The right amount of stress is beneficial and challenges us to develop our abilities. But too much stress can lead to physical illness. In some instances, the epinephrine constricts coronary arteries, which reduces the blood supply to a portion of the heart muscle. They pay a tremendous physiologic price for their feelings and actually may be damaging their bodies. External threats such as changes in job status, death of a loved one, retirement, moving into a new home or assuming a large mortgage are forms of stress.
Stress can also be internal or self-generated by our own expectations of our performance.
Stress can elevate total cholesterol values and increase blood clotting, which can affect cardiovascular disease. Type A personality is not the same thing as being stressed. Persons with Type A personalities generally are competitive, strive intensely for achievement, need to be productive, are easily provoked to hostility, have a sense of time urgency, are impatient and are over committed to their work. They have few interests outside of their work. The opposite type of person, the Type B personality, is associated with a lower risk of heart disease.