Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) : Risk Factors

When you exercise, you gain more strength and flexibility. Your mood will improve, and you'll be able to think better.

In elderly patients, symptoms of depression can be mistaken for symptoms of another medical problem, so it is important for clinicians to consider all physical problems and medications of elderly patients before making a diagnosis.

Aimed at older adults, this report provides practical advice on how to avoid common and often deadly accidents at home.

Learn how to put together a caregiving plan, draw on useful services, and address legal, medical, and financial planning issues. Also, find advice on involving family members, handling daily tasks, and maintaining your well being.

Stress is defined as an organism's total response to environmental demands or pressures. When stress was first studied in the 1950s, the term was used to denote both the causes and the experienced effects of these pressures. More recently, however, the word stressor has been used for the stimulus that provokes a stress response. One recurrent disagreement among researchers concerns the definition of stress in humans. Is it primarily an external response that can be measured by changes in glandular secretions, skin reactions, and other physical functions, or is it an internal interpretation of, or reaction to, a stressor; or is it both?

Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or anxious. What is stressful to one person is not necessarily stressful to another. Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear. The source of this uneasiness is not always known or recognized, which can add to the distress you feel.

Everyone feels stress from time to time. It's a fact of daily life. Stress has its upside, but too much of it can leave you feeling out of control. And chronic stress can have negative consequences on your health.

In this report you'll learn about a multitude of techniques that can help reduce stress, including breath focus, progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, yoga, massage, and more.

Disturbance in the physiology of the individual. Among psychologists and psychiatrists, stress refers to a psychological reaction within the person to events that generate strong emotion that cannot be easily regulated; for other social scientists, the term stress is used to describe a disturbance in the individual's physiology. These two definitions of stress are not identical. For example, a fall from a tree that leads to a broken arm creates physiological changes in a child that would be regarded as stressful, for there is a cascade of biological events that occurs in such an act of harm to the child. However, many children who have had such falls are not necessarily psychologically upset, anxious, or fearful, even though there was a physiological stress reaction. On the other hand, a child who believes his parent does not like him, experiences rejection from a friend, or is feeling guilt over violating a moral standard will experience unpleasant psychological feelings that disrupt ordinary functioning. That disruption is a result of a psychological stress. This definition of stress need not involve any strong cascade of physiological changes, as occurred in the fall that leads to a broken arm. Nonetheless, psychiatrists and psychologists would say in the second instance that the child was experiencing stress. A problem with understanding the effects of either physiological or psychological stress more completely is that there are no sensitive techniques to ascertain the private reactions that are occurring in the child's body or mind. Many scientists make the assumption that certain events will produce stress in the child, recognizing that in some cases the event will not be stressful. For example, most sociologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists assume that death of a parent, marital strife, separation and divorce, abuse, rejection by a close friend, and chronic failure in school will create stress in the child. Although this assumption is reasonable there is no one-to-one relationship between the occurrence of those and similar external events and a physiological or psychological reaction of stress within the child. Hans Selye is credited with introducing the importance of the concept of stress. Selye discovered that if an individual is under chronic physiological stress there are permanent changes that occur in the body leading to a compromised immunity and a reduced resistance to many forms of disease. Thus college students who are stressed during final examination periods will show a lowered resistance to getting colds and other minor infectious diseases.

Sometimes no matter how hard and fast you work, you miss your deadline, adding to your physical and emotional stress.

Knowing the causes of your stress will help you find ways to manage it.

Stress is defined as an organism's total response to environmental demands or pressures. When stress was first studied in the 1950s, the term was used to denote both the causes and the experienced effects of these pressures. Since the 1990s, however, the word stressor has been used for a stimulus that provokes a stress response. One recurrent disagreement among researchers concerns the definition of stress in humans. The issue is whether it is primarily an external response that can be measured by changes in glandular secretions, skin reactions, and other physical functions—or if it is an internal interpretation of, or reaction to, a stressor, or both.

When you're faced with a highly stressful event in your life, the strategies outlined here will help you cope.

