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20 Judges J. 5 (1981)
Stress: What It Does to Judges and How It Can Be Lessened

handle is hein.journals/judgej20 and id is 185 raw text is: STRESS What it does to judges, and how it can be lessened This is not an article on judicial miscon- duct, or about medical or psychiatric disability. Instead, it is about how much stress normal, hard-working judges en- dure and how they may reduce it even though their workload keeps inching up. Stress is a nonspecific response to out- side demands. It is the state of being on duty. Even as we sleep we are respond- ing to various demands of the body, the environment, and the mind (dreams). Thus, stress is a normal accompaniment of life. As demands increase, the body and the mind reorganize continually to cope with them. Eventually, under chronic conditions of overload, the effi- ciency of that coping process becomes marginal, and the quality of work and personal life is threatened. While stress is ever-present, it must be kept within tolerable limits. However, the toll upon us may not be readily observable. It is a mistake to simply equate stress with tension or anxiety. They are merely indicators of stress. Often, we are unaware of other stress- related symptoms, which take their toll by altering our perceptual and intellec- tual vigilance, our body chemistry, hor- monal balance, energy reserves, and individual susceptibility to illness. Judges usually pay little attention to the demands posed by their career, stage By Isaiah M. Zimmerman