Agree with HD and Cossack.
Stress and pressure are different entities.
Pressure from busy traffic, for example, creates adrenalin which in turn speeds up the mind and body to manage the situation. This we experience throughout training and and regularly at work so we become able to deal with it. You know yourselves if you go home after a very busy period you need time to unwind because your body is affected by the adrenalin - then you collapse in a heap!
Stress on the other hand can be dangerous as it can affect your performance at work and is mainly caused by activities/problems going on around you at work, or outside work which we are not trained to deal with and do not encounter regularly enough to know how to deal with. At work I've found the main causes are the paper pushers not listening to/supporting staff, staff shortages, equipment malfunctioning etc.
I,m expecting the usual mockery that comes with these forums but I have personal experience of stress in the past couple of years and it is not funny and stays with you for a long time. I was one of those who thought "it will never happen to me"
One solution I have found is to have plenty of interests outside work, thus keeping your mind off it.
Thirty something, not grey but balding!
[This message has been edited by shakinghead (edited 13 March 2001).]