Can Smoking Relieve Stress?

I read with interest an online article published by the Chicago Tribune a week ago titled “Holdout smokers: Who they are and why they can’t quit”.  In this article, it states “Beyond the physical addiction, smokers repeatedly pointed to the stress relief that smoking provides.  “Cigarettes are just adult pacifiers,” said three-pack-a-day smoker Deborah Israel, [...]

Your Personality Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

I just came across a report on a new study published by Daniel K. Mroczek, a professor of child development and family studies at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana).  The study looked at personality traits and how they affected mortality rates.  They found “that having worrying tendencies or being the kind of person who stresses [...]

Stress Can Be Good?

Normally we all automatically associate the word “stress” with “bad”. But in actuality, we all need stress to grow and become all that we can be. It’s that management of the fine line between “good” and “bad” that becomes the hard part. Good stress is also known as eustress. The prefix “eu” means “good”. (Contrast [...]

Stress and Weight

Reading the news today I saw a report of a new study linking stress and weight gain.  The author of the study, Jason Block, M. D. , M. P. H. , a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Harvard University, said “Today’s economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked [...]