Are you among the 95 million Americans who suffer from stress during these trying times? Revised and comprehensive, this invaluable guide helps you identify the specific areas of stress in your life–familial, work-related, social, emotional–and offers proven techniques for dealing with every one of them. New material includes information on how men and women differ in response to stress, updated statistics on disorders and drugs, the ways terrorism and the information age impact stress, the key benefits of spirituality, alternative medicine, exercise, and nutrition. Stress Management will help you • test your personal responses to daily stress– and chart your progress in controlling it • learn specific techniques for relaxation– from “scanning” to “imagery training” • discover how to deal with life’s critical moments without stress • embark on a program to improve your physical health as a major step toward stress management • discern which types of stress must be reduced and which kinds you can turn into positive motivation “Witty, relaxed yet disarmingly effective.” – West Coast Review of Books “In language that is easy to understand, and in specific steps that are easy to follow, this book presents virtually all the essential ingredients that promote mental and physical well-being.” –ARNOLD A. LAZARUS, PH.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Rutgers University “Extremely readable, and the contents notably support the title.” –RAY H. ROSENMAN, M.D., cardiologist, co-author of Type A Behavior and Your Heart Are you among the 95 million Americans who suffer from stress during these trying times? Revised and comprehensive, this invaluable guide helps you identify the specific areas of stress in your life-familial, work-related, social, emotional-and offers proven techniques for dealing with every one of them. New material includes information on how men and women differ in response to stress, updated statistics on disorders and drugs, the ways terrorism and the information age impact stress, the key benefits of spirituality, alternative medicine, exercise, and nutrition. Stress Management" will help you - test your personal responses to daily stress- and chart your progress in controlling it - learn specific techniques for relaxation- from "scanning" to "imagery training" - discover how to deal with life's critical moments without stress - embark on a program to improve your physical health as a major step toward stress management - discern which types of stress must be reduced and which kinds you can turn into positive motivation Edward A. Charlesworth, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, director of Willowbrook Psychological Associates, P.C., president of Stress Management Research Associates, Inc., and an international consultant to corporations and hospitals. He is also the author of  Stress Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Wellness . Ronald G. Nathan, PhD,  is a clinical psychologist. Before entering private practice, Dr. Nathan was an award-winning professor of family practice and psychiatry at Albany Medical College who developed the country’s first required stress-management course for medical students. Learning About Stress and Your Life The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes. –Marcel Proust One How Do You Respond to Stress? The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny. —Jimmy Carter Stress and Our Ancestors We live in a new age of anxiety, century of stress, and era of terrorism. Once the name Columbine brought to mind only a beautiful mountain flower and September 11 was just another day on the calendar. The history books that our grandchildren read will speak of the alarming increases in health and social problems related to the tensions and stress of our times. You may well ask, has man always been nervous and anxious? The plays of Shakespeare included many examples of the stress response. One of the most respected medical textbooks of the 1600s gave excellent descriptions of anxiety states. In fact, our nervous responses can be traced to the prehistoric cave dweller. Imagine a cave dweller sitting near a small fire in the comfort of a cave. Suddenly, in the light of the fire, up comes the shadow of a saber-toothed tiger. The body reacts instantly. To survive, the cave dweller had to respond by either fighting or running. A complex part of our brains and bodies called the autonomic nervous system prepared the cave dweller for fight or flight. This nervous system was once thought to be automatic and beyond our control. Here is a partial list of the responses set up by the autonomic nervous system and how you may recognize them from your own experience. 1.Digestion slows and blood is redirected to the muscles and the brain. It is more important to be alert and strong in the face of danger than to di