Managing stress is a key to good mental and physical health. Soaking in a Beachcomber Hot Tub three times a week for 20 minutes at a time is a wonderful way to relieve stress and restore your sense of well-being. The consequences of not managing stress - even "good" stress like the birth of child or a promotion - are well documented, from headaches to insomnia to serious illness. New research is showing just how pervasive and lasting the damage can be.

Researchers from the University of Florida have concluded that mental stress can actually cut the blood flow to the heart in some people, which in turn raises their risk of death from heart disease by a whopping threefold. There's also evidence that even short-term stress can cause lasting physical changes in the brain -- findings that help explain the devastating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

A research team from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem looked at what happened to mouse brain cells and to live mice following brief exposure to different types of stress. They found that within minutes of exposure, brain nerve cells, or neurons, became hypersensitive. And the change lasted for several weeks -- long after the stress was gone. This is in keeping with victims of post-traumatic stress, who despite time and distance from the original trauma remain physically, mentally, and emotionally agitated.

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