Stress: Cause, Symptoms and Management

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Stress Cause, Symptoms and Management

• SPEAK Presentation
• August 26, 2009
• Beth C Richardson, M.Ed

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Stress

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Two men look out through the same bars One sees
mud and the other one sees stars,"
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Objectives for Today

• Gain knowledge and insight on stress by exploring
  its
• Causes
• Symptoms
• Management Strategies

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The faces of stress
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Definition of Stress

• Stress is a biological term which refers to the
  consequences of the failure of a human or animal
  to respond appropriately to emotional or physical
  threats to the organism, whether actual or
  imagined.1 It includes a state of alarm and
  adrenaline production, short-term resistance as a
  coping mechanism, and exhaustion. Common stress
  symptoms include irritability, muscular tension,
  inability to concentrate and a variety of
  physical reactions, such as headaches and
  elevated heart rate.2

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About Stress

• Stress is a biological term which refers to the
  consequences of the failure of a human or animal
  to respond appropriately to emotional or physical
  threats to the organism, whether actual or
  imagined.1 It includes a state of alarm and
  adrenaline production, short-term resistance as a
  coping mechanism, and exhaustion. Common stress
  symptoms include irritability, muscular tension,
  inability to concentrate and a variety of
  physical reactions, such as headaches and
  elevated heart rate.2
• From Wikipedia,

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About Stress

• Stress triggers a response in muscles, such as
  your heart, your autonomic nervous system sends
  signals to your hormonal system, triggering the
  release of chemical messengers such as
  adrenaline.
• These are released into your bloodstream and
  travel all around your body contributing to the
  fight or flight response by, for example,
  making you more alert, boosting your blood
  pressure and releasing sugars into your
  bloodstream.
• Which results in a heightened or stressed state
  that prepares your body for optimum performance
  in dealing with the situation.

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We all need stress in our lives!
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Good Stress

• Managed properly, beneficial stress energizes you
  and clarifies your thinking. It helps you focus,
  providing the edge you need to attain goals that
  would other wise be unattainable
• It makes our lives satisfying and helps us reach
  goals.
• Stress can be energizing!

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Examples of Good Stress

• Life-saving stress.
• Stage stress
• Earning power stress
• Job interview stress
• New job stress
• Winning score stress
• Final examination stress
• Wedding day stress

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Stress Inventory

• Instructions The following scale was developed
  by Holmes and Rahe to investigate the
  relationship between social readjustment, stress
  and susceptibility to illness. They found that a
  person with a score of 200-250 during a one-year
  period has a 50 chance of developing illness or
  health change. With a score of 300 or more, a
  person's chances increase to 80. Look over the
  events listed below. Place a check in the space
  provided if it has happened to you within the
  last twelve months.

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Stress Inventory

• Interpretation Drs. Holmes and Rahe have shown
  the relationship between recent life changes
  (exposure to stressors) and future illness.
  Listed below are the score categories and the
  related probability of illness for a person in
  that range. It is estimated that it will take 1
  year to replenish the energy expanded in
  adjusting to any of the changes described in the
  scale.
•  0-149  no significant problem  
•  150-199  mild stress  35 chance of illness
•  200-299  moderate stress  50 chance of illness
•  300  major stress  80 chance of illness

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Butwhat is stressful to me may not be stressful
to you!

• Stress is what we experience in reaction to
  something we perceive as a stressor, such as an
  approaching deadline or being laid off.  That is,
  stressors are external forces that cause stress,
  and stress is what we experience.  The high
  expectations of Kentucky or Indiana basketball
  fans are a stressor.  The way in which the coach
  responds to that pressure is stress.        

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About Stress

• We experience stress when we perceive threats or
  opportunities that we fear we cannot handle
  effectively.  Note the use of the terms
  "perceive" and "opportunities."  First, our
  stress is a function of our perceptions, and
  different people often perceive the same
  phenomenon in different ways.  Sometimes managing
  perceptions is the key to managing stress. 

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About Stress

• Second, opportunities can cause stress not just
  threats.  Imagine being invited to discuss an
  work idea you have with someone who has the power
  to implement that idea.  Since you would want
  that meeting to go well, you might experience
  some stress.

