Dealing with stress is not easy and some think the only way out is to live with it.

However, Maltese Mentoring Society president Paul Dalli believes stress is the cause of a number of diseases that are preventable if a person keeps stress under control.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Malta Association of Women in Business, Mr Dalli stressed that there is not enough information on stress.

When asked whether foreigners were more aware of it, Mr Dalli said there was not much difference. "People know stress exists and many know what it is and what its symptoms are. But only a few know how to cope with it," he said.

Mr Dalli pointed out that in order to be in control, manage situations, be efficient, productive and happy, a person needs to be calm and stress-free. Stress is persistent and is characterised by blood pressure that goes up and a serum concentration of fatty acids which lead to early diseases in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks, strokes and deaths.

"Many business people in places of power who come across a lot of stress tend to die at an early age," he said. Mr Dalli himself has suffered several heart attacks in his early 40s.

Today he is retired and says he enjoys a stress-free life that enables him to live happily, healthily and wealthily.

Mr Dalli explained that humans deal with emergency situations either by releasing a combination of hormones into the circulation by activating the nervous system into doing certain actions. He explained that the natural reaction to certain situations that is ingrained in human beings is the "fight or flight reaction". "Today we hardly express our emotions through these methods and this is conducive to becoming more stressed," he said. Many times people would like to do something which is not acceptable by society and suppress that feeling, adding to feelings of stress.

Mr Dalli said the effects of stress come in three stages - changes in mood and intellect, changes in behaviour that are visible to others and, lastly, physiological changes. The first two stages are caused by a repressed fight or flight response while the third is caused by constant stress.

But diminishing stress is not difficult according to Mr Dalli. He said a 30-minute walk every morning would do wonders for a person to feel better. A 15-minute relaxation session by tightening the muscles and releasing the tension would also help. After this, he said, a person feels lighter, stronger and more energetic.

"People can still lead their usual lives and deal with stress," he said.