People generally think of stress and anxiety as negative concepts, but while both stress and anxiety can reach unhealthy levels, psychologists have long known that both are unavoidable -- and that they often play a helpful, not harmful, role in our daily lives.

Brain activity is key to why stress increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, a study suggests.

More strain at work might mean more illness in old age, according to a new study. The study found both physical and mental job strain were tied to hospital stays later in life.

People who believe that stress is having an adverse impact on their health are probably right, because they have an increased risk of suffering a heart attack, according to new research.

Scientists have worked out the way in which stress hormones reduce the number of new brain cells - a process linked to depression - and say their work should help researchers develop more effective antidepressants.

Women suffering from stress-related exhaustion exhibit hypersensitivity to sounds when exposed to stress. In some cases, a sound level corresponding to a normal conversation can be perceived as painful. This according to a study that tested sensitivity to sounds immediately after a few minutes' artificially induced stress.

[Yale] Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now scientists have discovered one reason why this occurs - a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

[BBC] Experts are to begin a study to find out if stress can trigger dementia.

Apatiska flyktingbarn har förändrade halter i blodet av flera hormoner som har samband med långvarig stress. När barnen tillfrisknar återgår hormonhalterna till normala nivåer. Det visar forskare vid Uppsala universitet och Karolinska Institutet i en studie.

Children who have experienced violence might really be older than their years. The DNA of 10-year-olds who experienced violence in their young lives has been found to show wear and tear normally associated with aging, a study has found.

Repeated stress triggers the production and accumulation of insoluble tau protein aggregates inside the brain cells of mice, say researchers.

Scientists say that a single extra dose of cortisone -- which the body naturally produces just after a traumatic event -- reduces the chance that an individual will develop PTSD by 60 percent.

Is your kid a "dove" -- cautious and submissive when confronting new environments, or perhaps you have a "hawk" -- bold and assertive in unfamiliar settings? These basic temperamental patterns are linked to opposite hormonal responses to stress -- differences that may provide children with advantages for navigating threatening environments, researchers report.

New research finds neurological basis for city-dwellers' mental health problems

According to UK government statistics over 8 million working days per year are lost due to illness and about a third of these are due to minor ailments such as coughs, colds, sickness and diarrhea. Yet two individuals who are equally ill do not necessarily both report sick. New research shows that conflicts and stress at work can trigger taking sick leave.

Researchers may have resolved the cortisol paradox. In a groundbreaking study, they link cortisol levels not simply to behavior problems, but to the length of time individuals have experienced behavior problems.

The computer game Tetris may have a special ability to reduce flashbacks after viewing traumatic images not shared by other types of computer game, scientists have discovered in a series of experiments.

Stress may be more hazardous to our mental health than previously believed, according to new research. A series of studies have found there may be a link between the recent rise in depression rates and the increase of daily stress.

Mums who are often angry or irritated and those who suppress their emotional expressions can worsen the severity of their children's asthma symptoms, especially when the children are younger. Researchers studied 223 mothers for a year, investigating how their stress levels, coping styles and parenting styles were associated with their 2- to 12-year-old children's disease status.

Alcohol consumption, withdrawal, and abstinence can all raise stress hormones in humans and animals. A review has described how stress hormones called glucocorticoids are associated with neurotoxicity during abstinence after withdrawal from alcohol dependence. Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism may therefore represent a pharmacological option for recovery.

Despite clear evidence that Hsp12 -- a so-called heat shock or stress protein -- helps cells survive life-threatening conditions, how it works was an open question until now. The surprising answer is revealed by German researchers who have discovered the function of Hsp12, a protective mechanism unlike any previously observed. Unfolded within the cell's aqueous cytosol, Hsp12 folds into helical structures to stabilize the cell membrane.

New research helps explain how the body's "flight-or-fight" response is mediated. The study may provide new answers to the question of how the heart pacemaker -- the sinoatrial node -- is regulated.

A new pan-European research study is examining whether working conditions in hospitals are contributing to doctor ‘burnout’ and putting patients’ lives at risk.