Health Watch is a Public Service of the Office of News and Publications and is intended to provide general information only and should not replace the advice of a medical professional. You should contact your physician if you have questions about any of these topics.


This week on Health Watch, we’ve been talking about coping with difficult or stressful situations. If you don’t deal with stress in a positive way, it can affect your health. Stress can lead to depression. It can also cause physical problems like high blood pressure, weight gain or loss, or headaches.

Dr. Stephanie Setliff, a psychiatrist at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, says you can’t eliminate stress, but you can learn to manage it so it doesn’t affect your health. She suggests coping strategies like exercise, yoga, talking to friends, reading or doing something else you enjoy. You can also help reduce stress by asking for help when you need it, planning ahead, learning to make quick decisions and developing better time-management skills. Sometimes you just have to learn to let go of worries that you know are beyond your control.

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^April 2006

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