In the modern world, people experience stress in various forms throughout their daily lives. Stress is referred to in the medical world as a “silent killer”. Stress is a state of mental or emotional tension usually caused by demanding situations, a traumatic experience and often due to mental health problems, including anxiety. Although it is perfectly normal to feel stress and sometimes beneficial in providing a person with the focus needed to complete important tasks. However, this condition can become uncontrolled, persistent, pervasive, and in many cases destroy overall well-being. The human body responds to stress with physical, emotional and mental changes. As is the case for many people today, these conditions persist for long periods of time, leading to damage to the body and causing many health problems. The human body copes with stress by exhibiting symptoms of headaches, muscle pain, dizziness, and blurred vision. , inability to concentrate and, in severe cases, affects major organs, including the heart. Provided that a self-defense mechanism known as the “acute stress response,” more commonly known as the fight or flight response, is activated in the presence of stressful events. Subsequently, it is a physiological reaction to physically and mentally undesirable situations and is detrimental to overall health and well-being. Statistically, heart attacks have been one of the leading causes of death in the United States over the past several decades. Resulting from a common symptom of prolonged stress, namely high blood pressure. In addition to this, external factors also contribute to stress, namely tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, recreational drugs and many other stimulants. Given the stress epidemic, various medical treatments...... middle of paper ...... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1878840/?page= 1>. “Symptoms, Causes and Treatment of Stress and Heart Disease – Does Stress Affect Everyone the Same?” MedicineNet. WebMD, LLC., and Web. April 7, 2014. “Understanding the Stress Response – Harvard Health Publications.” Health Information and Medical Information - Harvard Health Publications. Harvard University, March 2011. Web. April 7, 2014. .Weiner, Herbert. Disrupting the organism: the biology of stressful experience. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, n.d. Print. Yehuda, Rachel and Bruce S. McEwen. Biobehavioral stress response: protective and damaging effects. New York, NY: New York Academy of Sciences, 2004. Print.