort that you make will not totally eliminate potentially harmful stress. But even if it just reduces the stress, your life will be healthier and happier.

Talk Out Stress

Don’t keep all your worries and stress bottled up inside. You will find much relief in ‘getting it off your chest.’ Discuss it with a sympathetic friend whom you respect and who may be able to help or advise. You naturally don’t want to be, and shouldn’t be, a complainer or whiner about troubles real or imagined. But you do not become that by confiding in a trusted friend.

Beyond just emotional relief, you may get a new view of your problems, benefiting from the practical suggestions of an experienced person. (Prov. 18:24; 20:5; Titus 2:3-5) Many have been helped with stress by pouring out their feelings to God, who hears the entreating cries and prayers of distressed ones.​—2 Chron. 6:19.

Exercise Will Help You

Recall that your body often manifests the “fight or flight” response to stress; it is prepared for strenuous effort. Regular physical exercise will help you to use up the extra sugars and fats in your blood caused by stress, thus counteracting the biochemical effects of stress and restoring your body’s healthy balance.

So do you like to exercise, as when swimming, hiking or playing tennis? Then exercise. And if you are under stress but don’t like to exercise, exercise anyway. You’ll feel better, especially if you do some sort of energetic exercise daily, even as you daily feel stress.

The healthful exercise you choose may be the long walk to and from the grocery store, rather than taking the car or a bus. It might be walking up the stairs rather than using the elevator. Or you might ‘burn off stress’ in useful work such as spading a small garden, beating the dust out of the carpet or other useful deeds.

Balance Work and Play

Many persons view work and play as hostile enemies of each other, which view just adds to the stress they may feel.

It helps to appreciate that work is not an evil plague. It is physically and mentally good for you to be active and productive, such as in earning a living and the means to enjoy play. (Eccl. 3:12, 13) In “Stress Without Distress,” Dr. Hans Selye comments: “Your most important aim should not be to work [or be occupied] as little as possible. . . . For the full enjoyment of leisure, you have to be tired first, as for the full enjoyment of food the best cook is hunger.”

Even when you are working, take a few moments regularly to “play” by stretching. That can relieve the muscles of your face, neck, shoulders and back, lessening any buildup of stress.

But just as you make time for work, make time for relaxation. Yes, schedule some recreation, perhaps a hobby that will absorb you and divert you from the physical or emotional causes of your stress. Dr. Selye adds: “In most instances, diversion from one activity to another is more relaxing than complete rest.”

Get Enough Sleep

Some persons make a habit of staying up to socialize over a cup of coffee or to watch a TV program, maybe a comedy or a “talk show,” that they say helps them to unwind. Whatever claimed relaxing effect there might be must be weighed against the constant sleep debt that may be built up. A sleep deficiency is itself a stress on the mind and body, and makes one less able to cope with other stress.

Since stress causes physical changes in the body, you can see why it is vital to get enough rest and sleep. Sleep lets your body repair itself, restoring the balanced biochemical state. Well did Shakespeare describe it: “Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care. The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

So if you are a victim of stress, try getting more sleep, especially by forming a normal sleep pattern week in and week out.

Adjust Your Viewpoint

In your coping with stress, the most important thing is not where or how you live or work. Nor is it how much exercise or sleep you get. It is how you view life and its problems or stresses.

A three-year study of air-traffic controllers shows a very high incidence of hypertension. But not all suffered ill effects. Dr. Robert M. Rose found that ‘what seemed to increase the incidence of illness was the attitude the men had toward their work.’ Similarly, after decades of research in stress, Dr. Hans Selye wrote: “Rather than relying on drugs or other techniques, I think there’s another, a better way to handle stress, which involves taking a different attitude toward the various events in our lives.”

You need to learn to evaluate your priorities in life. Perhaps you face a situation that will involve stress​—a new job, a social function, having another child, taking out a loan for a major purchase. Before deciding what to do or how to respond, ask, ‘Am I willing to accept the stress involved? Is it worth it? Just how important is this to my life?’ Such sane evaluation will help you to realize your limitations and priorities, resulting in your being a happier person.

