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While pundits and economists worry about Wall Street’s well-being, Americans worry about losing their jobs, paying their bills and the health of the planet. The capitalist marketplace promotes the exploitation of people and natural resources as cheap fixes. But you don’t have to abandon your values to save a buck. Welcome to the People’s Marketplace.

What do headaches, relationship problems, and restlessness all have in common? They are all effects of stress.

Stress is common. So common, that it is easy to brush off the negative health effects and assume a grin-and-bear-it attitude. But unmitigated stress can cost you money. How much?

The Mayo Clinic links a wide range of serious and costly health problems to stress. It is a factor in high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and heart attacks. It can lower fertility and cause erectile problems. Stress aggravates asthma – especially in children. And it causes continued muscle tension, resulting in neck, shoulder and back pain.

And then there’s your teeth. Since the economy crashed dentists across the country are reporting a surge in patients seeking emergency treatment for cracked and broken teeth, requiring bridges, crowns, and root canals. The culprit is often excessive grinding of the teeth, caused by stress. Grinding your teeth can also cause neck and shoulder pain and excruciating tension headaches.

And loving parents take note, unchecked stress can negatively affect your parenting, especially if it leads to depression.

Is this stressing you out? It probably is if you are one of the estimated 60 million Americans with no health insurance or inadequate coverage. The lack of affordable health care in America is shameful, and there is no individual quick-fix to fill the gap. Affordable health insurance is something we all need to work for. Check-out the Center for Policy Analysis website at centerforpolicyanalysis.org, or Consumer Watchdog at consumerwatchdog.org for ways to get involved in the fight for quality, universal health care.

Until health justice prevails, there are things you can do to decrease the impact stress has on your body. The Mayo Clinic website has many, many pages on how to manage stress. These include exercise, making small changes in your diet, and seeking out supportive and healthy relationships. The American Psychiatric Society has a wonderful website at www.healthyminds.org. Like the Mayo clinic, it offers tons of helpful and easy to read articles about managing stress. One recent post on healthy minds is geared towards recent college grads who are frustrated by unemployment. Another offers parents tips for reducing stress their child might feel at the beginning of a school year.

So, find a healthy, cheap way to chill-out today, and do a little something to improve health care for all tomorrow. Try it. Together we can take back the economy.