During stressful times, your body produces various chemicals, including cortisol, an immune-suppressing hormone. The more cortisol produced, the weaker your immune cells become and the more susceptible you are to illness.

No matter the source of your stress, it can produce physical, mental, and emotional symptoms that can affect any part of the body.

No one can avoid all stress -- and a certain amount actually is good for you. But it's always best to keep unhealthy levels in check when possible.

Mental stress does more than diminish your sense of well-being. It also can increase your risk for heart disease.

If you have high blood pressure, you need to know, so you can control it. If you don't, you increase your risk for serious illness.

PTSD is a condition that often follows a terrifying physical or emotional event—causing the person who survived the event to have persistent, frightening thoughts and memories of the ordeal.

Chronic inflammation damages the inside of coronary arteries and leaves them prone to plaque that clogs the blood vessels. That leads to clots that cause heart attacks.

A person with IBS has a colon that is more sensitive and reactive than usual, so it responds strongly to stimuli that would not affect other people.

Atopic dermatitis is a hereditary and chronic skin disorder that mostly affects infants and young children, but may last until a child reaches adolescence or adulthood.

Detailed information on insomnia, its causes, and ways to help reduce sleep problems

Detailed information on heart attack, symptoms of heart attack, warning signs, how to respond in an emergency, and heart attack treatment