Coaching: Stress: The key to stress is : control. If you have control you are not stressed, if you don’t have control you are stressed. Mental Health Foundation 2018 study: In the past year 75% had at some point felt overwhelmed with stress. Elderly less stressed than younger. Of those who were stressed 50% felt depressed and 60% felt anxious, 50% overate or ate unhealthily,30% increased alcohol and 15% started or increased smoking. Of those who felt stressed at some point in their life 30% had suicidal thoughts and 15% had self harmed. 30% felt lonely. 40% of stress was due to worries about health of self or others and 20% was due to debt. 18-24 year old had more stress with social media eg Pressure to respond immediately to messages Comparing yourself to your peers -50% and pressure to succeed: 60% Females more stressed about body image than men: 40% versus 20% The American Institute of Stress: ●      About 33 percent of people report feeling extreme stress ●      77 percent of people experience stress that affects their physical health ●      73 percent of people have stress that impacts their mental health ●      48 percent of people have trouble sleeping because of stress 80% of work place accidents are due to stress Yearly cost to business of stress in the USA: $300 billion Psychological and physical Symptoms: Depression anxiety anger fatigue tension diabetes cardiovascular disease high blood pressure cancer substance abuse Stress is increasing. American Psychiatric Association: APA 2011 : 5% increase to 49% of Americans had felt stressed. 33% of children. APA 2021: Covid has caused significant stress in 80% worse in young adults associated with a sense of uncertainty about the future of their country and their own future. Up until the pandemic stress had been rising more in the middle aged who were less able to cope with technological advance , work pressure and  job losses. APA 2022: 90% of Americans feel stressed and 70% think Ukraine is the beginning of WW 3 Hormones of stress response: Adrenaline then the Hypothalamus Pituitary Adenal Axis producing CRF ACTH and Cortisol Cortisol is catabolic breaking everything down increasing energy supply.  It is anti inflammatory and suppresses the immune system. However chronically raised cortisol causes cortisol hypofunction leading to chronic systemic inflammation. Raising stress levels in the last 30 years is almost certainly the reason for the drop in vitamin D3 levels in the West which was already very low.  This is because the stress hormone cortisol blocks the receptors which absorb Vitamin D3. This in turn drops our immunity and makes us susceptible to infection and cancer. We are naturally tribal and designed to function in relatively small groups of about 150 (Dunbar’s number). We require structure , hierarchy and leadership with common identity and goals. This is why religion works well. It is a transcontinental tribe with clear identity and rules. Destruction of this with globalism , political correctness, mass media with constant hysteria generation and social media designed to take control away from you as well as making you feel compelled to answer messages immediately and to negatively compare yourself to others are a modern catastrophe to our mental and physical health. Attempts to medicalise it are misguided and happen more out of a sense of duty and despair by the medical professionals. It is a leadership and political issue and a sign of a catastrophically badly run society. Freedom of speech? Freedom of Movement with hoards of people happy to work on minimum wage? Debates on whether to cancel Christmas and whether women can have penises? br...