1. Stress Management
By Jessica Kennedy

2. What is Stress?
Many people think that stress is something that happens to us. Stress is however, an interaction between the demands of the environment and the coping skills/abilities of the individual. It doesn’t just happen to us and we can have influence over how we react to our environment.

3. Five components of stress
Stressors – demand that we are under
Physical Stress
Cognitive Stress
Emotional Stress
Behaviour Stress

4. What does Physical Stress Cause?
chronic pain
increase or decrease in eating difficulties
lack of energy
Sexual dysfunction
Trouble sleeping
Body kick into high gear to deal with the threat
Heartbeat, breathing rate and blood pressure all go up

5. What Does Cognitive Stress Cause?
feeling distracted
Increasing lack of concentration
Indecisive

6. What Does Emotional Stress Cause?
Emotionally numb
Feeling a loss of control
Feeling of fear
Irritability and resentment
Isolates oneself from regular relationships and routines
Anger
Anxiety
Compulsive and or obsessive behaviours
Depression, despair and a feeling of hopelessness

7. What does Behaviour Stress Cause?
Changes in eating
Changes in sleeping /sleeping too much or not enough
Temper tantrums/tendency to overreact
Neglecting family or work responsibilities
Intentionally isolating oneself from others
Abuse of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs
Development of ticks or twitches or other nervous habits such as nail biting, etc.

8. Feelings that often come from stress
  tired a lot of the time
  moods change for no reason
  can't concentrate
  cry over stupid things
  can't sleep
  headaches

9. More feelings that often come from stress
fearful, but don't know what's frightening you
  have nightmares a lot
  palms get sweaty
  accident prone
  hungry all the time, no matter how much you eat
  no motivation to do anything
  loss of enthusiasm

10. How to manage Stress? Know your priorities Choose your Attitude
Make time to relax
Breathe
Get Healthy
Plan breaks
Find an interest
Connect with friends
Know your boundaries
Laugh!

11. How to relax when Stressed?
Talk to some of your friends about your problem
Find different activities to do
Share feelings with other
Parents
Teachers
Friends
Get involved with other people or other activities
Going to movies
Watching TV
reading
Write letter to any friends that live in the country
Physical activities
Running
Swimming
Walking
Cry
Call a friend
Listen to music
Have a hot bath

12. What are the most common external causes of stress
Major life changes
Work
Relationship difficulties
Financial problems
Being too busy
Children and family

13. What are the most common internal causes of stress
Inability to accept uncertainty
Pessimism
Negative self-talk
Unrealistic expectations
Perfectionism
Lack of assertiveness

14. What can Kids do when they feel stressed?
Think about what it is that’s making you feel bad
Talk over your problem with a friend or a trusted adult
Get help to deal with the problem if you need it
Plan your work if you are getting behind
Set yourself some goals to work your way through the problem
Make sure that you are getting enough exercise
Organise your time so that you can fit everything in
Don’t take on too much. You can always do that sport or activity next term or next year. You don’t have to do everything at once
Don’t say “yes” when you’d rather say ‘no’, and then you won’t be worrying
Learn to relax

15. Stress Chart