Ways to manage stress: Get enough sleep, follow a healthy diet and make time for yourself.

Many people believe stress is all in the mind. But dealing with stressful situations can have physiological consequences.

By consciously learning to be present and mindful, you can transform your inattention to attention and your stress into solutions.

Detailed information on women and managing stress

Some stress is inevitable, but as you grow older, the key is to minimize stress while maximizing happiness and enjoyment.

If you take a healthy attitude toward stress in your travel plans, the payoffs include improved physical well-being, mental alertness and better job performance.

Lower your risk: Control stress. When you’re stressed, your heartbeat speeds up and your blood pressure skyrockets. The next time you feel tension taking over, sit back and look at what’s bothering you.

Recent studies are changing our notion about why men develop impotence. While it was once believed that psychological problems were the main cause, we now understand that medical factors -- such as poor blood flow, nerve damage, and medication side effects -- play an important role in most cases of impotence.

Yoga is one of the few stress-relief tools that has a positive effect on all the body systems involved.

As a working parent, do you need some relief from the stress of managing a career and a family?

By understanding what is causing you stress, you may be able to make changes to help you feel more in control.

New research shows that prolonged stress can accelerate the aging of body cells.

Your wedding day can be one of the best days of your life, it can also be one of the most stressful.

Practicing deep, focused breathing is a relaxation technique that can help alleviate stress, which in turn will likely have positive effects on general health and well-being.

A British study suggests a link between increased stress and a rise in cholesterol level, and a follow-up several years later showed the trend continued over time.

Stress is a term that refers to the sum of the physical, mental, and emotional strains or tensions on a person. Feelings of stress in humans result from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being. The element of perception indicates that human stress responses reflect differences in personality as well as differences in physical strength or health. A stressor is defined as a stimulus or event that provokes a stress response in an organism. Stressors can be categorized as acute or chronic, and as external or internal to the organism. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-IV-TR ) defines a psychosocial stressor as "any life event or life change that may be associated temporally (and perhaps causally) with the onset, occurrence, or exacerbation [worsening] of a mental disorder." Stress affects the lives of most adults in developed countries in many ways. It is a major factor in rising health care costs; one public health expert maintains that 90% of all diseases and disorders in the United States are stress-related. Stress plays a part in many social problems such as child and elder abuse , workplace violence, juvenile crime, suicide , substance addiction , "road rage," and the general decline of courtesy and good manners. Stress also affects the productivity of businesses and industries. One nationwide survey found that 53% of American workers name their job as the single greatest source of stress in their lives. Furthermore, the overall cost of medical care, time lost from work, and workplace accidents in the United States comes to over $150 million per year.

