1. You know you're stressed when: The sun is too loud. Trees begin to chase you. You can see individual air molecules vibrating. Things become "very clear." Everything is "very clear, indeed." You begin to talk to yourself, then disagree about the subject, get into a nasty tiff over it, lose and refuse to speak to yourself for the next day. You keep yelling "Stop touching me!!!" even though you are the only one in the room. Antacid tablets become your sole source of nutrition. You have an irresistible urge to bite the noses of the people you are talking to. Losing your mind was okay, but when the voices in your head quieted, it was like losing your best friend. You wonder if brewing is really a necessary step for the consumption of coffee. Suddenly you can hear mimes.

2. You ask the drive-thru attendant if you can get your order to go. You can achieve a "runner's high" by just sitting up. You can see individual air molecules vibrating. You listen to your relaxation tapes on high speed. You call your voice mail from your car using your cell phone while driving to work to remind yourself of tasks to do during the day. Your e-mail notification tune is Taps. You call Time & Weather because that lady "really understands you." You take the "Don't Walk" sign personally. Your pager is set to stun. And from Beth ... Your Depends are only good for 15 minutes. Working a K-mart sale day sounds like a vacation in Tahiti. You break into the Ex-Lax in desperation for anything chocolate. A pre-dawn toaster fire, your evil stepchild's escaped pet tarantula alert and the arrival of the furniture-repo team are mere asides to the otherwise tooth-jarring routine.

3. And from Beth ... Your Depends are only good for 15 minutes. Working a K-mart sale day sounds like a vacation in Tahiti. You break into the Ex-Lax in desperation for anything chocolate. A pre-dawn toaster fire, your evil stepchild's escaped pet tarantula alert and the arrival of the furniture-repo team are mere asides to the otherwise tooth-jarring routine.

4. Homeostasis, Stress, and Adaptation

13. Stress as a stimulus for disease Adolph Meyer observed linked illness to critical life events Holmes and Rahe developed life events scales that assign numerical values, called life-changing units, to typical life events.

15. I ndividuals respond differently to stress. Personality, general health and the support of friends and colleagues all affect this response. A group of people exposed to the same type of stressors may experience different health effects. Nonetheless, the body’s physical response to stress is generally the same for everyone. It is commonly known as the generalized stress response . Excessive stress has been associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, digestive ailments, skin rashes, insomnia, nervous or emotional disorders, substance abuse and interpersonal and family dysfunction. As long as stressful experiences are brief and infrequent, the body quickly returns to normal. In nature, this phenomenon is known as the fight or flight reaction. But a person who is in a continuous state of stress throughout every working day may experience a wide variety of potential health effects.

27. Stress

30. Steps to Building a Positive Attitude Change Focus, Look for the Positive. Make a Habit of Doing it Now. Develop an attitude of gratitude. Get into a continuous education program. Build positive self-esteem. Stay away from negative influences. Learn to like the things that need to be done. Start your day with a positive. Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: Step 6: Step 7: Step 8:

37. Pain Management