Recently we had an addition to our small team at work. This colleague has long been with the company, but in a different department. Prior to his joining our team, we had been asking our boss to add some sort of health benefit for the people in our team, for the simple reason that our job is easily one of the most stressful in the company.
For quite some time, I had been saying, jokingly, that because of the stress, I have had all sorts of symptoms – cluster headaches, inability to sleep, and hyperacidity. A couple of other team members agreed with me. It was not until this newest member – who lives a very healthy lifestyle and rarely ever gets sick – complained of really bad hyperacidity 2 months into the job that I realized that there really is a link between stress and this condition.
Here is this guy who never had serious health problems. He works with us for 2 months and suddenly, he develops all these symptoms that we have been experiencing ourselves! Is there a scientific basis to this?
Well, according to my doctor – whom I had to visit a mere 3 months ago because of severe hyperacidity – yes. Stress does cause the excess production of acid in the stomach. Of course, there are other factors like smoking, diet, etc.
So what should you do when suffering from recurrent bouts of hyperacidity? It really depends on each individual but lessening stress or dealing with stress the right way is a good starting point.
Originally posted on January 9, 2008 @ 12:00 am