Stress, illness and health: An overview

This paper is an attempt to elucidate the concept of stress and as it may be associated with illness and health. As we know, stress is defined as a response of the body to a stressor, problem or cause requiring efforts to meet the situation or challenge. Stress, whether it is acute or chronic, disturbs the homeostasis. of the body and thus requires constructive efforts to cope with the stressing situation and restore homeostasis. Researchers have revealed that there is a strong relationship between stress and illness, which ultimately impacts adversely the health of people facing the stressors. The specific aspects of stress, response pattern of the body to the stressor, its outcomes for the affected people, prevalence and empirical evidences establishing the relationship between stress, illness and health etc are thoroughly discussed in this paper. Besides it, how stress can be managed to enhance wellbeing and quality of life is also outlined. In addition to these aspects, implications, limitations and suggestions are also underlined.