Stress Management
Stress Management
Stress Management
(“abnormal” strain)
▪ Increase in complexity of living systems – many (physiological and
morphological variables)
– any given variable ( i ) has its own homeostatic set‐point – affected by stress - (ΔHi).
Material Object vs Biological System
▪ In simpler terms
– Is what you experience when you believe you cant cope effectively with a threatening situation
– The difference between
▪ the demands of the situation and
▪ your perception of how well you can cope with that situation is
▪ what determines how much stress you feel
▪ Same word to describe the physical and emotional discomfort we feel about the situation
– Stress = anxious, headachy, irritated and so on.
▪ Moderate stresses
– Losing your wallet, denting the car, or catching a cold
Classifying stressors
▪ Major stresses
– Death, divorce, financial ruin, serious illness
▪ Moderate stresses
– Losing your wallet, denting the car, or catching a cold
▪ Little annoyances, petty frustrations, and minor irritations – ultimately lead to a continuing
sense of stress
What makes stress such a problem
▪ Because stress can be continuous and ongoing
▪ A stressor here and there, now and then – one can handle
– If stressed out only once in a while, stress isn’t really a concern
– The body and mind react, but soon recover and return to a more relaxed state
▪ Many forms of headache, chest pain and back pain result from stress-induces muscle tension
Taking stress to heart
▪ Play a role in diseases such as CAD, sudden cardiac death and strokes
– b/c stress can increase your BP, constrict your blood vessels, raise your cholesterol level, trigger arrhythmias and
speed up the rate at which your blood clots
▪ Stress is now considered a major risk factor in heart disease, like smoking, being overweight and
not exercising
Hitting below the belt
▪ GIT can be a ready target for much of the stress
– Secretion of acid in your stomach
– Speed up or slow down the peristalsis (the rhythmic contraction of the muscles in intestines)
▪ Constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating and weight loss all can be stress related
▪ Stress can contribute to GERD, IBS, colitis and Chohn’s disease
▪ People under stress usually experience changes in their weight
▪ 2 different ways
▪ Stress diet:
– Eating less; but isn’t best way to lose weight
▪ When stressed Cortisol fat accumulation around your abdomen enlarges individual fat
cells “diseased fat”
Compromising immune system
▪ Chronic stress immune system less effective in resisting bacteria and viruses
▪ Lower your resistance to colds
– The higher a person’s stress score, the more likely he was to come down with a cold when exposed to a cold virus
– A person catches cold
▪ If experiences chronic stress lasting a month or more
▪ Doubles the risk, if stress for more than a month but less than 6 months
▪ Quadruples the risk, if stress lasting >2 years
▪ Children who see their parents stressing out (worrying, yelling, arguing) tend to become stressed
themselves
– Feel sad, worried and frustrated
– And it’s not just their emotions that are affected
– Trouble falling asleep at night, headaches, upset stomach, impair developmental growth
Management
Understanding Stress is as simple as ABC
▪ ABC model by psychologist Albert Ellis
▪ A B C
– A = Activating event or triggering situation. It’s the “stressor”
– B = Beliefs, thoughts or perceptions about A
– C = emotional, physical and behavioral Consequence or “stress” that results from holding these beliefs
▪ A potentially stressful situation your perceptions your stress (or lack of stress)
Real time examples to understand ABC model
▪ Scenario of common source of stress in life: the fear of being late
– You’re in a taxi headed for the airport, where you’ll board a plane to interview for a job
– Traffic is heavy and you didn’t expect that
– Your palms are sweaty and your breathing is rapid and shallow. You’re feeling anxious. You are stressed out
– A B C
– Late for the plane “I’m never going to make it, and I won’t get this job!” Anxiety and panic with sweaty palms and
rapid, shallow breathing
Managing stress: A three-pronged approach
▪ 1. Managing your stressors
▪ The events that trigger your stress can range from the trivial to the dramatic
▪ They can be very minor
– A hassle such as broken shoelace, a crowded subway, or the world’s slowest check-out line
▪ On the other hand, if you’re thinking “Perfect! Now I have time to watch the fascinating video in
on “How to make stress your friend” by McGonigal in youtube “TED Talks”, you are feeling much
less stress.
