CAUTION! Stress can be Harmful to Your Health

M. D. Magazine and The New York Times have reported that musicians live to an average age of only fifty-four years! Compared to the three score and ten enjoyed by everyone else, those fifty-four years are painfully brief. A host of theories have been advanced to explain this sad phenomenon, but one glaring fact stands out: musicians suffer a higher incidence of coronary related deaths than does the general population, and among all the risk factors associated with coronary heart disease, stress plays the most influential role in an abbreviated life-expectancy. As crucial as proper nutrition and exercise are to the music educator's health, the significance of stress as a contributor to degenerative diseases such as coronary heart problems cannot be overstated. Sources of stress permeate every nook and cranny of the music educator's work environment. Musicians at all levels and settings are faced with a plethora of stress inducers, among which are