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Test it before it haunts you

Stress tests are done to find the capability of a person to handle different stressful conditions and their short and long term effects. Some tests involve the assessment of an individual's susceptibility to physical stress while some other assesses the susceptibility to mental stress and its impact. This article tells you more on:

What are the various stress level tests?
How various stress level tests are conducted?
Which are the tests conducted to find out the long term effect of stress?

Stress tests are tests done to assess the capability of a person to handle different stressful conditions and their short and long term effects. The nuclear stress test is the most popular among the different stress tests available. Though most of the available stress tests involve the assessment of an individual's susceptibility to physical stress involving mainly the heart, there are other tests also to assess the susceptibility to mental stress and its impact

Physical Stress Tests

Physical stress tests are more scientific than their mental counterparts. The most sought after tests are that done for the heart. Some of the physical effects which can be assessed by various tests are

Increased heart rate
Increased blood pressure
Increased bowel movements
Increased acidity

Increased heart rate, blood pressure and their effects on heart are assessed by making the person experience a simulator stress like walking on a treadmill. The other three can be assessed in persons who experience long term effects of stress. The different tests used are

Nuclear stress test & Exercise stress test- to assess the effect of increased heart rate and blood pressure on heart.
Barium meal series - to assess the movement of the bowel
Bernstein's pH monitoring and Esophagio gastro duodenoscopy - to study about the acidity.

Exercise Stress Test

Exercise Stress Test, the Non nuclear Stress Test or the Treadmill Test as it is popularly known is simple stress test. The patient is made to walk on a moving belt (treadmill) or in some labs made to pedal a stationary bicycle and the activity of the heart is monitored through ECG/EKG.The speed of walking is increased by increasing the speed of the moving belt and its effect on the heart is seen. If the heart is normal, then the ECG/EKG will be normal .If the heart is not able to cope up with stress the ECG/EKG will show abnormal tracings.

Nuclear Stress Test

The cardiac Nuclear Stress test also called as Thallium stress test, Cardiolite stress test, Chemical stress test or Isotope stress test is a similar test in which the images of resting and stressed heart are studied. A radio active substance (Thallium 201) is injected into the patient which gets concentrated in the heart and images of the heart are taken using a gamma camera both at the resting stage and the stressed stage. Then it is analyzed to know about the functional and the structural integrity of the heart. During exercise the normal blood vessel increases in diameter allowing more blood to flow across and the narrowed blood vessel does not allow more blood to flow. The portion of the heart supplied by normal blood vessel accumulates more isotopes and appears as dark spots while the portion of the heart supplied by a blocked blood vessel accumulates less isotope and appears as light spots.

The following tests are not stress tests in the real sense. They are done to assess the long term effects of stress.

Barium Meal Series

This test is used to assess both the structural and functional integrity of the gastrointestinal tract. Barium sulfate in the form of thick white paste is swallowed by the person and X-ray of the person is taken at different intervals. In a normal person, the swallowed barium is