Meet the editor

Hülya Çakmur graduated from medical school at the Atatürk University in Turkey. She completed her residency training in Family Medicine at the Trakya University. She has a PhD degree in Public Health from the Dokuz Eylül University. She has 25 years of practical experience as a specialist in family medicine, including 10 years of experience in public health as a PhD prepared professional. She studied sleep medicine at the UPMC

in the USA, attended narrative medicine education at the STU in Canada, studied voluntarily in geriatrics, and published several studies in the field of elderly health. She is an active member of the Turkish Medical Association and European Academy of Teachers in General Practice/Family Medicine. She has eight years of teaching experience as an associate professor at the University of Kafkas and she is the Director of the Department of Family Medicine. She has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals.

Contents

*by Hülya Çakmur*

*and Abraham O. Falola*

Psychosomatic Pain *by Ertuğrul Allahverdi*

**Preface III**

**Chapter 1 1**

**Chapter 2 7**

**Chapter 3 17**

**Chapter 4 37**

**Chapter 5 57**

**Chapter 6 69**

**Chapter 7 89**

**Chapter 8 123**

Introductory Chapter: How Does Stress Impact Human Body?

Taming Occupational Stress among Farmers in Developing Nations *by Toyin Samuel Olowogbon, Aaron M. Yoder, Segun B. Fakayode* 

Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing: A "Portable Intervention" for Stress

Calmness Conquers Anxiety: What Language Tells Us about Mind

Stress 0.0. Experimental Program of Meditations for Stress Reduction

Chronic Fatigue Stress and Sudden Death *by Haiyan Zhu, Guoxin Han and Shuoshuo Li*

Reduction among University Students

*by Katarzyna (Kate) Rygiel*

Stress, Hypertension and Yoga *by Surendra Shripati Wadikar*

*by José Jesús Vargas Delgado*

and Body Control *by Heli Tissari*

## Contents


Preface

Stress response is a biological need for homeostasis in the human body. Factors affecting a living organism's balance and the disruption of homeostasis may be called stressors. In this situation, organisms attempt to regain their own balance to maintain homeostasis. Hence, they consume too much biological, physiological, psychological, and chemical energy of the body. This process is defined as a stress reaction or response. The human body can handle small doses of acute stress. However, chronic or long-term stress adversely affects the organism and increases the risk of many disorders. The stress reaction of each organ in the human body is different. The harmful effects of stress depend on the intensity and duration of the stressful condition. The acute stress-activated endocrine system initiates a number of hormonal responses. As a result, the endocrine system releases adrenaline and cortisol during stress, which leads to several outcomes directly in the nervous system and indirectly in the whole body system. Persistent activation of the nervous system causes problems in visceral systems, e.g. metabolic, immune, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and cardiac. However, stress does not necessarily have negative effects on the human body. A tolerable dose of stress provides two coping outcomes for human beings: emotional coping, which is an increase in emotional resilience, and physiological coping, which is restorative for the immune system and homeostasis. Stress is not inevitable but it may be manageable. There are a number of effective ways to reduce stress response in the body. It has been established that relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, mindfulness, meditation, and other cognitive behavioral strategies could decrease stressrelated health problems. The purpose of training programs for stress management is to mediate the harmful impact of stressors to emotional and physiological systems. The ultimate impact of these techniques is to reduce muscle tension and thus buffer the negative effects of stress on visceral systems. Also, it has been reported that having a purpose in life and the capability of environmental adapta-

tion might decrease the stress response of the human body.

**Dr. Hülya Çakmur** Kafkas University,

Turkey