Over the course of evolution, the human mind and body have developed means of handling stressful situations. Over the short term, such stress response pathways are highly adaptive, allowing a person to manage his or her resources in order to navigate the crisis; in some cases, however, these processes go awry and result in pathology. Chronic stress is becoming increasingly problematic in the United States as workers work longer and harder hours. Approximately one-third of all workers report that they are in high-stress jobs, and that not only is stress implicated in 15 percent of all disability claims, the number of stress-related absences is increasing. Such prolonged exposure to stress can also result in consequences in the form of physical illness. Alternatively, a severe acute stressor may result in a stress-response syndrome such as an acute stress disorder or a post-traumatic stress disorder. In acute stress, the mind and body respond with a fight or flight response that involves activation of the sympathetic nervous system and release of stress hormones such as cortisol. Psychologically, this increases the organism's alertness and response time. Physiologically, these changes provide the organism with the energy needed to meet the emergency. Such intense activation helps the organism in the short term, but prolonged activation of this system creates problems in that it may increase the risk of certain disease states, and, once set into motion, chronic stress responses may be difficult to extinguish. This has led some researchers to investigate potential mediating factors such as personality. For example, a correlation has been established between a personality characterized by hostile competitiveness (type A) and increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack). An acute stressor or psychological trauma, such as a life-threatening circumstance, presents a person with new information that may be difficult to assimilate. In an attempt to adapt, the person will typically alternate between contemplation of the stressor and avoidance of reminders of the event. Such a cycle allows for dose-by-dose psychological processing of the event. Difficulties in adaptation may present as an acute stress disorder that manifests itself as an extreme version of this cycle. People with such a disorder may have intrusive remembrances, nightmares, or even flashbacks of the stress event. These can alternate with emotional numbing, interpersonal alienation, and extreme avoidance of traumatic reminders. A diagnosis of postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is made if these symptoms persist longer than one month. Studies suggest that approximately 0.5 percent of men and 1.3 percent of women meet criteria for PTSD over their lifetime. A larger percentage (approximately 15%) of subjects were found to have some symptoms but did not meet criteria for the full disorder. At present, psychotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for stress response syndromes. A variety of approaches exist, but they share a common goal of assisting the patient with conscious contemplation of the event in such a way that it may be assimilated and anxiety responses extinguished. Care must be taken to create an environment of safety and to avoid retraumatization, which may occur with overly rapid exposure to traumatic memories. Patients experience decreased feelings of guilt and shame as they learn that they responded to the trauma as adequately as possible. Contemplation of the event in therapy may lead to further benefits, including an enhanced understanding of the meaning of the event in the larger context of the individual's life. Psychopharmacologic treatment may be a useful adjunct for specific symptom clusters such as associated anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The prognosis for treatment is good and is improved if the patient was without preexisting psychiatric comorbidity and if the treatment occurs in close proximity to the event. Brief treatment is frequently h

Stress is an individual's physical and mental reaction to environmental demands or pressures.

Mental stress does more than diminish your sense of well-being. It also can increase your risk for heart disease.

Stress is a powerful force for good and for ill. It can help us cope with life's challenges, but it can also affect our health by making pre-existing conditions worse or even bringing on new ones.

To manage your stress, you must first learn to recognize when you are under stress. Every one reacts to stress differently; find out how you respond to stressful situations.

No one can avoid all stress -- and a certain amount actually is good for you. But it's always best to keep unhealthy levels in check when possible.

Anything that brings on feelings of stress is called a stressor. Today, we often face many stressors.

Women experience symptoms of stress 30 percent more often than men, research has shown.

Stress tests are not recommended unless you experience chest pain or tightness during exercise or other activities that stress the heart.

Guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology offer advice on protecting the heart during noncardiac surgery.

Resilience is the ability to handle stressful events and remain mentally strong and healthy. The presence of a certain form of neurochemical may be one explanation for why some people are more resilient than others.

In experiments on mice, suppressing a chemical linked to stress and appetite prevented the formation of abdominal fat cells, which could lead to new possibilities for weight loss drugs.

What is the relationship between stress and infertility? Joan Bengtson, M.D., is assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproduction at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

My fingertips have recently started peeling. I have been under a considerable amount of stress lately. Could there be any correlation?

No matter the source of your stress, it can produce physical, mental, and emotional symptoms that can affect any part of the body.

During stressful times, your body produces various chemicals, including cortisol, an immune-suppressing hormone. The more cortisol produced, the weaker your immune cells become and the more susceptible you are to illness.

You're familiar with the symptoms of stress -- a pounding heart, increased perspiration, tight neck and shoulder muscles, anxiety and fear. But you may not know how to prevent or relieve these symptoms.

The more you learn about the pressure times and triggers at your workplace, the better you'll be able to plan for them.

Whether your credit card balances are soaring, or you and your partner are arguing constantly over nickels and dimes, there are things you can do to relieve financial stress.

The formula for success at work is not only hard work, but also frequent breaks for mental and physical rest.

Here are suggestions on how to avoid and deal with the stresses in your life.

