STRESS MANAGEMENT and CONSCIOUSNESS A Health Enhancement Seminar HCC Counseling Department Prepared by: Dr. Alvarez, LPC, LMFT, NCC, ACS, FAPA

LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:  Define consciousness and describe the various levels of consciousness.  Articulate the importance of sleep and dreaming.  Understand stress and its effects, and practice stress management and relaxation techniques to help improve their health and lifestyle.

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?  “private I” (personal reality).  Your immediate awareness of thoughts, sensations, memories, and the world around you.  Ongoing “river” or “stream” of mental activity.  Always changing and perceived as unified and unbroken.  Introspection is required to understand one’s consciousness.

WHAT ARE THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS?  Ordinary consensual consciousness (reality)  Altered states of consciousness (altered reality).  Dream consciousness (dream reality).

BRAIN WAVE PATTERNS AS CORRELATES OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS  BETA : alert wakefulness  ALPHA: relaxed wakefulness  THETA:slower than alpha (sleep begins)  DELTA:sleep (slow-wave)

ORDINARY CONSENSUAL REALITY  Beta brain wave activity.  Alert wakefulness.  Purpose is censorship.  Screen/assess self and others.  Defenses are fully activated.  Physical reality.

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS  Alpha brain wave activity.  Relaxed wakefulness.  Super alertness.  Creative realm.  Eureka experience.  Spiritual realm.  Euphoria.  Ecstasy.  Sublime.  Epiphany.  Nirvana.

ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS  Relaxation.  Self-hypnosis / hypnosis.  Meditation.  Prayer.  Dance and active physical exercise.  Artist in creative work.  Under the influence of mood-altering substances.  Addictions (drug, sex, food, gambling, etc.).  Psychosis.

DREAM CONSCIOUSNESS  Dream reality.  REM sleep.  Story-like episodes of unfolding mental imagery during sleep.  Amygdala & Hippocampus (limbic system) structures are involved in emotion & memory are highly active during REM sleep.

CHARACTRISTICS OF DREAMS (J. Allan Hobson, sleep researcher)  Intense emotions.  Usually illogical content & organization.  Sometimes bizarre sensations.  Uncritically accepted bizarre details.  Difficult to remember dream images.

WHAT IS SLEEP AND WHY IS IS IT IMPORTANT?  Biological need.  REM (Dreaming) sleep is important.  Restore physiological processes & promotes rejuvenation of body & mind.  NonREM sleep is important for restoring body.  REM sleep restores mental & brain functions.

WHAT IS STRESS?  Imbalance, tension, disturbance.  Alert us that something is wrong.  Pain and distress.  Stressor(s): could be anything & ubiquitous.  Personality & culture determine how one responds to a stressor.  Eustress (positive stress).  Distress (negative stress).

WHAT IS STRESS? (cont.)  Chemical reaction (cortisol).  Physiological reaction (homeostatic mechanisms).  Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) activation.  Sympathetic NS (flight or flight response).  Parasympathetic NS (relaxation & cleansing).

Pathological Stress Disturbance  Sustained Arousal of Sympathetic NS.  Unconscious and automatic.  Stress-related disorders (HPN, migraine, tension headaches, etc.).  65 –75% of visits to physicians’ clinic is secondary to stress.

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF STRESS  Physical effects.  Psychological & emotional effects.  Relational effects.  Career & vocational effects.  Spiritual effects.  Effects on creativity.  Financial effects.  Absenteeism.  Effects on productivity & morale in the workforce.  Drugs and Alcohol Abuse / dependence.  Increased crime rate.

WHAT IS STRESS MANAGEMENT?  Anything health-promoting that could help alleviate tension, pain, or disturbance, and that which could foster adaptive coping skills; and therefore promote homeostasis and/or healing.  Adaptive coping skills vs. maladaptive coping skills.

WHAT ARE STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES?  Nutrition and sleep.  Exercise & breathing.  Develop new activities or hobbies.  Cultivate spirituality or creativity.  Time management.  Relational Mgt.  Avoid mood-altering substances.  Live within your means (Budget).  Work honestly.  Watch you words.  Counseling & psychotherapy.

RELAXATION RESPONSE  Antithesis of sustained arousal of the sympathetic NS.  Parasympathetic NS can be trained and summoned by will via relaxation response training using relaxation techniques.

RELAXATION TECHNIQUES: Altered states of consciousness  VISUALIZATION  IMAGERY  AUTOGENIC TRAINING  HYPNOSIS  ENERGY WORK  YOGA (TM, KUDALINI, etc.)  PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION (pmr)  ACTIVE PHYSICAL EXERCISE

Relaxation Techniques (You Tube)  BREATHING EXERCISE  j5Z4E2wkh4 j5Z4E2wkh4  PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION  Ce-gaM Ce-gaM

REFERENCES  Seaward. B. L. (2011). Managing Stress. Principles and strategies for health and wellbeing (7th Ed.). Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury, MA.