Stress may seem to be inevitably attached to success in life, but it's important to keep your balance and have a healthy attitude. Doctors say that people who handle stress with a positive mindset decrease their risk of heart disease, while those who react with anger and negativity increase their cardiac risk levels.

That doesn't mean you have to run off to a desert island or eliminate all excitement from your life. Many important milestones in life are very stressful (think high school, college, new jobs, weddings, moving, etc.) but lead to better outcomes and end up increasing happiness in the long run. In most of these situations, stress can help generate the focus and intensity needed to deal with the situation successfully.

The killer is long-term chronic stress, the constant grind of daily aggravations. This condition affects health and performance by increasing the body's output of cortisol, a hormone secreted by the adrenal gland that plays important roles in regulating many metabolic functions, including blood sugar, blood pressure, immune system functioning and inflammatory response. Cortisol levels are normally highest in the morning and decline toward the evening hours, allowing the body to relax.

Unfortunately, cortisol is also produced as a reaction to the body's "fight or flight" reflex. When faced with a real or perceived threat, cortisol can produce a burst of quick energy, improve memory, reduce sensitivity to pain and increase immunity. These changes, while useful to our ancestors when it was time to hunt mammoths or flee from a saber-toothed tiger, can be harmful if repeated frequently every day without allowing proper relaxation.

The body stays in a state of constant agitation, which can cause serious long-term problems: reduced cognitive performance and thyroid function, high blood sugar, decreased bone density and muscle tissue, high blood pressure, lower immunity and increased abdominal fat, which is associated with many other health problems.

Suggestions for taking a healthy, proactive approach to controlling stress include many familiar lifestyle modifications, such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, cutting out smoking and other unhealthy habits, avoiding caffeine and getting adequate sleep. Here are several stress-specific tips: be more assertive about changing stressors that can be eliminated, try not to focus so much on situations that can't be changed, and learn to use one or more relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, biofeedback, relaxation to music or professional counseling.