ABSTRACT
According to Hayward,1 stress derives from the Latin word stringo (stringere), meaning to bind or draw tight. It entered the English language in the fourteenth century, when it referred to physical hardship and later, a form of injury. It was not until the seventeenth century that the word began to refer to an inner state.1 Its modern usage to describe a combination of harmful environmental pressures and pathological physiological responses was popularized in the research work of the biochemist Hans Selye (1907-82). The notion that the body’s response to the environment might have adverse health consequences, especially on the heart, was proposed by the famous clinician Sir William Osler (1849-1919).1,2 Experimental evidence on the effects of stress emerged in the laboratory work of the physiologist Walter B Cannon in the 1930s, when he showed a range of physiological responses, such as adrenaline release and cardiac arrythmias, in response to external ‘strains’.1 These concepts, part developed by pioneers in an era that preceded modern scientific medicine, took firm root with the public and the medical profession.
