Chapter 3 Lecture Managing Stress and Coping with Life's Challenges © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 3 Lecture

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Managing Stress and Coping with Life's Challenges


LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Define stress and examine its potential impact on health, relationships, and success in college and life.

• Explain the phases of the general adaptation syndrome and the physiological changes that occur during them.

• Examine the physical and psychological health risks that may occur with chronic stress.


LEARNING OUTCOMES (cont.)

• Examine the intellectual health risks that may occur due to high levels of stress.

• Discuss sources of stress and examine the unique stressors that affect college students.

• Explore stress management and stress reduction strategies, and ways you can enrich your life to protect against the effects of stress.


What Is Stress?

• Stress is the mental and physical response and adaptation by our bodies to real or perceived change and challenges.

• A stressor is any real or perceived physical, social, or psychological event or stimulus that causes our bodies to react to stress.


What Is Stress? (cont.)

• Eustress, a positive stress, presents opportunities for personal growth.

• Distress is a negative stress that can have a detrimental effect on health.

• Acute stress is a short-term physiological response to an immediate or perceived threat.

• Episodic acute stress occurs when regularly reacting with wild, acute stress about one thing or another.


What is Stress (cont.)

• Chronic stress is an ongoing state of physiological arousal in response to ongoing or numerous perceived threats.

• Traumatic stress is a physiological and mental response that occurs for a prolonged period of time after a major stressful event in which one may be seriously hurt, killed, or witness horrible things.


Your Body's Response to Stress

• When stress levels are low, the body is often in a state of homeostasis. – This is a balanced physiological state in

which all the body's systems function smoothly.

• Stressors trigger a crisis mode physiological response, after which the body tries to return to homeostasis by means of an adaptive response.


The General Adaptation Syndrome


The Alarm Phase

• You first experience the fight-or-flight response, which occurs as the body prepares to combat or escape the real or perceived threat.

• The cerebral cortex triggers an autonomic nervous system (ANS) response that prepares you for action.


The Autonomic Nervous System

• The ANS controls the heart, glandular functions, and breathing.

• The ANS has two branches.– The sympathetic nervous system energizes

the body for fight or flight by signaling release of several stress hormones.

– The parasympathetic nervous system functions to slow all the systems stimulated by the stress response.


The Body's Acute Stress Response


The Alarm Phase (cont.)

• The hypothalamus functions as the control center of the sympathetic nervous system and determines the reaction to stress.– It stimulates the adrenal glands to release

epinephrine (adrenaline).– This causes more blood to be pumped, dilates

the airways in the lungs, increases breathing rate, and causes more glucose to be released.

– It also causes the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn causes the release of cortisol.


The Alarm Phase (cont.)

• Cortisol causes more stored nutrients to be released to meet energy demands.

• Endorphins are released to relieve pain.


The Resistance Phase

• During the resistance phase, the body tries to return to homeostasis.

• Because some perceived stressor still exists, the body does not achieve complete calm or rest—it stays activated, causing a higher metabolic rate in some organ tissues.


The Exhaustion Phase

• A prolonged effort to adapt to stress may lead to allostatic load or exhaustive wear and tear on the body.

• This exhaustion phase occurs when the physical and emotional energy used to fight the stressor has been depleted.

• Continual release of cortisol and other hormones can reduce immunocompetence, or the ability of the body to protect you.


Lifetime Effects of Stress

• Physical Effects of Stress– Stress and cardiovascular disease– Stress and weight gain– Stress and alcohol dependence– Stress and hair loss– Stress and diabetes– Stress and digestive problems– Stress and impaired immunity


Common Symptoms of Physical Stress


Physical Effects of Stress

• Stress and Cardiovascular Disease– Long-term stress impacts heart rate, blood

pressure, heart attack, and stroke. Stress is one of the key modifiable risk factors for heart attack.

• Stress and Weight Gain– Higher stress levels may drive us toward food

because they may increase cortisol levels in the bloodstream.


Physical Effects of Stress (cont.)

• Stress and Alcohol Dependence– New research has found that a specific stress

hormone, the corticoptropin-releasing factor, is key to development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in animals.

• Stress and Hair Loss– Too much stress can lead to thinning hair,

and even baldness, in men and women.



• Stress and Diabetes– Controlling stress is critical for preventing

weight gain and other risk factors for type 2 diabetes as well as for short- and long-term diabetes management.



• Stress and Digestive Problems– Causes for digestive disorders are often

unknown, but it is assumed that an underlying illness, pathogen, injury, or inflammation is present when stress triggers nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and gut pain or diarrhea.

– Some relaxation techniques are particularly helpful in coping with stressors that make digestive problems worse.



