Remember that not all people react adversely to these conditions. Many people
cope quite well with demanding work environments, and may even appear to thrive
in them. Jobs are not inherently stressful; it is when difficulties arise in
coping with the demands, changes, or monotony of a certain job that it becomes
unpleasant and increases the risk of ill health. Unemployment can also lead to
higher risk of illness, brought about by a major life change and possible loss
of self-esteem. Work meets not only financial but also social and psychological
needs, and failure to meet those needs carries a high personal cost in terms of
mental and physical well being.
Life Style: A lot of research has centered around identifying two
basic life styles, known as type A and type B. The type A personality is
competitive, striving, and usually under pressure; type B is more relaxed and
calm. Type A exhibits what has been called the coronary-prone behavior pattern,
because of increased chances of coronary heart disease. Other life styles
supposedly represent various combinations of type A and type B, with
proportional degrees of stress and propensity toward stress-induced diseases.
The impact of such differences is discussed in he section on cardiovascular
system..
Life Events: A number of studies have demonstrated a clear
relationship between events that change our life situation and the onset of
illness. These events can be anything from moving to a new home or getting
married to being sued or being involved in a major traffic accident. Life
events require adjustments in patterns of behavior and we often experience such
adjustments as stressful. Perhaps the most significant life event is loss,
actual, potential, or imagined, of a loved one. It can give rise to an
emotional response of hopelessness and helplessness that results in our
literally "giving up." When this happens, we can no longer cope,
psychologically and biologically, with environmental demands. If we have a
predisposition for a disease, then being in this psychological state makes the
disease more likely to occur because our bodies are less capable of dealing
effectively with the processes that give rise to the disease. Studies have
shown that life events often cluster to a statistically significant degree in
the two-year period preceding illness, and that the onset of an illness can be
predicted when a number of life events coincide. As discussed below these
results have led to attempts to quantify the impact of life changes and to
identify the exact nature of the correlation with disease onset.
Sickness