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Many things (or the anticipation of them) can
lead to stress These include

• Stressors

• Stressors

• Pressure to perform at work
• Poor working conditions
• Threats of physical violence
• Money worries
• Arguments
• Family of work conflicts
• Divorce

• Bereavement
• Unemployment
• Moving
• Marriage
• Relationships with colleagues
• Transportation issues
• Child care
• Working hours

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Stress in the workplace

• Stressors

• Stressors

• Poor working conditions
• Long working hours
• Relationships with colleagues
• Lack of job security
• The way the company is managed

• Mismatch between the requirements of the job and
  your own capabilities and needs
• Inflexible working hours
• Too much responsibility
• Lack of training

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With stresscomes psychological symptoms and
outcomes

• Symptoms

• Symptoms

• Loss of sex drive
• Increased smoking, drinking, or taking
  recreational drugs
• Criminal behavior
• Feelings that you cant cope
• Become more controlling
• Exhaustion or inability to sleep

• Periods of irritability and anger
• Apathy or depression
• Constant anxiety
• Irrational behavior
• Loss of appetite
• Comfort eating
• Lack of Concentration
• Rushing about

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With stress comes physical symptoms

• Headaches
• Muscular tension
• Backache and/or neck ache
• Tiredness and sleep problems
• Digestive problems
• Feeling sick

• A raised heart beat/palpitations
• Skin problems such as eczema
• Sweating
• Blurred vision
• For women, missed periods

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With stress comes physical symptoms

• The exact role of stress in causing illness isnt
  known. However, it is clear that stress can
  temporarily weaken the immune system. And put
  under too much stress, the body becomes
  exhausted.
• If stressed, you may also be more exposed to risk
  factors for disease.

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With stress comes physical symptoms

• For example
• smokers may smoke more if they are stressed,
• people who drink alcohol to relieve stress may
  become dependent on it
• those of us who use food to comfort will
  typically gain weight during stressful periods.
• In the long term this will push up your risk of
  having heart disease or stroke, diabetes, and
  developing certain cancers.

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With stress comes physical symptoms

• people who use medication to relieve stress may
  become dependent on it. Anti-anxiety drugs such
  as Valium and Ativan are not suitable for
  treating stress.

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Post traumatic stress

• PTS can affect anyone who has been through an
  extremely difficult or violent experience, such
  as witnessing a violent death or disaster, being
  involved in a serious car crash, or surviving a
  fire.

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Post- traumatic stress symptoms

• Fear
• Shame
• Depression
• Guilt
• Anger
• Recurrent memories/images
• Nightmares or
• A combination of the above

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Post Traumatic Stress

• These feelings can last for weeks, months or even
  years after the event.
• Treatment required psychological therapies and
  possibly medications

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Stress break

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What we know

• Poorly managed stress can result in health
  problems, irritability, difficulty paying
  attention, and poor problem solving.  In the
  workplace or home, poor stress management
  contributes to time off work due to illness,
  unproductive time at work or home, poor judgment
  and interpersonal conflict.   

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What we know.

• Effective stress management doesn't mean getting
  to a point where we never experience stress.  On
  the contrary, it's better that we challenge
  ourselves, and as we push ourselves to
  continuously improve and exploit our potential,
  we will cause some stress. 
• Effective stress management means keeping our
  stress levels from exceeding the level where it's
  energizing and productive for us.        

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What we know

• Coping strategies.  Think of stress management
  strategies as having two categories
  stressor-focused coping and self-focused coping. 
  
• Stressor-focused coping is solving the problem
  that the stressor presents1.  Sometimes
  self-focused coping strategies are more useful
  than stressor-focused coping strategies.  Not all
  stressors can be eliminated.  If the root cause
  of your stress is the possibility of terrorist
  attacks, there's very little you can do to
  eliminate the stressor. 

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What we know..

• Maybe you can think of a creative way to reduce
  your risk of being a victim of a terrorist
  attack, but it's difficult to think creatively
  when you're experiencing stress. 
• Self-focused coping.  Self-focused coping
  strategies include short-term and long-term
  strategies that help us avoid the negative
  personal consequences that can result from
  encountering stressors2. 

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What we know..

