Americans today are faced with a number of health issues, mainly as a result of poor diet, lack of exercise, and lifestyle choices; but, of course, genetics does play a part. My family, for example, has a history of several issues. My father suffers from diabetes and asthma, which my children have as well. My older sister and I both suffer from stress, which is most likely causing our chronic heartburn and my headaches; and, both my husband and I are borderline obese, which is a gateway disease to many others. While some of these issues are linked genetically, many of them are due to lifestyle, which can be viewed as both negative and positive. Negative because we brought these ailments onto ourselves, but positive because we can
Because of my TMJD, I suffer a dull, aching pain in my face and jaws, neck and shoulder pain and sometimes have discomfort chewing my food. Doctors have told me the reason for my headaches, bruxism and TMJD is stress as they are unable to find anything physically wrong with me. Even my chronic heartburn can be attributed to stress as even when I cut out any trigger foods (i.e. fried or spicy dishes, caffeine, alcohol, etc.) I still suffer from it. These signs and symptoms of stress are present often due to the fact that I manage my stress poorly. My sister, who as previously mentioned suffers similar symptoms as I do, manages her stress more efficiently as she does not suffer them as often. Through exercise and taking several vacations throughout the year, she can combat certain symptoms of stress. I, on the other hand, have not yet found an effective way of dealing with my stress issues and symptoms; therefore, I am constantly fighting an emotional and physical battle. Hopefully, regular exercise and keeping a journal, both of which I have started doing again, will help me manage my stress better thus reducing any signs and symptoms I am suffering from.

Obesity
Both my husband and I are short people, so looking a chart of healthy weights for our stature, we certainly borderline obese. Obesity, defined as a body mass index of 30 or greater, increases the risk of