Stress seems to be an integral part modern life. It presses in upon us from everywhere – our jobs, our families, our neighbors, other drivers, the weather – you name it. You may think that these stresses create our attitudes, and they can. But it also works the other way around; our internal attitudes impact of bodies. What you think, feel and believe can determine your health.

The immune system, this complex, sophisticated defender of the human race, is deeply affected by our internal attitudes, emotions and spiritual fortitude.

I define stress as “a deficit of resources needed to resolve a problem.” This is a simple but adequate definition. If you have enough money to pay the rent, there is no stress; when you hear the footsteps of the landlord, however, you have to give him an excuse, anxiety reigns! The lack of resources stresses us.

Good mental health promotes good physical health, according to George Lilans, a Boston psychiatrist. He followed the lives of 200 Harvard graduates for 30 years and studied data from medical examinations and psychological tests. Lilans discovered a clear link between unhappiness and disease or death.

Many of my own patients can point to stressful situations they feel helped to trigger their cancer. But how can you measure the impact our emotions have on the new system? The following is a scale created by Dr. Thomas H. Holmes and Dr. Richard H. Rehi of the University of Washington medical school that measures each stress situation with a point system.

death of a Spouse	100
divorce	73
separation from a spouse	65
imprisonment	63
death of a family member	63
sickness or accident	53
marriage	50
stopping work	47
we conciliation in marriage	45
retirement procedures	45
family illness	44
pregnancy	40
sexual problems	39
a new person in the family	39
personal readjustment	39
financial adjustment	38
that I will friend	37
job change	36
family discussions	35
mortgage of about 25,000	31
that foreclosure	30
heavier responsibilities	29
children leaving home	29
wife starting work	26
beginning or ending classes	26
change of residence	25
change of personal habits	24
problems with the boss	23
change of work hours	20
change of neighborhood	20
change of school	20
change of recreation	19
change of church	19
change of social activities	18
small mortgage	18
change of sleeping habits	16
separation from family	15
change of diet	15
planning a vacation	13
Christmas activities	12
misdemeanors	11

Holmes and his clever collaborators were actually able to predict illness on the basis of this scale. Almost half (49%) of the people who had accumulated 300 points in a 12 month period develop some critical illness, but only 9% of those who accumulated less than 200 points in the same fell ill. This experiment irrefutably establishes the impact that accumulated stress can have on their bodies.

Some people who have a greater capacity for managing stress are less susceptible to falling ill. Additionally, losing one’s job at age 25 is not the same thing as losing it at 50, nor is it the same to end the marriage by common consent as it is to add it in the midst of a heated battle.

Happy, positive events as well as sad, problematic ones can cause stress. Getting married, for example, means joining with a beloved one, it is a happy event. Even so, it implies meditation that requires effort on the part of both parties, so it can be stressful.

Either way, bear in mind that our emotions determine the response of our immune system. Why do some fall ill under stressful situations while others do not? It depends on how we react to the stressors.

Source: Excerpt from the book “The Hope of Living Cancer Free” by Francisco Contreras.