Life throws up innumerable situations, which we greet with both negative and positive emotions such as excitement, frustration, fear, happiness, anger, sadness, joy. And when the negative reactions to life’s situations become repetitively intense and frequent, we tend to develop symptoms of depression. Depression is prevalent among all age groups, in almost all walks of life. But in our modern scenario with the constant rise and development of our companies, which is setting high standards for the employees, There is something else that is stealthily developing with it, that is, stress. Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in some way. When faced with a threat, whether to our physical safety or emotional equilibrium, the body’s defences kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight’’ response, says Dr Shiney Benedict. The responses could be in various forms — palpitation, tensing muscles, breathing fast, heavy perspiration, blocked thoughts. Science is constantly experimenting about the impacts that stress could have on the overall health of an individual, as it is a contributing factor and all common ailments like backaches, insomnia, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome and so on. Stress is one of the biggest killers and cause of most chronic diseases, which makes an individual miserable. It is linked to major ailments like cancer, heart diseases, lung diseases and even suicides. It is found that 75 to 90 per cent of youngsters who visit primary care physicians complain of stress-related symptoms. This happens especially in the age group of 25 to 40 years.

To overcome these problems the most common solution that these youngsters adopt is to pop ills (sedatives) without realising that how dangerous these could be. Confirming the above facts, psychiatrists say that consumption of sedatives have increased rapidly in the last few years due to stress. Naturopathy and yoga, a system of natural health care, will help to take charge of the situation. It addresses the continuum of stress, using relaxation and detoxification techniques rather than prescription of drugs. Relaxation therapies in naturopathy include body massage with aromatic oils that destress the entire system. Hydrotherapic treatments like steam bath, sauna bath also helps to relax. Fuller mud bath is helpful to detoxify the skin. Detoxification treatments in combination with other hydrotherapy treatment and yogic sessions can have a very positive impact on an individual.

Talking about the solution, there are three basic ways an individual reacts to stress:
* You can get angry scream, shout, throw things, start a fight, or go on a rampage.
* You can withdraw - take a drink, shut up in a room, take a pill, daydream, stop talking to everyone.
* You can take charge - think out the problem; take steps to overcome the physical stress.