The Waterfall of Stress and High Blood Pressure

The holidays are behind us and now it is back to work, back to regular life. And for a lot of people that means diving back into stress (of course the holidays are not necessarily free from busy schedules or lots of unusual demands, either!). Stress is, however, a natural part of life, and there are aspects of our stress response that are very healthy, even life-saving in an emergency. At the same time continued chronic stress can make us really sick. There is a kind of “waterfall” effect that relates acute stress and physical illness. Here is one perspective that has proven to be helpful in talking to many different people about stress.