You can almost feel your blood pressure soar as you take the long walk down the hall to your boss's office. you remember a rumor you heard about an upcoming round of layoffs. now your mind is racing, your heart is pumping, your blood pressure is soaring, your mouth dries up, your hands feel cold and clammy, your forehead is perspiring and you may even feel a sudden urge to go (to the bathroom). as you imagine your boss firing you, the caveman inside of you wants to come out. maybe you'd like to run and hide or maybe you'd like to punch your boss in the nose, but you can't do either. welcome to the modern era. to verify the accuracy of the physical reactions to stress mentioned in this article, the best reference source to use would be a textbook used in a health class for college level students someone suffering from excessive stress who was interviewed and videotaped the web site that originally produced this article and other health-related articles a current study on the effects of stress on the body published by a medical journal