Much of what the Bible says about one’s viewpoint toward money conveys this same idea. For example, the apostle Paul wrote: “Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires, . . . The love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some . . . have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.” (1 Tim. 6:9, 10) Also, Jesus told of a man who exerted himself to accumulate much wealth, only to die suddenly. Christ concluded: “So it goes with the man that lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21) He urged us not to be anxious​—to feel stress and worry—​about food, clothing and shelter. ‘Not easy,’ you say. True. But the point is that we must begin working to have that outlook. Do not forget, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Jesus added in the Sermon on the Mount: “Never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own badness.” (Matt. 6:25-34) That Biblical counsel comes to the very heart of the most up-to-date advice on how you can best cope with stress.

Lasting Relief from Stress?

It would be unrealistic to think that we could fully avoid stress today. No matter how we live or how fine our attitude is, there will be things that can cause us harmful stress. Crime still abounds. Prejudice and injustice bring grief. So we must learn how to cope with stress.

But could damaging stress​—distress—​be brought to an end someday? The answer based on evidence is, Yes. Your learning how and when that will be can affect your ability to cope with stress right now. The following article will examine this important matter.

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TOWN BANK

Relief From Stress​—Presently and Permanently

WHAT answers would you get if you took a general survey, asking: “Will damaging stress ever be fully eliminated?”

Based on what they have experienced, or on what experts predict for the future, most would likely answer that harmful stress will always be with us.

A few, though, might blithely say that things will turn out fine, that man will solve the problems and eliminate damaging stress.

That view may, however, reflect an ineffective effort to cope with stress. Regarding this, Professor Irving Janis commented: “Another defective coping pattern [is], ‘defensive avoidance,’ which involves seeking relief from emotional tensions by engaging in wishful thinking.”​—The New York Times, Sunday, May 18, 1980.

A sad thing is that many persons who are trying to cope with stress overlook realities that would help them to cope. These realities can help you to gain relief from stress and give you a solid basis for expecting permanent relief in the future.

A Universal Reality

Dr. Hans Selye, one of the giants in the study of stress, wrote: “No sensitive person can look at the sky on a cloudless night without asking himself where the stars came from, where they go, and what keeps the universe in order. The same questions arise when we look at the internal universe within the human body.”​—The Stress of Life.

Have you taken the time to reflect on the marvels of the human body or thoughtfully to gaze at the stars? Doing so can be an important step in your coping with present stresses. Selye adds: “The capacity to contemplate . . . the harmonious elegance in Nature’s manifestations, is one of the most satisfactory experiences of which man is capable. . . . Looking at something infinitely greater than our conscious selves makes all our daily troubles appear to shrink by comparison. There is an equanimity and a peace of mind which can be achieved only through contact with the sublime.”

Centuries ago the poet-king David did what this expert on stress now recommends. Then David uttered this fundamental truth: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.”​—Ps. 19:1.

David recognized what millions of thinking persons since then have concluded also: A basic reality of the universe is that God, the Creator of the universe and of man, exists. Compared with Him and his handiwork, we humans are insignificant. David said of God: ‘When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind?’​—Ps. 8:3, 4.

Hence, when you realize that stress is​—or might be—​a problem for you, you should reflect more deeply on the existence of God, on the enormity of his works and concerns, and on your standing before him. You thus will not be employing ‘defensive avoidance’ but will be gaining perspective before the facts, universal realities.

It Works Now and Will Work

Your recognizing God will in many ways help you to cope with stress.

For one thing, it will increase your regard for his counsel in the Bible. From David’s own experience and what he saw with others, he could say: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, bringing back the soul. The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise.”​—Ps. 19:7.

