mrkhealth

How Can IA students reduce the stress they get in their everyday lives

Page history last edited by Pooja Suresh 14 hrs ago

A4: Porpaavai Sampath Kumar, Pooja Suresh, Arun Rao, Harrison Noh

Stress

Why is this topic important to us?

All of us, as IA students, undergo the stress of schoolwork. If we can learn to recognize the symptoms of stress overload, we can stop ourselves from freaking out all the time. Stress is a part of life, and will continue to be a part of life, so it is important to be educated on the topic.

What is Stress?

Stress is a feeling that is a reaction to certain events or times in one’s life. When a person is feeling stressed, they tend to become more focused, stronger, and more alert to their surroundings. When humans are exposed to stressors, events that cause stress, their bodies respond to this by releasing adrenaline and cortisol, which are hormones, into the bloodstream. This causes the heart rate, breathing rate, metabolism, and blood pressure to increase. As a result, blood vessels open wider and the liver releases glucose into the bloodstream to prepare the body to react quickly and effectively to the stressor.

Facts (from APA survey 2004):

54 percent of Americans are concerned about the level of stress in their everyday lives.
62 percent of Americans say work has a significant impact on stress levels.
Increasing numbers of children, teenagers and college students report feeling under stress.
25 percent of workers have taken a day off from work to cope with stress.

66 percent of Americans say they are likely to seek help for stress.
Highly stressed teenagers are twice as likely to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs.
10 percent of all teens suffer from an anxiety disorder

Kinds of Stress:

- Eustress

Eustress is the only good stress. This stress acts as a short burst of euphoria in time of need, such as during physical activity or competitions. This is the only useful stress.

- Distress

This is a negative stress that is caused by a constant chance in routine. This type of Stress causes discomfort and unfamiliarity, creating a lonely surrounding for yourself. It is almost the first step into depression.

- HyperStress

Hyperstress is caused due to overload of work or emotions. It is basically stress that is created when he/she is pushed beyond what they can handle. When hyperstress is experienced, even the smallest things can result in a huge emotional outburst.

-Hypostress

Hypostress is the exact opposite of hyperstress. Hypostress is caused due to extreme boredom or if you feel unchallenged. This causes restlessness and therefore a stress situation arises.

There are also other common effects that occur regardless of what kind of stress you are going through. Some of those are:

continual stress about long-term events
body runs out of glucose and other reserves
immune system weakens
the person feels overwhelmed, which can lead to further health problems

Causes:

Too much stress is a bad thing, and causes stress overload. One’s troubles can build up to a lot of stress, more than a person can cope with, if they are shouldering those troubles alone and for long periods of times.

Common causes of stress are:

being bullied
exposure to violence and injury
stress from relationships and family conflicts
death of a loved one
problems with schoolwork
can be related to learning disabilities, like ADHD
busy schedules resulting in no free time

Effects:

Sometimes people have extreme cases of stressful situations. These people might have...

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, a strong reaction to stress that is developed when people go through a traumatic event in their life
- Such events include: serious car accidents, natural disasters, physical assault, etc. In extreme cases of stress, people go as far as to think about committing suicide, thinking that it would be easier than facing their problems.
anxiety problems, causing them to overreact even to the smallest problems
food/substance abuse problems

This image shows the potential health effects of stress:

The Stress Response Curve:

Symptoms of Stress Overload:

Some signs of stress overload that people tend to notice are:

panic attacks
always feeling pressured, and hurried
being irritable and constantly in a bad mood
headaches, chest pain, and stomach problems
allergic reactions (i.e. asthma)
trouble going to sleep
overeating, drug and alcohol abuse, smoking
depression/constant sadness

Some people release their stress by taking it out on other people, while others turn to food and substance abuse.

Stress Managment

There are many ways one can relieve stress , and you should figure out what works best for you. Some of the most commmon ones are listed out for you to try.

First and foremost identify the sources of stress in your life. They can be as simple as doing homework or preparing to give a speech. If you know that you have stress, then learn to look at yourself from a different viewpoint.
Start a stress journal. It amy be easier to write things down and organize yorself, and then dealing withthe situation.
Look at how you currently cope with stress. There are healthy and unhealthy ways to cope with stress. Do not start bad habits as a method of dealing with stress.
Look at dealing with stress as the four A's: Avoid the Stressor, Alter the stressor, Adapt to the stressor, Accept the streesor.
Exercise
Find your relaxation technique.( for example: read a book, watch a movie, go for a walk, play with your pet.)