• Self-focused coping strategies can be further
  divided into proactive strategies and reactive
  strategies. 
• Proactive strategies are the things we can do
  before we experience stress to build up our
  resiliency. 
• Reactive strategies are the things we can do
  when we experience stress to reduce some of the
  negative consequences and prepare us for creative
  problem solving.

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Coping with Lifes Stressors

• Coping with life stressors usually involves
  adjusting to or tolerating change such as
  negative events or realities while attempting to
  maintain your positive self-image and emotional
  balance. Changes are stressful because changes
  require us to adjust and to adapt.
• Experiencing too many changes within a brief time
  period often creates a perception that we are not
  in control of important events.

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What are some common coping strategies

• Lowering your expectations
• Asking others to help or assist you
• Taking responsibility for the situation
• Engaging in problem solving
• Maintaining emotionally supportive relationships
• Maintaining emotional composure or,
  alternatively, expressing distressing emotions

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What are some common strategies

• Challenging previously held beliefs that are no
  longer adaptive
• Directly attempting to change the source of
  stress
• Distancing yourself from the source of stress
• Viewing the problem through a spiritual
  perspective

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Overall Lifestyle

• It is important to evaluate your overall
  lifestyle when encountering significant stress.
  Engaging in stress reducing activities can also
  be a helpful overall approach to coping with
  stressors.
• Getting enough good quality sleep
• Eating a well-balanced diet
• Exercising on a regular basis

• Taking brief rest periods during the day to relax
• Taking vacations away from home and/or work
• Engaging in pleasurable or fun actives
• Practicing relaxation exercises such as
  progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, meditation,
  prayer
• Avoiding use of caffeine, sugar, alcohol .

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Good quality sleep

• Make your bedroom a sleep chamber. Americans use
  their bedrooms for anything but sleep. Rooms
  should be conducive to sleep .
• Eliminate long naps during the day
• Wind down not up at the end of the day
• Stop the caffeine and sugar early in the day
• Get some outdoor air and exercise

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Eat a balanced diet

• Eating a balanced diet means choosing a wide
  variety of foods and drinks from all the food
  groups. It also means eating certain things in
  moderation, namely saturated fat, trans fat,
  cholesterol, refined sugar, salt and alcohol. The
  goal is to take both eating patterns that
  emphasize fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as
  well as low or no-fat dairy products, and lean
  animal proteins. Fish is recommended at least two
  times per week, beans, nuts and seeds are
  encouraged, and unsaturated fats are always the
  fats of choice - like olive oil.

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Eat a balanced diet

• What About Calories?
• Your balanced diet must be planned at your own
  calorie level, and portion size is key. You want
  to get the most nutrients for the calories by
  choosing food with a high-nutrient density.
  Nutrient-dense foods provide substantial amounts
  of vitamins and minerals and relatively few
  calories, such as fresh fruit and vegetables,
  lean meat and fish, and whole grains and beans.
  Low-nutrient dense foods have few vitamins but
  lots of calories, such as candy bars, soda,
  donuts and onion

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Exercising on a regular basis

• It is recommended that you do 30 minutes of
  exercise each day. A brisk walk is ideal.
• Exercising will keep you in good physical health
  and mental health as well. Studies show that
  people who exercise are less likely to be
  depressed, and will more often then not perform
  above average at work.

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Exercising on a regular basis

• Heart attacks are a leading cause of death in
  the United States, and exercise is one solution
  to that growing number. There are millions of
  studies that show, and prove the health benefits
  of a regular exercise program, and that coupled
  with a good, healthy diet can add a lot to your
  life. Plus if you exercise on a regular basis
  your physical activity and energy levels will
  inevitably increase adding yet another bonus to
  the prospect of exercise.

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Taking brief rest periods during the day to relax

• Allow yourself some breathing space. Disengage
  for a short period. Implementing simple
  stretching and breathing exercises or a daily
  walk will help you maintain your physical and
  emotional well being.
• Focus your attention elsewhere that is calming
• Breath deeply, and even paced
• Find a quiet location
• Be comfortable.

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Relaxation should.

• Meditation can wipe away the days stress
  wherever you are. Meditation can give you a sense
  of calm, peace and balance that benefits both
  your emotional well-being and your overall health.

