Despite leaving earlier than usual, there is absolutely no chance you'll arrive on time for that important 8 a.m. meeting. Fifty percent of us will encounter two such events. In all these instances, our brain snaps to attention, preparing the rest of the body for the potential consequences of the insult at hand.
Blood pressure climbs.
The heart pumps more blood, chock full of surging levels of stress hormones. What's more, individuals may be significantly and inherently different in the ways they deal with stress, and may even be differentially vulnerable to its effects. Furthermore, she emphasized, not all stress is the same. Yehuda was one of a dozen leading scientists studying the biological effects of stress on the body who presented talks at the all-day meeting held Feb. 4 and cosponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Nevertheless, according to Williams, hostility, especially in combination with other risk factors such as depression, job strain, and low socioeconomic status, can precipitate heart disease, cancer and even death.