• Stress and Impaired Immunity– Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) analyzes the

relationship between the mind's response to stress and the immune system's ability to function effectively.

– Too much stress over a long period can negatively affect various aspects of the cellular immune response.


Intellectual Effects of Stress

• A recent survey showed that 50 percent of respondents felt overwhelmed by all they had to do in the past 2 weeks; 48.3 percent reported being exhausted, and 19.2 percent felt overwhelmed by anxiety during the same time period.

• About 37 percent felt they had been under more-than-average stress in the past 12 months; 10 percent reported tremendous stress.


Intellectual Effects of Stress (cont.)

• Stress, Memory, and Concentration– Acute stress has been shown to impair

short-term memory, particularly verbal memory.

– New research in rats has linked prolonged exposure to cortisol to shrinking the hippocampus, the brain's major memory center.


Psychological Effects of Stress

• Rates of mental disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, are associated with environmental stressors.

• College students face grade pressure, stress from finding housing, becoming financially independent, career choices and employment, relationships, and family.


ABC News Video: Stress Can Damage Women's Health

Discussion Questions• Discuss symptoms of increased cortisol

production and the physiological process of the body's production of cortisol.

• Discuss the signs and symptoms of stress and ways to decrease stress.

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/donatelle


What Causes Stress?

• Psychosocial Stressors– Adjustment to change– Hassles: Little things that bug you– The toll of relationships– Academic and financial pressure– Frustrations and conflict– Overload– Stressful environments– Bias and discrimination


What Do We Say Stresses Us?


Internal Stressors

• Appraisal and Stress– Appraisal helps us recognize and evaluate

stress based on past experiences and emotions.


Internal Stressors (cont.)

• Self-esteem and Self-efficacy– Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself.

• Low self-esteem and stressful life events significantly predict suicide ideation, the desire to die, and thoughts about suicide.

– Self-efficacy is the belief or confidence in your skills and performance abilities.• High self-efficacy predicts a number of health

behaviors in college students, and developing self-efficacy is vital for coping with and overcoming academic pressures.



• Type A and Type B Personalities– Type A personalities are hard-driving,

competitive, time-driven perfectionists at increased risk for heart disease.

– Type B personalities are relaxed, noncompetitive, and more tolerant of others.

– None of us is wholly type A or B.



• Type C and Type D Personalities– Type C personalities are stoic and tend to

deny feelings; they are conforming, lack assertiveness, and may feel helpless or hopeless. This may lead to greater susceptibility to asthma, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.

– Type D personalities exhibit excessive negative worry, irritability, and gloom, and are socially inhibited. They may be eight times more likely to die of heart attack or sudden death.


Are Internal Stressors Inescapable?

• Psychological hardiness may negate self-imposed stress with Type A personalities.

• Shift and persist research has shown that with the help of positive role models, youth, in the presence of extreme and persistent adversity, are able to reframe appraisals of current stressors.


Managing Stress in College

• Practicing Mental Work to Reduce Stress– Assess your stressors and solve problems– Change the way you think and talk to yourself

• Develop a Support Network– Find supportive people– Invest in your loved ones


Managing Stress in College (cont.)

• Cultivate your spiritual side• Manage emotional responses

– Fight the anger urge– Learn to laugh, be joyful, and cry

• Take physical action– Get enough sleep– Practice self-nurturing– Eat healthfully


Managing Stress in College (cont.)

• Manage your time• Consider downshifting

– Take a step back and simplify your life– Learn to say no and mean it!


Managing Your Time

To improve time management• Do one thing at a time.• Clean off your desk.• Prioritize your tasks.• Find a clean, comfortable place to work, and

avoid interruptions.• Reward yourself for work completed.• Work when you are at your best.• Break overwhelming tasks into small pieces.• Remember that time is precious.


Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management• Yoga

– Combines meditation, stretching and breathing exercises

• Qigong– Involves becoming aware of and learning to

control qi, or vital energy• Tai chi

– Meditation in motion• Diaphragmatic Breathing


Diaphragmatic Breathing


Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management• Meditation: A relaxation technique that involves

deep breathing and concentration • Visualization: The creation of mental images to

promote relaxation • Progressive muscle relaxation


Progressive Muscle Relaxation


Relaxation Techniques for Stress Management (cont.)• Massage therapy: Swedish massage may have

beneficial effects on blood pressure and inflammation.

• Biofeedback: A technique using a machine to self-monitor physical responses to stress

• Hypnosis: Whether self-induced or done by someone else, hypnosis can reduce certain types of stress.

Chapter 3 Lecture Managing Stress and Coping with Life's Challenges © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

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