Stress

Forces from the outside world impinging on the individual. Stress is a normal part of life that can help us learn and grow. Conversely, stress can cause us significant problems. Stress releases powerful neurochemicals and hormones that prepare us for action (to fight or flee). If we don’t take action, the stress response can lead to health problems. Prolonged, uninterrupted, unexpected, and unmanageable stresses are the most damaging types of stress. Early separation from mother can lead to altered stress responses and depression later in life. The stresses of the mother can affect the stress response of the fetus, and perhaps predispose the child to psychiatric illness later in life. Many of our ways in dealing with stress –- drugs, pain medicines, alcohol, smoking, and eating — actually are counterproductive in thaqt they can worsen the stress and can make us more reactive (sensitive) to further stress. Stress can be best managed by regular exercise, meditation or other relaxation techniques, structured time outs, and learning new coping strategies to create predictability in our lives. The management of stress depend mainly on the willingness of a person to make the changes necessary for a healthy lifestyle. For much more about stress, see the MedicineNet article on Stress.

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1. Reactions of the body to forces of a deleterious nature, infections, and various abnormal states that tend to disturb its normal physiologic equilibrium (homeostasis). 2. In dentistry, the forces set up in teeth, their supporting structures, and structures restoring or replacing teeth as a result of the force of mastication. 3. The force or pressure applied or exerted between portions of a body or bodies, generally expressed in pounds per square inch. 4. In rheology, the force in a material transmitted per unit area to adjacent layers. 5. In psychology, a physical or psychological stimulus such as very high heat, public criticism, or another noxious agent or experience which, when impinging upon certain individuals, produces psychological strain or disequilibrium. [L. strictus, tight, fr. stringo, to draw together]

- life s. events or experiences that produce severe strain, e.g., failure on the job, marital separation, loss of a love object.

- shear s. the force acting in shear flow expressed per unit area; units in the CGS system : dynes/cm².

- tensile s. a s. acting on a body per unit cross-sectional area so as to elongate the body.

- yield s. the critical s. that must be applied to a material before it begins to flow, as in a Bingham plastic.

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Stent Restenosis Study

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stress 'stres n

1 a) a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part esp the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch

b) the deformation caused in a body by such a force

2 a) a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation

b) a state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium

3) the force exerted between teeth of the upper and lower jaws during mastication

stress vt to subject to stress <a patient \stressed by surgery>

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n.

any factor that threatens the health of the body or has an adverse effect on its functioning, such as injury, disease, or worry. The existence of one form of stress tends to diminish resistance to other forms. Constant stress brings about changes in the balance of hormones in the body.

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(stres) 1. forcibly exerted influence; pressure. 2. force per unit area, which may cause strain (q.v.) on an object. 3. in dentistry, the pressure of the upper teeth against the lower in mastication. 4. a state of physiological or psychological strain caused by adverse stimuli, physical, mental, or emotional, internal or external, that tend to disturb the functioning of an organism and which the organism naturally desires to avoid; see also stress reaction, under reaction. 5. the stimuli that elicit such a state or stress reactions.