Stress at work can kill you.

A study by researchers at the School of Public Health in Berkeley, CA, discovered that work stress, resulting from pressure at the work place, may increase the progression of atherosclerosis by 46% in people who have highly reactive personalities to stress.

“Studies like these have shown that work stress is associated to cardiovascular disease,” states Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, Director of the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center at Cedars-Sinai in the U.S.A., who will speak on stress at work at the XVI World Congress of Cardiology. “And, although it is difficult to estimate how many people are at risk of coronary disease because of work stress, the most recent analysis of the INTERHEART study directed by Dr. Salim Yusuf makes it possible to estimate that from 20% to 30% of heart attacks can be attributed to psychological stress.”

“In the INTERHEART study, psychosocial factors were shown to be more potent predictors of the incidence of myocardial infarction than diabetes, smoking, hypertension and obesity in the multivariate analysis,” said Dr. Monica Acevedo B., cardiologist and assistant professor at the Cardiology Dept. of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

“The presence of these factors clearly increased the risk of infarction,” says Dr. Néstor Vita of Argentina, Professor of Internal Medicine at the Rosario University Institute and Vice-President of the XVI World Congress of Cardiology, when referring to stress and depression.

Learning how to deal with work stress can make the difference between life and death – literally. For those susceptible to the negative effects of their work environment, Rapid Eye Technology (RET) could be their solution – and their lifeline. Learning simple techniques for dissipating the stressful psychological and physical aspects of the workplace could save your life – and make you more productive in the process.

I recommend learning the RET Quick Release technique to almost instantly discharging emotional energy held in the body. It’s very easy to learn and do – taking only seconds – and can be performed almost anywhere. After using the technique just a few times, the overall levels of stress should diminish and remain lower. As you continue to do the technique, targeting different aspects of your stress each time, your body may just respond by lessening your chance of myocardial infarction (heart attack).

That’s pretty big payoff for little investment – the kind of Return On Investment (ROI) most high stress workers like to see. It’s at least worth learning to see how it will work for you – especially if you are one of the 20%-30% at higher risk.

Imagining your success greatly increases the probability of your achieving it.