re: Have You Ever Dealt With Stress to the Point it Affected You Physically?

Management of stress:

Breath work
Meditation
Prayer
Yoga (anyone see the new season of NFL Hard-knocks?)
Jacobsen progressive muscular relaxation
Mobility work/stretching with coordinating breathing (similar to yoga..)
Exercise with coordinated breathing during work/rest intervals

The focus for all of the above should be on breathing (taking control of the parasympathetic nervous system by conciously controlling the breath/slow extended exhalation = increases vagal tone). This keeps you in the rest/recovery mode. We should be in rest/recovery mode 90% plus of the time (parasympathetic dominance). Not surprisingly, these themes have shown up in most major cultures/religions in much of recorded history. Only recently have we seemed to dismiss this "foolishness"

Instead, most modern people spend the majority of their time in sympathetic dominance mode (fight /flight). They struggle to get into rest/relax mode. Substance abuse issues can evolve to try to compensate. Strange conditions evolve from being in chronic sympathetic states : hypetension, palpatations, muscle aches/tension, GI and urinary disturbances, poor sleep, insulin resistence, weight fluctuations, etc thus creating a vicious cycle of more worry/ stress. Well intentioned providers often try to control these symptoms with medication (with often limited success). This is further made worse by social media oneupmanship, media negativity bias, excessive work hours, limited sleep, etc... Look around and see the effects of this (diseases of Western civilizations)

Other ways to increase vagal tone by using breath:

Singing/chant
Playing a woodwind instrument