1. WED 257 Kinetic Meditation and Stress Management II Stressful Things

2. Pioneers of the scientific investigation of stress. Walter Walter Cannon Cannon (early 20th Century) Physiologist Harvard Medical School Cannon was the first to identify the stress reaction as the ‘fight- or-flight response’ response’. In today’s society, the fight-or-flight response itself has become a threat to health health.

3. Hans Hans Selye Endocrinologist The The Stress of Life Specified the changes in the body’s physiology that occurred in the stress response. Enlargement Enlargement of the cortex of the adrenal glands. Shrinkage Shrinkage or atrophy of the thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, and other lymphatic structures. Almost Almost total disappearance of eosinophil cells (a kind of white blood cell) Bleeding Bleeding ulcers in the lining of the stomach and duodenum.

4. General General Adaptation Syndrome: Phase 1 - Alarm Reaction The body shows the changes characteristic of the first exposure to a stressor. It’s resistance is diminished. Phase 2 - Stage of Resistance Resistance ensues if continued exposure to the stressor is compatible with adaptation. The bodily signs characteristic of the alarm reaction have virtually disappeared, and resistance rises above normal.

5. Phase 3 - Stage of Exhaustion Following long- continued exposure to the same stressor, to which the body had become adjusted, eventually adaptation energy energy Qi, (Qi, Ase Ase) is exhausted. The signs of the alarm reaction reappear, but now they are irreversible, and the individual dies. Stress Stress The non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it. Eustress - stress from good things. Distress - stress from bad things.

6. A.T.W. A.T.W. Simeons Man’s Man’s Presumptuous Brain Related evolution evolution to psychosomatic disease. The The human Brain (the diencephalon) had failed to develop at the pace needed to respond to symbolic stressors stressors of 20th Century life. Example: If If your self-esteem is threatened at a public speaking opportunity, neither fight nor flight is an appropriate response. Yet, The The body has prepared itself physiologically to do something our psychology prohibits. unused stress products break down the body Psychosomatic Psychosomatic Disease

7. Other Research: Stewart Wolf - Digestive Function Lawrence Leshan - Cancer George Engel - Ulcerative Colitis Meyer Friedman & Ray Rosenmann - Coronary Heart Disease Wolf & Wolff - Headaches Relaxation Relaxation Response Response - A series of bodily changes that bare the opposite of the stress reactions. Autogenic Autogenic Training Training - Involves a sensation of heaviness heaviness, warmth warmth, and tingling tingling in the limbs. Progressive Progressive Relaxation Relaxation - Involves contracting and relaxing muscle groups throughout the body.

8. A Buddhist View of Stressful Things A Taoist View of Stressful Things Discussion