Stress Basics: Types of Stress, Stress and Your Health, and How Stress Works

Stress 101

Step 1: Understand Stress and Its Role In Your Life
The first step to conquering stress in your life is understanding it. There are different types and levels of stress, and it affects you in many ways. Here are some resources to help you better understand the stress you experience—and stress in general—so you’ll be in a better position to handle it.

• Good Stress vs. Bad Stress
  We all experience stress in our lives, and it’s actually been found that some stress in your lifestyle is good for you. The problem with stress is when it becomes excessive, and when you don’t allow yourself the opportunity to recover from stressful episodes. This article explains the different types of stress, what kind of stress is most detrimental to your health, and what you can do to stay healthier.
• How Stress Affects Your Health
  Stress can affect your health in many ways, some obvious and some less obvious. Here is a listing of the various ways stress can affect your body, with explanations of each. Also, this article gives you some additional information on how stress can even make you get sick more often, and help you stay healthier, even during flu season.
• Can Stress Make You Fat?
  This is actually a question I hear a lot, so I thought it was important to include here. There are various ways that stress can affect your weight, from affecting your eating patterns to altering the way your body processes food! This article explains more about it, and gives resources for keeping your body fit even when you’re under stress.
• Lifestyle Factors and Personality Factors
  Some of us experience more stress than others. Here are some articles that explain the lifestyle factors that can bring more stress into our lives, and the inborn and learned personality factors that cause some people to react more strongly to stress than others, and even create stronger and more numerous stress responses to the events in our lives.
• Take The Stress and Health Quiz
  Do you think you have a decent understanding of how stress affects you? This quiz is designed to not only test your knowledge, but teach you about the link between stress and your health as you take it.
• The Psychosomatic Illness Hangman Game
  This game provides a fun way to explore the link between stress and your health. It’s played like hangman, and each answer is a different way in which stress can impact you or your health. You can search the site for each work you guess, in order to learn more about it and find resources for staying healthy.
• The Stress Management Glossary
  This is a collection of stress-related terms and concepts that you may see mentioned on this site or in other places. It’s a work in progress—I’m continually adding terms—and it’s fun to scroll through. Each term is linked to a definition as well as related resources.
• More About Stress and Your Health
  The Stress and Health Section has more important resources to help you understand job stress, financial stress, and the effects of stress on your immune system, your hormone levels, and other areas of your health.

• Step 1: Understand Stress: The Basics You Need To Know
• Step 2: Assess Your Situation
• Step 3: Stop Tension Right Now
• Step 4: Reduce Lifestyle Stress
• Step 5: Maintain Healthy Habits