▪ Your thinking plays a larger role than you may believe in creating your stress
Stress can be good?
▪ Stress is not always bad
▪ In fact “Stress is the spice of life” (Hans Selye)
▪ Good kind of stress eustress, as opposed to distress
▪ A positive force in life
– Right amount of stress can motivate you, focus you and get to perform at your peak
– The nervousness experiencing about presentation you’re making tomorrow can actually improve your performance
▪ Thrive on stress
– I’m at my best when I’m under pressure – a tight deadline, a major crisis.
– That’s when I feel most alive, most vital
– They like to be challenged, to have their abilities stretched and tested. For them this is a good kind of stress that can
be satisfying and rewarding.
– Many people who claim to thrive on stress are workaholics
– They get stressed when they have nothing to do. Lying on a beach, sitting in the park – stressful for them
▪ Change and the pressures of modern life don’t necessarily create the bad kind of stress
▪ Rather,
– how you view the potential stresses in your life and
– how you cope with them make all the difference
3. Managing your stress responses
▪ Even if you cant eliminate potential stressor and can’t change the way you view that situation,
you can still manage your stress by mastering other skills
▪ You can change the way you respond to stress.
▪ You can learn how to relax your body and quiet your mind
Getting started: Gathering
your tools
How stressed are you? Findings ways to measure your stress level
▪ 1st step in mastering your stress is
– Knowing how stressed you are
▪ It acts as a cue or prompt, reminding you should take some action and use one or more of the
stress-management tools you’ve mastered.
▪ A small notebook, or a smart phone if u are techy
Knowing how to record your stress
▪ Step 1:
– Write down what’s stressing you
– An event, a situation, an encounter or a problem
– Be sure to also note the approx. time in the “Time column”
Knowing how to record your stress
▪ Step 2:
– Rate the relative importance of the stressor
– Major – death of loved one, financial loss, life-threatening illness…
– Moderate- breaking leg, losing wallet, car break down on highway…
(big deals, not catastrophies)
– Everyday hassles – being late for a movie, caught in rain with no umbrella,
encountering a rude clerk….
Knowing how to record your stress
▪ Step 3:
– Write down what your stress looked like and rate your distress level
– Worried, anxious, upset, fearful, angry…..
Evidence-based stress
management techniques
▪ Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)
– alternately tensing and relaxing the muscles in a sequential pattern
▪ Transcendental Meditation
– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a scholar of the ancient Vedic tradition of India
– practiced for 20 minutes twice daily while sitting with eyes closed and repeating a mantra
▪ Insecurity
Uncertainty
Fear
▪ We have less control over our lives,
– we live with more uncertainty, and
– we often feel threatened and, at times, overwhelmed
Sources: At work
▪ A recent study by APA
– 2/3rd (62%) cite work as one of their main sources of stress
– 2 in 5 employed adults (41%) feel stressed out during the workday
– Fewer than 6 in 10 (58%) reported that they had the resources to manage stress effectively
– 1 in 4 workers has taken a “mental health” day off from work to relieve stress
▪ Concerns about
– job security, killer hours, long commutes, unrealistic deadlines, bosses from hell,
– office politics, toxic coworkers, and testy clients
At home
▪ After you leave work, you realize that the rest of your life is not exactly stress-free.
▪ In two-parent families, it’s now common for both parents to work
– 40yrs ago, women workers are 1/3rd, now nearly ½ and
– Relatives often living great distances away (of course can be stress reducing)
▪ How often you heard the plea “I need 2 more hours in the day!”
Not tonight, dear. I have a (stress) headache.
▪ Stress can reduce and even eliminate the pleasure of physical intimacy
▪ Irony is that sex can be a way of relieving stress.
▪ Stress may account for 30% of all infertility problems