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 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.

Many people hunger for sweets, salty snacks, and other processed foods when they are stressed. One solution: Reach for healthy high-fiber snacks with a bit of the tastes you crave.

If you experience difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or enjoying a restful night's sleep, you may be suffering from insomnia.

A heart attack occurs when the blood supply is cut off from the heart muscle, usually because of a blood clot. Without blood and oxygen, the muscle cells are damaged and die.