Less stress, more living
The effects of stress on health, well-being, and even creativity were the focus of the Forum at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) this week. In collaboration with the Huffington Post, the March 6 webcast event addressed the American Psychological Association’s latest Stress in America survey, which found that the majority of Americans report experiencing higher stress levels than they believe are healthy. One in three Americans reports living with extreme stress. Chronic stress has been linked to health problems ranging from heart disease to asthma to ulcers, and the cardiovascular health risk it poses is not dissimilar to the risk conferred by cigarette smoking, said panelist Laura Kubzansky, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at HSPH. (See the full list of panelists here.) Representing a diverse array of approaches to stress and health, from psychology to nutrition science, the expert panelists explored the underlying causes and consequences of stress — particularly the...