Don't stress out; learn to live with it

Jim Shaffer works long hours and travels on business. He helps care for and homeschool his three young children and takes college courses online. He volunteers at church.

"You can do only so much,” he said.

His lifestyle has left the Norman man struggling to sleep at night and to stay awake in the daytime, and he figures it's responsible for some physical ailments he suffers.

Jim Shaffer is stressed-out. He is not alone.

"It's endemic here in the United States and all over the world,” said Anita Nicholson, a stress counselor in Houston.

One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and nearly half of Americans say their stress has increased over the past five years, the American Psychological Association said. Some say stress has given us road rage, air rage, computer rage and even shopping rage. Stress has taken a toll on relationships and work productivity. And worse.

People have always endured stress — what French physiology pioneer Claude Bernard called "milieu interieur.” Stress is the body's way of putting itself on alert. This "fight or flight” mechanism releases hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, and blood-clotting chemicals to reduce blood loss in case of injury. Glucose levels rise to provide quick energy. The heart speeds to supply more oxygen and cooling. The digestive system slows, and blood is diverted to the major muscles and the brain.

The stress response was developed through the millennia to survive the many challenges our species faced, from wild beasts and natural disasters to plagues and famine.

Today, most of us don't run across many predators or rockslides.

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