By Cherma St. Clair;
PGCE, MSc, Ba (Hons), DipMid, RN Lead
 Nurse in Practice Development; London; England

There is an increasing amount of evidence linking stress and its effects to many different manifestations of ill health. there is also widespread recognition  that stress is experienced as part of everyday life by most individuals, occupational stress  and its effect being one of the most common and most researched topic in past decade. Despite its commonalities in experience, stress has proven to be an elusive concept to understand and thus define. Stress from a psychological view, is defined as a “stimulus”, whereas physicians tend to describe it as a” response”. Research and treatment have focused on management and coping strategies.

This article aims to discuss the relationship between stress and health. Various definitions and concepts of stress will be described, together with the influences the different types of stress have on health. Occupational stress and its management will also be discussed, before making some recommendations for self-management.