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition involving the nerves of the peripheral portion of the nervous system. Neurobiologists describe the peripheral nervous system as any part of that system found in the arms or legs. The nerves that traverse the arms and legs occur in fibrous groups identified from the vascular system by their whitish color. These nerve tracts, or bundles of similar type nerve cell fibers, exit the brain and spinal cord from the intervertebral spaces in the spinal column to the rest of the body. The majority of the peripheral nerves are responsible for sensations such as touch, pain , and temperature. There is a greater concentration of particular types of nerve cells located in both the hands and feet. This concentration is a result of the need for sensory integration with the numerous small muscles and intricacy of movement in these regions of the body. When certain traumatic conditions exist in the peripheral nerves, some people experience a highly uncomfortable condition in which they describe sensations as burning, tingling, shooting pain, overall persistent pain, and a wide variety of additional discomforting sensations. When this condition this persistent, it is called peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is also known as somatic neuropathy or distal sensory polyneuropathy. This disorder is primarily recorded in persons with diabetes, compromised immune systems, or those who have suffered some sort of injury to these nerves. The traumas can range from overexposure to certain chemical toxins, penetration injury, fractures, staying in one position too long, severe impact, or even prolonged compression, as in the wearing of inappropriate footwear. Athletes who use their feet in sports such as tennis, basketball, soccer, or any running exercise are at moderate-to-severe risk. Among those with diabetes and HIV the risk is highest. As a result of high computer usage, the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome , a type of peripheral neuropathy, is rising. Many researchers assume the condition itself is caused by the loss of myelin (a waxy type substance) along the axon of the nerve cell. The role of myelin will be discussed later in the description of the nerves themselves. As a result of this loss of myelin, patients describe a variety of symptoms such as those previously described. A variety of initial complaint descriptions like aching, throbbing, the feeling of cold such as frostbite or even heat sensation so severe some patients compare it to "walking on a bed of coals," are the first clues to the possibility of advancing neuropathy. Because the initial symptoms are similar to many other disorders, doctors are sometimes hesitant to diagnose peripheral neuropathy until the disease has reached a more advanced stage. By that time rehabilitation and treatment may take longer and be less effective.

Peripheral neuropathy is a problem with the nerves that carry information to and from the brain and spinal cord. This can produce pain, loss of sensation, and an inability to control muscles. "Peripheral" means nerves further out from the center of the body, distant from the brain and spinal cord; "Neuro" means nerves; "Pathy" means abnormal.

Peripheral neuropathy is a disease of the nerves in your feet. It may make you unable to sense pain. Lack of pain makes you more likely to injure yourself without knowing it. But you can learn ways to protect your feet from injury.

The term peripheral neuropathy encompasses a wide range of disorders in which the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord—peripheral nerves—have been damaged. Peripheral neuropathy may also be referred to as peripheral neuritis, or if many nerves are involved, the terms polyneuropathy or polyneuritis may be used.

Treating Peripheral NeuropathyLearn ways to protect your feet. Check your feet daily for wounds you may not have felt.

Similar to electrical wiring in a house, the body has a highly complex network of nerves made up of bundles of neurons, axons, and dendrites. This network originates in the brain and extends down through the spinal cord. These nerves branch off at junctures along this pathway to connect each portion of the body to the brain and spinal cord, the central nervous system. Nerves relay necessary information to and from every area, notifying the brain of sensations and external conditions. The brain, in turn, sends messages back to those areas. With peripheral neuropathy, damage has occurred to the nerves that connect peripheral portions of the body, and the patient feels pain or numbness. Peripheral neuropathy is not usually considered a disease. It is more often thought of as a symptom of other diseases or conditions, or results from damage caused by the introduction of toxic substances. There are an estimated two million Americans who suffer from peripheral neuropathy. It becomes more common as people age, and the majority of its victims are 65 years old or older.

Has acupuncture been used in the treatment of non-diabetes-related peripheral neuropathy affecting the feet? If so, has it been successful?

Does the pain from peripheral neuropathy due to type 2 diabetes mellitus come and go during the course of the day?

Not everyone faces a crisis at age 40 or 50. But odds are you'll go through some kind of transition, as life challenges coincide with the realization that you're getting older.

Midlife weight gain may put you at risk for serious health conditions, such as diabetes.

This report takes a view of the whole woman and helps her choose the most practical strategies for making her midlife transition.