God’s counsel includes advice to avoid such things as adultery, pre-marital sex, drunkenness, stealing and lying. Persons who engage in those things often do so for pleasure, to ‘make life easier’ or to avoid some embarrassment. Yet, evidence shows that they usually have, as a direct or an indirect result, more stress​—from a troubled conscience, from the ill will generated in others or even from health problems caused by their course. Conversely, following God’s advice means that a person avoids all such resulting stress, as well as promotes peace of mind and happiness.

Around the earth there are millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses who can testify that this has been so with them. Of course, no one today can have a totally stress-free life. But practicing true Christianity certainly has helped them. This agrees with what Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. . . . You will find refreshment [not stress] for your souls. For my yoke is [not stressful, but] kindly.”​—Matt. 11:28-30.

There is another reason why present stress will decline as you draw closer to God. Your life will have more direction. You will see where you are headed, being committed to pleasing him. “Stress Without Distress” mentions:

History has repeatedly proved that “those who believed in the infallibility of their God or in their particular code of conduct were relatively well-balanced and happy, . . . Faith gave men direction, the basis for commitment, self-discipline, and work that is indispensable to prevent abnormal chaotic behavior.”​—Pp. 2, 3.

Furthermore, in having this wholesome commitment to the Creator and his principles, you can be part of a congregation of happy Christians. Those in the Christian congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses are pleased to accept and work with all who want to please God. They are willing to show others how applying Bible counsel is practical today and works to reduce harmful stress.

They sincerely try to practice love, in line with Jesus’ meaningful words: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) As you, through studying the Scriptures and being around loving Christians, learn to love and help other people, stress will diminish. Others will find that you are a more likable person. You will have fewer conflicts with your fellowmen, whose goodwill and respect you will have earned.​—Matt. 5:40-48; Luke 6:38.

Nor is this help in coping with stress limited to the present; it also looks to the future. The volume “Religious Movements in Contemporary America” points out: “In their own congregational life Witnesses form a genuine community of trust and acceptance. . . . The Jehovah’s Witnesses offer [one] an alternative life strategy that gives its adherents a way to find identity and self-respect, a community of acceptance, and hope for the future.”

Permanent Relief from Stress

The Creator is the solid basis for having hope for the future. In his reliable Word he promises that he is going to intervene in human affairs, doing so in a way that will allow for permanent relief from harmful stress. Consider some of what God promises:

◆ He will permanently eliminate selfish, wicked persons, those whose actions now cause so much stress.​—Ps. 37:28, 29, 34.

◆ Instead of there being persons with vicious, animalistic dispositions, the earth will be populated by peaceable individuals guided by the abundant “knowledge of Jehovah.”​—Isa. 11:6-9; 35:9.

◆ Illness and death, which now cause so much stress, will be replaced with good health and long life.​—Rev. 21:4.

◆ As a result of honest, healthful work, humans will have an abundance of food and life’s necessities.​—Ps. 72:16.

◆ War will end, to be followed by peace and security.​—Mic. 4:3, 4.

◆ All humans will practice the loving interest in others that is a mark of true Christianity.​—John 13:35.

This is no dream. Looking forward to it is not a case of ‘defensive avoidance’ of stress. It is what the Creator of the universe promises. If it appeals to you, you should learn more about it by studying the Bible along with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

However, life under those conditions will not be dull or boring. On occasion your heart will still beat fast. You will become excited and alert for activity. But such will be normal and healthy responses to thrilling, happy events or emotions. What a delightful contrast that will be to the extreme, prolonged and harmful stress that we must cope with today!

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LOVE, HATE AND STRESS

In a “Reader’s Digest” interview, Dr. Hans Selye remarked: “The two great emotions that cause the absence or presence of stress are love and hate. The Bible makes this point over and over again. The message is that if we don’t somehow modify our built-in selfishness, we arouse fear and hostility in other people​—not a very favorable environment in which to exist! Conversely, the more we modify that self-centeredness, the more we can persuade people to love us rather than hate us, the safer we are, and the less stress we have to endure.”