Managing Stress

1
Managing Stress Fatigue

• Chapter 11

2
Stress Definition, Theory, Research

• Stress the nonspecific response of the body to
  any demand made upon it
• Usually involves a state of tension
• Is considered a process rather than an end state
• May occur when a person feels threatened or
  scared
• Is culturally personally defined
• Stressors situations or events that cause
  stress
• Relational
• Environmental
• Gender Differences
• Mens blood pressure rises more sharply in
  response to stress
• Women react to more stressors a greater variety
  of them

3
Crises Adaptation to Stress

• Crises events that require changes in normal
  patterns of behavior
• Stress overload (pileup)
• Refers to the cumulative effect of many stresses
  building up at one time
• Substantial stress pileup can increase the
  incidence of illness
• Stress levels can rise as a result of one major
  life change or from a series of small changes

4
Outsourcing

• Outsourcing
• Paying someone else to do ones work
• Extension of comparative advantage theory
• Focus on activities to which person can add most
  value
• Outsource other activities to specialists
• Examples?
• It is not the rich who is driving up the demand
  for services it is the time-starved middle class

5
Comfort Zone

• Comfort zone
• Combination of habit everyday expectations
  mixed with an appropriate amount of adventure
  novelty
• Represents that space in which the level of
  stress feels right for the individual
• Domino Effect
• Passage of stress from one source to another

6
External Stress

• Acute major stress stress resulting from a
  recent event
• Ongoing, role-related stress stress caused by
  chronic difficulties in ones work or family
  roles
• Lifetime trauma stress stress resulting from
  having undergone severe trauma

7
Internal Stress

• Originates in ones own mind body
• Can be brought on by setting standards that are
  too high, for example
• Some stress is necessary serves as motivator
• Too much stress can be debilitating leads to
  immobilization

8
Hans Selye

• Founder of stress research
• Two type of stress
• Distress harmful stress
• Eustress beneficial stress
• Developed a comprehensive theory of the bodys
  adaptive processes
• First scientist to identify the main organs
  hormones involved in stress response

9
Decision Making Stress

• Make a conscious decision to forget unnecessary
  information
• Delegate work
• Postpone decisions when there is no hurry
• Surround yourself with competent workers

10
Psychological Hardiness

• Having a sense of control over your life
• Being committed to self, work, relationships,
  other values
• Not being afraid of change
• Nonnormative stressor event
• Unanticipated experiences that cause instability
  and require creative effort to remedy
• Normative stressor event
• Anticipated, predictable developmental changes
  that occur at certain life intervals
• People who are resistant to stress have a
  disposition composed of the 3 Cs
• Commitment
• Control
• Challenge

11
Theory of Adaptive Range

• Some level of change is vital to everyones
  health well-being
• Most people opt for stability consistency in
  certain areas of their lives opt for change or
  novelty in others

12
The Bodys Response to Stress

• An alarm reaction takes place
• Brain perceives a threat to the sense of
  equilibrium
• Hormones nerves bring about a state of
  readiness (fight or flight syndrome)
• Resistance
• Body adapts to the demand
• Exhaustion
• Body may feel tired possibly susceptible to
  various illnesses
• Over half of all illnesses may be related to
  stress

13
Diet, Exercise, Stress

• Best nutritional preparation for stress is a
  balanced varied diet regular exercise
• No known singular food, vitamin supplement, or
  herbal remedy will eliminate stress
• Moderate exercise may reduce stress because it
  raises level of beta-endorphins, chemicals in the
  brain associated with pain relief, which has a
  positive effect on mood behavior
• American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes
  a day
• Other sources suggest 3 times a week for 30
  minutes

14
Stress Management

• Get more rest relaxation
• Outsource
• Meditation deep breathing
• Massage
• Social support

15
Type A vs. Type B Personalities

• Type A
• Time urgency feeling that there is not enough
  time to do everything
• Hostility evaluating people, events, or
  situations negatively being suspicious,
  distrustful, aggressive, competitive
• Type B
• Lack a sense of time urgency
• Can relax without guilt
• Are more cooperative with others
• Take a break when fatigued
• Stressors are experienced differently by
  different types of people coping responses vary
  by dominant personality type

16
Techniques for Reducing Stress

• Problem-focused coping
• Attempts to alter the actual relationships
  change behaviors or environments
• Emotion-focused coping
• Concentrates on regulating the emotional distress
  caused by harm or threat
• Requires a change in thinking or interpreting a
  change in acting

17
Techniques for Reducing Stress (continued)

• Plan organize time
• Complete tasks
• Develop a sense of humor
• Indulge yourself
• Find quiet environments people who make you
  feel good about yourself
• Keep things in perspective stay flexible
• Develop a positive attitude