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Meditation

• There are many types of meditation and relaxation
  techniques with meditation components.
• Ways to meditate can include more formal types
  such as
• Guided meditation. Sometimes called guided
  imagery or visualization with this method of
  meditation you form mental images of places or
  situations you find relaxing. You try to use as
  many senses as possible such as smells, sights,
  sounds and textures.

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Meditation

• Mantra meditation. In this type of meditation,
  you silently repeat a calming word, thought or
  phrase to prevent distracting thoughts.
  Transcendental meditation is a type of mantra
  meditation in which you achieve a deep state
  relaxation to achieve pure awareness.
• Mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation
  is based on being mindful, or having an increased
  awareness and acceptance of living in the present
  moment. You focus on what you experience during
  meditation such as the flow of your breath. You
  can observe your thoughts and emotions but let
  them pass without judgment.

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Meditation

• Tai chi. This is a form of gentle Chinese martial
  arts. In tai chi (TIE- chee) you perform a
  self-paced series of postures or movements in a
  slow graceful manner while practicing deep
  breathing.
• Yoga. You perform a series of postures and
  controlled breathing exercises to promote a more
  flexible body and a calm mind.

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Less formal types

• Breathe deeply
• Scan your body and let the tension go
• Repeat a mantra
• Walking meditation
• Engage in prayer
• Read of listen and take time to reflect
• Focus on love and gratitude

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21 days

• The first few weeks of trying to break a bad
  habit or start a new, healthy one are the
  hardest," says G. Alan Marlatt, PhD, director of
  the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the
  University of Washington. "You'll likely
  encounter temptations, but some strategies can
  help you cope with any such urges." The good
  news If you get through those weeks, the new
  mind-set becomes easier to maintain. Here are
  seven ways to help you reach 21 days.

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21 days

• 1. Jot in a journal. You can keep track of your
  progress, monitor any backsliding, and identify
  situations that may cause you to give in to
  temptation. 2. Set small steps. Instead of
  attempting a wholesale, huge life change, aim
  only for one behavior at a time. Break your goal
  down into smaller parts. "For example, if your
  goal is to lose weight and you didn't reach your
  goal of lost pounds in a few weeks, think about
  the health benefits of the weight you did lose."
  

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21 days

• 3. Surf your urges. The compulsion to light up
  another cigarette or toss down a bag of chips has
  often been described as a wave. It builds and
  builds, potentially threatening to wash away your
  newfound resolve like a tsunami. Marlatt's
  solution surfing. "Imagine the urge is a wave,
  and as you feel it build, close your eyes and pay
  attention to your breathing," he says. "Picture
  yourself on a surfboard riding the wave and the
  desire will subside."

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21 days

• 4. Don't trust willpower. Maybe you've had a
  couple of weeks with newfound willpower. "Even if
  you think you can slide back into a behavior and
  put the brakes on whenever you want, It doesn't
  work like that. Keep yourself out of situations
  that could make you more likely to backslide."

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21 days

• 5. Defuse triggers. With help from your journal,
  you might be able to identify triggers that may
  lead to old behavior. Some triggers may include
  being around others who are engaging in the
  activity you wish to stop, or it could be stress
  or negative emotions that may lead you to smoke
  or overeat. "Try using calming efforts such as
  meditation or yoga to cope with triggers,"
  Marlatt says.

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21 days

• 6. Try, try, tryagain. There's a difference
  between a "lapse" and a relapse. A lapse is a
  slight slip a relapse is becoming entirely
  entrenched in your old behavior. "About 80 of
  people have lapses," he says. "You're up against
  formidable odds, but the good news is that if you
  keep trying and learn from mistakes, you'll get
  better as you go along."

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Life is a journey

• Life's a journey, not a destination Steven
  Tyler although my advise is to plan your
  destination and please, enjoy the journey!

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21 days

• 7. Prepare for the next hurdle. While those
  first few weeks may be the toughest, Marlatt says
  the first three months are the trial period
  that'll test how well you avoid the urges. "Rely
  on your journal to show you what triggers the
  behavior you want to change," he says. "Changing
  a habit is like learning how to play piano or
  speak a foreign language. Learn from mistakes so
  that next time that situation occurs, you'll know
  how to deal with it."

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Stress is not what happens to us. It's our
response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is
something we can choose." Maureen Killoran

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