It's no secret that stress is bad for us. It causes acne, upset stomachs and leaves you feeling tired and fatigued. It suppresses your immune system and makes you more susceptible to sickness. Sometimes it's even hard to sleep when you're stressed. While these may be just minor difficulties we endure, stress can do so much more. In fact, stress is killing us at an alarming rate.

Chronic stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, accidents, liver cirrhosis and suicide. More than 75 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related illnesses or complaints. And now that we live in a society where we are all stressed all the time, it seems as if we headed down a dark tunnel that leads to a plethora of chronic illnesses and premature death.

So where's the good news in all this? Well, we have a myriad of resources to deal with stress, including meditation, coloring (it works, try it!), and some good old R&R. But once again, these are often solutions to dealing with short-term stress. It's a little harder to find ways to combat chronic stress, but I will give you one surefire solution right now: It's all about control.

Those of us who perceive less control in our lives are more likely to suffer from chronic stress. We believe that we are stuck in a situation that will never get better no matter how hard we try, so why bother? We rank low in the social hierarchy and often have many people lording over us and we feel powerless to change it. Someone stuck in this vicious cycle is more likely to become depressed, obese, and even suffer from memory impairment.

In his famous study, Robert Saplosky of Stanford conducted 30 years of research on a tribe of baboons in Africa. What he found was that the dominant baboons perceived less stress because of their tribal status and as a result had lower blood pressure and arteries free of plaque. The subordinate baboons on the other hand had constantly elevated levels of stress hormones, had injuries that took longer to heal, high blood pressure and arteries caked with plaque.

These baboons were often tormented by the dominant baboons and lived under constant stress and fear. These findings were some of the first to show how fatal chronic stress could be, and at the very least how life altering and detrimental to health it is as well. Over the course of the study, many of the dominant baboons were killed off by eating garbage left behind by humans. Their deaths transformed the tribe; the subordinate baboons were able to grow healthy and flourish without the ever-present stress of their overlords. So if the baboons can do it, we should be able to also, right?

Well, not all our bosses will just keel over from eating garbage. Sorry, but we can't be that lucky. Instead, we have to take back control. We need to assert dominance in our own lives. If you're able to, talk with your superiors about how you're feeling and work out a solution that can get you more freedom. If your workplace isn't so understanding, find ways to give yourself some control by setting personal deadlines or finding new meaning in your work.

If you can't find any semblance of control in your job, you have to try and find it somewhere else. Become captain of your intramural team, or lead a book club, or finally pick up that hobby you've been interested in. Plan an adventure for your family or friends, or head off on a solo mission to that one place you've always wanted to visit. We may feel like our lives are out of control and what we do doesn't matter, but it is easier than you think to take back control. You just need to find something somewhere in your life that matters to you and own it. Your health could depend on it!