Most people do not think about their health or issues revolving around their health until they are actually ill or people think that their health is only affected by biological factors. However, our health should be a focus in our lives because our daily life has an affect on our health. Illness does not only have biological causes but is also influenced by social factors such as the socially imposed roles of gender and socioeconomic differences.

Before the affect of gender on health can be discussed, the difference between gender and sex must first defined. Sex refers to actual physiological and hormonal differences between men and women; gender refers to the differences that are imposed by society. Statistics have shown that women have higher rates of morbidity but men have shorter life spans. This means that although women live longer than men, those years are not healthy years but rather are filled with illness. This cannot be completely explained by biological causes but the affect of social factors must be taken into account.

There are two types of gender difference disease: completely biological and biological amplified by social. Examples of completely biological diseas

The stress of everyday life can also affect health. Those of a lower socioeconomic status have higher levels of stress due to job instability and living conditions. This is a part of the exposure hypothesis which states that \"lower-class people are exposed to more stressful life experiences than those in the middle or upper classes, and that higher rates of distress are a logical result of this exposure.\" (Weiss and Lonnquist 97) Because of these higher levels of distress, those in a lower socioeconomic status have higher incidences of diseases aggravated by stress such as cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. This added stress also leads to negative health behaviors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse all of which have adverse affects on health. These various stressors of everyday life caused by gender differences and differences in socioeconomic status can have a more profound affect than they seem.

The societal demands placed upon women to be homemakers and full time employees provide a source of stress for women that can manifest itself in the form of a physical illness or a psychological disorder. Women have significantly higher rates than men

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