African Americans pay a high price for living in a discriminatory society where stress can impact health and well-being. The enduring wealth gap that has widened in recent years as well as the protraction of poverty, social isolation, residential segregation and other social institutions have been shown to be causative factors for the development of systemic disease secondary to stress.
In the past, stress was considered simply a state of mind. We now know that stress causes physiological changes in the body, which could lead to development and progression of chronic disease. Because Black Americans report higher levels of racial discrimination, they are more likely to develop pre-mature disease in the form of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, cardiovascular disease and other serious health problems.
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