Published: January 1, 1991

Stressed Out

Physically, the body responds to stress by pumping adrenaline through the blood, which in turn speeds up the heart rate and blood pressure. Digestion slows because blood is diverted to the muscles and the brain, and breathing quickens to oxygenate this blood. The body is tense and ready to move.

Being tense and ready for action isn't a problem when someone needs to run for the hills or stand tall and fight. But when stress comes from a misbehaving student or a disagreeable principal, the body is, in a sense, all revved up with no place to go. The muscles that are tense and eager to move simply get stiff and sore. Blood that's diverted from the digestive tract and sent racing to the brain causes headaches and gastrointestinal distress. And all the unused adrenaline can add up to body aches, anxiety, insomnia, and irritability.

"What's stressful about teaching is the number of people teachers are involved with,'' says Laura Brinkman, a special education teacher at Denver's Abraham Lincoln High School. "Teachers have to work with students on one mental level and everyone else in the building on another, and...