What is Stress?

  What happens to your body  How can you cope with 

  when you are stressed? stress? 
When we are faced with a stressful event, our 
● Stress is our body’s reaction to 
environmental demands 
brain signals our body to release hormones   
that activate different systemic responses  ● There are many positive ways to 
  (fight-or- flight) to help us deal with the stress.  help ease stressful situations, here 
● Stress is caused by events or  Once the stressful event is gone, our body  are some ways that you can keep 
conditions that each person is  returns to a normal, relaxed state. However,  your stress down to a minimum:  
experiencing and how they  some stressful life events are persistent. Thus, 
 
perceive them  the magnitude of the effect of stress varies 
depending on what types of stress we  ○ Relaxation techniques that 
★ Something that may seem 
experience and the overall duration.  include deep breathing. 
stressful to one person may 
not be for another  ★ Nervous system 
The stress affects our ability to learn and 
  remember new things. There is a threshold 
● Stressors can be internal or  dependency where mild to moderate stress 
external and can go unnoticed;  increases learning ability and memory while severe 
  stress results in declining learning ability and 
○ Workplace, social,  memory. 
unplanned life events (e.g.  ★ Cardiovascular system  
Stress increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases 
pregnancy, deaths) 
mainly heart attacks and stroke through four 
○ Fears (e.g. fear of failure, of  major avenues that include increase in heart rate, 
public speaking), uncertainty  blood pressure, blood lipids and change in cardiac 
or lack of control,  rhythm.  
expectations  ★ Immune system    
Stress reduces the strength of our immune system   
by reducing the production and activity of immune 
cells. When stress is persistent, the suboptimal 
● Also you may find listening to your 
performance of the immune system increases the  favorite song or band may alleviate 
risk of cancer by allowing cancer cells to grow  your stress or even going for a 
unchecked.  peaceful walk outdoors. 
★ Stress on gastrointestinal system 
Stress leads to changes in bowel movements, 
sensitivity (bowel irritability), bowel secretion and 
growth rate of bowel bacteria. The manifestation 
of these changes can be stress eating which leads 
to obesity and increases risk of diabetes. Increased 
  bowel movement and secretion can also result in 
diarrhea.   
 Types of Stress  References  Stress and How to 
 
Distress    Manage 
● Is a negative draining energy that 
results in anxiety, depression, 
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lif  
confusion, helplessness, hopelessness,  estyle/stress-management/in-depth/str  
and fatigue.  ess-management/art-20044151 
     
Eustress  Yaribeygi, H., Panahi, Y., Sahraei, H., Johnston,  
● Is a positive beneficial energy that  T. P., & Sahebkar, A. (2017). The impact of
motivates and results in feelings of  stress on body function: A review. ​EXCLI
happiness, hopefulness, and purposeful  Journal,​ ​16,​ 1057–1072. PubMed.
movement. The result of having a 
positive perception towards a stressor.  https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2017-480
 
Physical  Halter MJ. ​Varcarolis’ foundations of psychiatric
● Tend to appear early but is moderate in  ​ t.
mental health nursing: Integrative care. S
degree. Stress is shown through  Louis: Elsevier; 2018.
physical symptoms.   
 
Psychological  
Li, Y., Qin, J., Yan, J., Zhang, N., Xu, Y., Zhu,
 
Y., . . . Ju, S. (2018). Differences of physical vs.
● Appear later but are more severe than  psychological stress: evidences from  
physical stress. Several studies had 
reported that the effects of 
glucocorticoid receptor expression, hippocampal  
subfields injury, and behavioral abnormalities.  
psychological stress were more 
significant than those of physical stress.  Brain Imaging and Behavior, 1780-1788.   By: Peter Palomares, Luis 
Stress is shown through more 
emotional kinds.  Rivera, Leslie Sanchez, 
Megan Sutherland, and 
Anitha Uwayo