Objectives Mindbody connection Assessment of stressors and stress

Objectives • Mind-body connection • Assessment of stressors and stress reactions • Experience stress management strategies • Develop strategies to assist stress management and self-regulation

What is Stress? • Assumptions: – 1. Stress is ubiquitous – 2. Stress can be both positive and negative – 3. Stress is a result of both inside the body and outside the body factors – 4. Everybody has the capacity to alter their stress reactions – 5. The best way to understand the stress cycle is from an holistic approach (mind, body, environment) – 6. Today’s world has more stressful stimuli than ever before.

The Nature of Stress • Stress is a perceived demand or threat (Stressor) to our mind, body, spirit/value system, or emotions and its associated reactions in these same systems. • Eustress is a term for positive stress—stimuli that push us to act, take on challenges, meet deadlines. • Distress = Negative stress, dangers, seemingly insurmountable problems • Too much stress, ineffectively coped with over a period of time, becomes problematic.

Non-Physical threats can create moderate fight or flight responses Threats in form of: • Emotional • Intellectual • Social/Value system _________ Stimulated by: • Actual events • Thoughts • Imagination

Stressed Out! • People can average 50 to 200 moderate F or F responses a day. • Accumulated stress responses = Stressed Out.

Positive vs. Negative Stress

Fight or Flight Response

Symptoms of Chronic Stress Reaction (Examples) Physical Cognitive Behavioral Emotional Fatigue Poor attention/ concentration Change in activity Grinding teeth Nightmares Loss of appetite Guilt Headaches Blaming others Alcohol consumption Irritability Muscle cramps Poor problem solving Withdrawal Uncertainty Anxiety

Theories of Stress • Popular views • Non-specific demand for adaptation (Selye) • State of anxiety when events exceed coping ability (Lazarus) • Intricate phenomena including culturally defined concept on the human condition • Inability to cope with real and/or imagined threats to mental/physical/emotional/spiritual well-being resulting in physiological and adaptive responses

Assessments PAC-CATS Health Behaviors: – https: //assesshealth. ucs. ksu. edu/cs_survey/ • Stressful events hierarchy – http: //www. spsu. edu/sis/psycho. htm • Life style inventory – http: //www. nationalwellness. org/testwell/index. htm • Kiersey Type Indicator – http: //www. humanmetrics. com/cgi-win/JTypes 2. asp