18
Job Stress

• The harmful physical emotional responses that
  occur when the requirements of the job do not
  match the capabilities, resources, or needs of
  the worker
• Can lead to poor health and even injury
• Difference between challenge stress
• Challenge energizes people motivates them to
  learn new skills
• Job stress produces no end results only a sense
  of exhaustion failure

19
Another Perspective . . .

• Work may actually serve as a haven from stress
• It may be a relief to go to an office where
  everyone is polite, well goomed, courteous

20
Burnout

• A state of physical, emotional, mental
  exhaustion caused by unrealistic goals
  aspirations long hours
• Person may have breakdown in health, may not be
  able to continue performing at the expected pace,
  may become discouraged drop out of the
  profession
• Brownout
• predecessor to burnout
• Fatigue irritability set in
• Unless something stops the downward spiral,
  burnout may set in
• Positive side can be a signal for change, a
  deliberate dynamic in the psyche to reestablish
  balance to stimulate growth

21
Stress Non-Events

• Specific occurrences in peoples lives that they
  look forward to and make plans around but that
  fail to materialize
• Examples

22
Parents, Children, Stress

• Children
• Vulnerable to stress burnout
• Hurried schedules meals affect children
• Many experts think childhood stress is increasing
• Adolescence
• Stressful for both parents children as
  adolescents move towards independence
• Parents
• Fussy behavior in newborns often causes stress
  for parents
• Stress is not limited to childrens preschool
  years
• Return of adult children to the home may cause
  stress

23
Stress Warning Signs in Children

• Poor appetitie
• Excessive crying
• Headaches stomachaches
• Withdrawal
• Clinging behavior
• Hyperactivity
• Moodiness
• Sleep problems

24
More About Children Stress

• Children who were neglected by their parents or
  raised in orphanages tend to have higher levels
  of stress hormones
• Children can experience stress overload from
  competitive, win-lose, rule-bound situations
• Many of todays children are pressured to grow up
  too fast
• Not only are homes more stressful but schools are
  more stressful too
• Children can learn to moderate stress by
  following same techniques as adults

25
College Students Stress

• Top academic stressor tests finals
• Top personal stressor intimate relationships
• Test anxiety
• Mild test anxiety can motivate facilitate
  performance
• Can be reduced through regular relaxation
  exercises or physical exercises

26
Fatigue Definition Sources

• The feeling of having insufficient energy to
  carry one and a strong desire to stop, rest, or
  sleep
• Can come from mental or physical exertion, work,
  or play
• May be related to stress or have nothing to do
  with stress
• Normal part of daily life

27
The Body Fatigue

• Fatigue originates as a physiological response
• Fatigue comes from both internal external
  sources
• Fatigue begins at an unconscious, microscopic
  level progresses through stages.
• At the final stage, the person experiences
  fatigue as a sensation

28
System Theory Sleep, Energy, Fatigue

• Fatigue is a sign of energy imbalance too much
  energy is being expended and not enough is being
  conserved
• Sleep is necessary for two reasons
• To restore energy levels
• To help the body regulate and synchronize itself
• 2 kinds of sleep
• REM (rapid eye movement) occurs when sleeper is
  in a light sleep
• NREM (non-rapid eye movement) occurs when
  sleeper is in an inactive, deep slumber
• Insomnia perception or complaint of inadequate
  or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of
  the following
• Difficulty falling asleep
• Waking up frequently during night with difficulty
  returning to sleep
• Waking up too early in morning
• Unrefreshing sleep
• When people are deprived of sleep or do not get
  right balance of REM NREM, their abilities to
  make decisions and to concentrate are diminished
• Stress anxiety can affect the length quality
  of sleep
• Rules for sleep
• Establish a regular sleep pattern
• Get enough nightly sleep

29
Fatigue Management

• Examine each part of the system diet, exercise,
  sleep, activity, relationships
• Self-monitor to recognize sleep problems signs
  of fatigue
• When fatigue is imminent, nap, sleep, relax, eat
  properly, change activities, or whatever
  combination works best
• Improve sleep by daily exposure to natural light,
  keeping a regular schedule, avoiding stimulants
  containing caffeine at least 2 hours prior to
  bedtime

30
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Not clear what causes the disease or even whether
  it is one disease or many
• May be a long-acting viral infection, a form of
  allergy, or something entirely different
• Symptoms may include chills or low-grade fever,
  sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle pain,
  muscle weakness, extreme fatigue, headaches,
  joint pain (without swelling), neurological
  problems (confusion, memory loss, visual
  disturbances), sleep disorder, sudden onset of
  symptoms
• Rest is not restorative
• Minimal physical activity can bring on
  significant levels of exhaustion

31
The End!