In the modern age, stress is an accompaniment of our lives. Most Americans rate stress as their number one health concern and report a high level of stress in their daily lives.
Stress is a feeling of tension as the body's response to a perceived physical or emotional threat.
The release of adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and other related hormones increase the metabolism, blood pressure, breathing rate, and muscle tension to arouse the body. At the turn of the century, the Harvard physiologist, Walter B. Cannon, M.D. coined the term 'fight or flight response' to characterize these changes. Around 1900 Vogt had developed autohypnosis and found that it helped patients in reducing tension. It lowers heart rate, breathing and muscle tension and increases blood circulation to the extremities. One can listen to autogenic tapes available through a variety of sources or make one's own tape to induce a state of relaxation.