"The Stress" (ザ・ストレス, Za Sutoresu) is the sixth single by Japanese singer/songwriter Chisato Moritaka. The lyrics were written by Moritaka and the music was composed by Hideo Saitō. The single was released by Warner Pioneer on February 25, 1989. The full title of the single is "The Stress -Stress Chūkintō Version-" (ザ・ストレス -ストレス 中近東バージョン-, lit. "The Stress -Stress Middle East Version-"), a remix of "Stress" with Middle Eastern-style synthesizer arrangements.^[1][2]

During a rehearsal in the middle of her first national tour in 1988, Moritaka suffered abdominal pain and had to be hospitalized for a week after being diagnosed with acute enteritis. Her doctor told her that the inflammation was caused by mental stress. As a result, the experience inspired her to write "The Stress".^[3][4]

The music video features Moritaka as a waitress having to deal with all kinds of customers at a ramen restaurant while visualizing her stress as a ghostly entity watching her. Since the video's release, the waitress uniform has been one of her regular costumes on her live performances.^[4][5] The contents of the original 8" LaserDisc release were compiled in the 2000 DVD Chisato Moritaka DVD Collection No. 5: Mite/The Stress/17-sai.^[6]

"The Stress" peaked at No. 19 on Oricon's singles chart and sold 40,000 copies, making it her first top-20 hit.^[7][8]

Remixes of "The Stress" were released in the 1989 greatest hits album Moritaka Land and the 1991 remix album The Moritaka.

Moritaka re-recorded the song as "Stress (25th Anniversary Ver.)" (ストレス（25周年記念Ver.）) and uploaded the video on her YouTube channel on April 25, 2014.^[9] This version is also included in Moritaka's 2015 self-covers DVD album Love Vol. 7.^[10]

The song was remixed by tofubeats in the 2014 collaboration album Chisato Moritaka with tofubeats: Moritaka Tofu.^[11]

All lyrics are written by Chisato Moritaka, except where indicated; all music is composed and arranged by Hideo Saitō, except where indicated.

• Chisato Moritaka – vocals
• Hideo Saitō – guitar, drum and synthesizer programming

"The Stress" was covered by Natsumi Abe in 2006 as her seventh single. This version reached No. 14 in Oricon's singles chart. Abe performed an a cappella version of the song in a Georgia GABA commercial.^[13][14]