Managing Stress and Coping with Loss

Chapter 4: Sec 1

Stress and Your Health

Objectives Describe five different causes of stress.

Describe the body’s physical response to stress.

Differentiate between positive and negative stress.

Describe how stress can make you sick.

What Causes *Stress?

STRESS

The body’s and mind’s response to a demand.

Type of Stressors

A STRESSOR is any situation that puts a demand on the body or mind.

Environmental Stressors

Conditions or events in our physical surroundings

Natural disasters Noise Crowds Pollution Poverty

Biological Stressors

Conditions that make it difficult for your body to take part in daily activities

Illness Injury Disability

Thinking Stressor

Mental challenge Taking a test

Behavioral Stressor

Unhealthy behaviors Smoking Not getting enough sleep or exercise Using drugs

Life change Stressors

Any major life change Divorce Death of a loved one Getting married Having trouble with a teacher Having more arguments with parents

Research HighlightProcrastination, Performance, and Health

Researchers found that the procrastinators suffered significantly more stress and had more health problems than non procrastinators.

Space out your studying and try to complete your assignments as early as possible. Procrastination can be hazardous to your health, as well as your grades.

Source: Huffman, K. Vernoy, M., and Vernoy, J. (2002). Psychology in Action (5th Ed.). Davers: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

*Physical Response to Stress The physical changes that prepare your body to respond quickly and

appropriately to stressors is called the fight-or-flight response.

Past vs. Present: the fight-or-flight response might even be maladaptive at times. Today, we are taught not to fight or flee but to stay calm and resolve stressful situations rationally.

Your body provides energy, reflexes, and strength to respond to a stressor.

Your body releases epinephrine hormones.

Breathing speeds up, heart beats faster, muscles tense up, pupils get wider, sweating increases, digestion stops, blood pressure increases, and blood sugar increases.

Emotional and Behavioral Response to Stress

Eustress is a positive stress that energizes one and helps one reach a goal. Try to make stress positive.

Alert, focused, motivated, energized, and confident.

Distress is negative stress that can make a person sick or keep a person from reaching a goal. Nervous, forgetful, frightened, confused, and

unsure.

Stress-Related Disorders and Diseases Tension headache Cold and flu Asthma Migraine headache Backache Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) Heart disease Stroke High blood pressure Chronic fatigue Ulcer Anxiety disorder Insomnia Depression

Long-Term Stress Can Make You Sick

The general adaptation syndrome is a model that describes the relationship between stress and disease. Alarm stage

Your body and mind become alert (flight-or-fight response) Headaches, stomachaches, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety

Resistance stage (adaptation) If stress continues, your body becomes more resistant to

disease and injury than normal Exhaustion stage

Your body cannot take the resistance to the stressor any longer. You become exhausted, organs and immune system may suffer…

Closure

What do you think would be the consequences of not having a fight-or-flight response?

Is all stress bad?

What is the difference between stress and depression?

Creative Activity

Create a post card or flyer relating to the issue of coping with loss.

Group (table activity). Write all group members name of the card. Everyone should participate.

Based on new knowledge, provide words of encouragement and show your support for a person who recently experienced a loss

Be creative and have fun