Scared to Death: The Link Between Stress and Coronary Heart Disease

Summary

After the powerful earthquake which struck close to Los Angeles in January morning, in 1994, it was found out that much more people died, supposedly, from coronary disease than even before. Surprisingly, they were not the victims of the earthquake who were trapped in the rubble or in need of rescue. The scientists claim that besides all the known psychological risk factors for heart disease as smoking, high blood pressure, etc. such factor as stress is highly dangerous, as well.

There was a research made on patients' having heart diseases possible traumatic experiences in childhood, the overall results of which showed people having troublesome childhood are in great risk of having serious heart issues later in their lives. Another study taken across 52 countries on the patients who experienced the first heart attack, has revealed that the strongest provocative are smoking, obesity, as well as, depression, work or financial stress.

Stress leads to heart attack both directly affecting it and using smoking, poor eating habits as a tool. Thus, the results of one more research suggest that activities, such as laughing or even thinking about supportive friend, help to reduce stress.

In conclusion, the coronary heart disease may be caused not only by traumatic childhood experiences but also, by stress and habits that are caused by stress. Nevertheless, simple, joys may successfully reduce the damage. 

The Happiest Countries

Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. States associated with happiness include well-being, delight, health, safety, contentment and love.

 I would like to compare happiness in three countries - Switzerland, Australia and Guatemala.

Switzerland on top in global quality of life survey. It, also known as heaven on earth. Switzerland is a country that offers a high quality of life. Prosperity is widely distributed. Postal services, air, road and public transportation, are safe and reliable. Energy supply is ensured at all times.  In terms of safety and health, residents have no need for concern. Switzerland is considered to be a particularly safe country with a public health care system that is among the best in the world. High quality homes and apartments satisfy the most demanding quality requirements at reasonable price, and the country’s scenic beauty and cultural diversity offer all forms of leisure activities. 

Their life expectancy is  81.07 years. 

One finding was that, despite the huge changes wrought by the modern world, the Swiss are still concerned about exactly the same things as their parents were, and their grandparents: health, wealth, companionship and children. 

With one of the highest standards of living in the world, Australia offers a superb climate, a unique and beautiful environment, and quality social and cultural infrastructure. Australia’s prosperity has been built on it being a great trading nation and an attractive and welcoming destination for foreign investment.

Australian's life expectancy is 81.81 years. 

Guatemala suffers from the regional legacy of the "banana republic": the inequitable distribution of land and wealth, uneven development, and the dependence on a few export crops for its economy mainstay. The poor distribution of land is the single most important factor to explain the poverty and quality of life in Guatemala. Life expectancy: 70.29 years.

References:
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/
http://www.financialjesus.com/how-to-get-rich/top-10-happiest-countries/

Stress Busters

Summary

       There are six different people sharing their ways of unwinding when they are need to get rid of the daily stresses.

      The first person on the list who is a chairman of an advertising agency says the best way of relaxation is writing, which, he agrees, most people do not find relaxing at all. A member of parliament loves returning to his “constituency on the 8 am train on Friday morning”, and enjoying both view and the sounds that the sea provides, whereas, as represented, a business executive “immerses” to the matters of his family and never mixes work and his personal life.

      While a bank executive enjoys the domestic work, a television editor-in-chief prefers a workout at a gym. Finally, a specialist of marriage matters cooks, whenever possible, and claims that “there is nothing more relaxing than to be outside in the fresh air”.

       To sum up, every single person has one’s own way of unwinding and, not surprisingly, it does not depend on his or her daily occupation. 

  

My Performance on ESP Test and Biorhythms

Biorhythms are the daily rhythms inherent in every living creature from one-celled life to humans. Each day more and more researchers are proving that biorhythms affect us in crucial areas of work, sleep, stress and are an important part of contemporary life.

The expression most commonly associated with this phase of the biorhythmic cycles are that "he or she got up on the wrong side of the bed".
 

Biorhythms begin on the day of one's birth, manifesting themselves in life's ups and downs.

There are three primary rhythms: physical lasts 23 days, emotional - 28 days, and intellectual - 33 days.

So, I took two biorhythms calculator tests. My primary rhythms on 5^th of April was:  physical -52%,  emotional -90%,  intellectual -10%.  Then goes secondary rhythms: spiritual -23%, awareness -99%, aesthetic 61%, intuition 0%. I compared the results between these two tests and they were similar, some scores were the same.

Thus, there is a link between my performance and biorhythms. The results show that this was not the best day for me. However, we have to be flexible and to look rational with this.

References:
http://biorhythms.perbang.dk/
http://daily-biorhythms.com/

Stress Test

          First of all, I want to start from the definition of stress.  However, it is difficult to find agreement on what the definition of stress should be, because the much larger concept was so quickly reduced to a popular buzzword to describe feelings of tension and pressure.

In fact there is unlikely to be a definition of stress that everyone agrees on, for what is stressful for one person may be pleasurable or have little effect on others, and each of us individually reacts to stress in countless different ways.

Thus, stress is the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response.

So, I took a stress test on the internet. I had to answer to 27 questions for a short self-evaluation, which helped me to compare my stress level to that of other people. Test gave me a report of my results. There was 3 sections of scoring:

·         Quality of Life Score - 4.5

This is a measure of how happy person is with his life, including overall self-esteem, 
health, friends and family, and work or school.

·         Symptom Distress Score - 5

 This score measures person's symptoms of depression, anxiety, and holistility.

·         Level of Functioning Score - 4.5

This is a measure of how well person is able to get along in the community.

I got a high score of each of them. The Overall Score is 4.67. A high score indicates that I am well-adjusted. I do not need any kind of psychological services.

I was happy about my results, because it shows that I am not in stress and I am completely satisfied with my life. 

I recommend You to try this test on the page www.stresstest.net