Managing Stress August 20, 2010 SC 101. Post-traumatic stress disorder An extreme reaction to a stressful event or period of time The most common cause.

Managing Stress

August 20, 2010SC 101

Post-traumatic stress disorder

• An extreme reaction to a stressful event or period of time

• The most common cause is war or physical assault

• Involves flashbacks to the stressful time, avoidance of reminders, difficulty sleeping, irritability, and feelings of isolation and sadness

• Much is still unknown about PTSD

How can stress be managed?• Staying positive and avoiding unnecessary

stressful situations• Living healthily

– Eating well– Exercising– Taking quiet time

• Coping: dealing with specific stresses– Problem-focused coping– Emotion-focused coping– Denial/giving up

Problem-focused coping• Belief that the situation can be changed for

the better– Just believing this makes stress lessen

• Strategies:– Avoid stressor– Change the way you look at the stressor– Make goals more realistic– Talk to friends and family, relax, and laugh

Emotion-focused coping• Belief that the situation cannot

be changed, and that you can only deal with it– Being OK with a problem lessens

stress• Strategies:

– Relax your mind though meditation, journaling, or prayer

– “Let go”: think about something else and give yourself a break from worrying

Ways to reduce college stress

• Plan ahead• Keep a to-do list• Focus your goals each day• Prioritize• Don’t worry about small details• Plan time to relax• Sleep• Don’t try to do too much!

Reducing test anxiety• Students worried about a test often start to

think of the worst possible outcomes, increasing their stress levels

• Reducing anxiety will make you a better test-taker– Don’t exaggerate the test’s importance– Don’t worry about what other students think– Don’t believe that the test will make you less of

a person– Stay calm, and stay healthy!

• One way to manage stress is by meditation

• We exist in two forms : body and mind.

• At some stage you realize that peace and happiness are not outside.

What is meditation• Exercise of mind to keep it

healthy and clean, as we do for body.

• A state of altered consciousness.

• Fourth stage of consciousness.

• Spiritual ecstasy with neurological manifestation.

• Not really a Hallucination.

• Caution.

What is meditation? Definitions • Stability of mind

• Wavering of mind is stopped

• Concentration on one target

• Thoughtlessness

• Introspection

• Lack of activity

• Mental aerobics

• Intentional self regulation

• Dedication

• Stay connected

Meditation : advantages• Physical, mental and emotional health.

• Cure / control of psychosomatic disorders including high blood

pressure, coronary artery disease, DM, asthma, rheumatism etc.

• Stress relief.

• Spiritual health.

• Better concentration and sharpness.

• Produces relaxation and reduces reactivity.

• Improves Job performance.

• Interpersonal relations.

Basic Instructions for Meditation• Bring your attention to your breath, but do not try to control

your breathing.

• Give full attention to the feeling of the breath as it goes in and out.

• Dwell in the present, moment by moment, breath by breath.

• Observe your mind with moment-to-moment awareness.

• When attention wanders, note it and then gently bring awareness back to the breath.

• Why breathing ? Truth, vital, secular, always with you, present tense, carrier of mind – Emotions, thoughts, and perversions

• Continue to watch the breath, accepting each moment as it is for 1 hour. Not to loose single breath

- The power of ‘NOW’ - The concept of ‘VOID’’

• When breathing takes consciousness into each cell, there is a vital dance

Basic Instructions for Meditation

Activity

meditation