1. Stress, Health, and Wellness
COL 103
Chapter 14
Professor Jackie Kroening
(PSY office)

2. Living with Stress Cataclysmic events
Sudden, powerful events that occur quickly and affect many people simultaneously
Personal stressors
Major life events that produce stress
Daily hassles
Minor irritants of life that , by themselves, produce little stress, but which can add up and produce more stress than a single larger-scale event
Virtually any event, good or bad, can cause STRESS if it presents you with a challenge.
Noi ngd thin

3. Stressed Out Anxious Upset Fearful Body effects Long term effects are:
Faster heart rate
Breathing becomes rapid and shallow
Produces more sweat
Long term effects are:
Ware down the immune system
Common cold
Headaches
Strokes
Heart disease

4. Stressed Out
Class exercise:
Ch. 10 Try it! #1 Page 368
15 Min.

5. Handling Stress PREPARE ORGANIZE WORK EVALUATE RETHINK
Readying Yourself Physically
Identifying what is causing you stress
Developing Effective coping strategies
Are your stress strategies effective
Place stress in perspective

6. Prepare: Readying Yourself Physically
Primary way to prepare for stress is good physical condition
Good vigorous exercise program
Vigorous exercise results in our bodies producing a natural coping response to stress through the production of endorphins in our brains, as well as contributing to our general physical health
Drink healthy – stay away from:
Coffee
Soda
chocolate
Eat Healthy foods

7. Organize: Identifying What is Causing You Stress
Must identify stressors in order to design a coping strategy and activity
Class Activity 15 min:
Write down the stressors that are in your life right now
Prioritize your stressors from most stress to least stress

8. Work: Developing Effective Coping Strategies
Take charge of the situation
Don’t waste energy trying to change the unchangeable
Look for the silver lining
Talk to your friends. Social Support
Relax
Meditation
Meditation exercise
Progressive relaxation
Remember that wimping out doesn’t work, Keep your commitments

9. Evaluate: Is Strategies Working Effectively
Experience of stress depends on how you interpret circumstances
Effectiveness depends on who you are
If one coping strategy doesn’t work try another
Don’t become paralyzed

10. Rethink: Placing stress in Perspective
Don’t sweat the small stuff
Put circumstances into proper perspective
Make peace with stress
Some stress is a good thing, it activates you to take action

11. Keeping Well Eating Right
Eat a variety of “whole” foods
Fruits
Vegetables
Grains
Avoid foods that are high in sugar and salt
Seek a diet low in fat and cholesterol
Remember: less is more (moderation is key)
Schedule three regular meals a day
Be aware of hidden contents of various foods
Beware of eating disorders
Bulimia is the eating disorder in which individuals binge on large quantities of food and later vomit or take laxatives to get rid of it

12. Keeping Well Make Exercise Part of Your Life
Choose a type of exercise that you like
Incorporate exercise into your life (take stairs instead of elevator)
Make exercise a group activity
Very your routine

13. Keeping Well Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
Exercise more
Have a regular bedtime
Use bed for sleeping and not as an all-purpose area
Avoid caffeine after lunch (can last 8 to 12 Hr’s)
Drink a glass of milk at bedtime
Avoid sleeping pills
Don’t try to force sleep on yourself

14. Keeping Well Drug Abuse (Alcohol)
Alcoholics – Individuals with serious alcohol-abuse problems who become dependent on alcohol and continue to drink despite serious consequences
Binge drinking – Having at least four or five drinks in a single sitting
Heavy drinking damages liver and digestive system and effect brain cells

15. Keeping Well Drug Abuse (Nicotine)
Remain smoke-free one day at a time
Visualize the consequences of smoking
Exercise
Use nicotine patches or nicotine gum
Avoid people when they are smoking
Enlist the social support of family and friends
Reward yourself
Join a quit-smoking program
Keep trying

16. Keeping Well Drug Abuse (Illegal Drugs)
Addiction Warning Signs
Feeling you need to be high to have a good time
Being high more often than not
Getting high to “get yourself going”
Going to class or work high
Being unprepared for class because you were high
Feeling regret over something you did while you were high
Driving while high
Having a legal problem due to being high
Behaving, while high, in a way you wouldn’t otherwise
Being high in nonsocial, solitary situations
Thinking about drugs much of the time
Avoiding family while using liquor
Hiding drug use from others

17. Keeping Well Drug Abuse (getting help)
College health services, counseling center
Drug treatment centers
Government hotlines

18. Sexual Health Preventing Unwanted Pregnancy
Abstinence - The only totally effective means of preventing pregnancy
Birth control pills
Implants
IUD
Diaphragms
Condoms
Contraceptive sponge
Sterilization
Withdrawal and douching is ineffective

19. Sexual Health Avoid Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Know your sexual partner – well
Prevent the exchange of bodily fluids during all sex activity
Be faithful to a single partner

20. Sexual Health Date Rape
Date rape often occurs because of the common — but untrue — belief that when women offer resistance to sex, they don’t really mean it
Reduce rape by:
Set limits – women have the right to set firm limits, and these should be communicated clearly, firmly, and early on
No means no – When a partner says no, it means no – nothing else
Be assertive – never accept being pressured into an activity in which you don’t want to engage
Communicate – women and men should talk about their views on sexual behavior and what it is and is not permissible
Keep in mind that alcohol and drugs cloud judgment