Everyone hates stress, and for good reason. Stress makes us miserable. Perhaps for that reason, stress is blamed for virtually every disease for which the cause is still unknown. Later, when we discover the true cause, we find that it is unrelated to stress. We thought stress causes stomach ulcers before discovering the bacterium that is the true culprit. We thought stress caused heart attacks before a study comparing high-stress to low-stress individuals showed that this wasn’t true. Stress causes gray hair? Nope. Genes cause gray hair. Irritable bowel syndrome is probably the next disease on this list. We’re close to sorting out what causes it, and when we do, we can stop blaming stress.
So stress causes misery, which is bad enough, but we should be careful not to scapegoat it for other ills.
” target=”_blank”>Yoga, stretching both ease chronic back pain: US study (Reuters)
” target=”_blank”>A Randomized Trial Comparing Yoga, Stretching, and a Self-care Book for Chronic Low Back Pain (Archives of Internal Medicine, abstract available without subscription)
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