Stomping out Stress

with Super
Strategies
Grade 6 Health and Wellness
 Specific Outcomes
❏ Recognize that individuals can choose their own emotional reactions to
events and thoughts
❏ Establish personal guidelines for expressing feelings
❏ Develop personal strategies for dealing with stress/change
❏ Analyze and apply effective age-appropriate strategies to manage change
❏ Acknowledge situations that may affect a change in feelings or stress levels
❏ Understand the relationship between stressful events and our feelings
❏ Learn and practice a variety of relaxation techniques
 01
What is
stress?
How can we manage stress?
What IS Stress?
Stress is the feeling of being
overwhelmed or unable to cope with
mental or emotional pressure.

Stress is our body’s response to pressure.

Many different situations or life events can
cause stress. It is often triggered when we
experience something new, unexpected
or that threatens our sense of self, or
when we feel we have little control over a
situation.
What is Stress?
How you might FEEL stress
You may feel:

■ anxious
■ afraid
■ angry or aggressive
■ sad
■ irritable
■ frustrated
■ depressed

These feelings can sometimes produce physical symptoms,

making you feel even worse.
How your body might react
If you’re stressed, you may experience:

■ headaches
■ nausea
■ Indigestion
■ Trouble sleeping
■ Feeling or getting sick more often
■ digestive problems such as constipation, bloating or diarrhea
■ shallow breathing (can’t breathe) or hyperventilating (breathing too quickly)
■ sweating
■ heart palpitations - heart feels like it is racing
■ aches and pains
■ Changes in eating patterns
ACTIVITY: Talking Circle

“What makes you stressed and how

do you deal with stress?”
Examples:
- Changing because you are growing up and getting older
- Experiencing peer influence
- Moving to a new place and attending a new school
Stressful experiences and feelings
Write 3 stressful events you have experienced and the feeling as a result of these events.

EXAMPLES: New neighbourhood ---------> feeling homesick

Making new friends ----------> feeling intimidated
Homework ----------> feeling overwhelmed

1. --------->

2. --------->

3. --------->
How do we deal with stress?
We all deal with stress differently. When we
encounter stress, our body produces stress
hormones that trigger a fight or flight response
and activate our immune system. This helps us
respond quickly to dangerous situations.

Sometimes, this stress response can be useful: it

can help us push through fear or pain so we can
run a marathon (like Mrs. Delaney and Ms.
Schmitz) or deliver a speech (like in our forest fire
debates). Our stress hormones will usually go
back to normal quickly once the stressful event
is over, and there won’t be any lasting effects
 What if we have TOO MUCH stress?
However, too much stress can cause negative effects. It can leave us in a permanent stage of fight or flight,
leaving us overwhelmed or unable to cope. Long term, this can affect our physical and mental health.
How can you cope
with and manage
stress?
Relaxation
Techniques
Read through from the following relaxation
techniques. Choose the ones that you find
most interesting and practice them in the
next 30 minutes to see which ones are most
effective for you.

How do they make you feel?

Do you think they would help you manage
your feelings when you feel stressed?
Positive Self-Talk
Think of a variety of positive
statements you can say to yourself
when you need a boost of
confidence. Write down a list of
ideas and commit this list to
memory. You may even want to write
down some positive affirmations to
post at home. With your partner,
discuss three positive statements
you will include on your list.
Tensing and relaxing muscles
Sit or lie down in a quiet place. Close your eyes and try to relax. Start at your
toes. Tense all of the muscles in your toes and hold for about ten seconds.
Next, relax your toes for another ten seconds. Move to your feet. Tense all of
the muscles in your feet and hold for ten seconds. Relax your feet for
another ten seconds. Continue doing this with your calf muscles, your thigh
muscles, your stomach muscles, etc. Work slowly all the way to your facial
muscles. Try this out with your partner. Begin with your fingers first, your
hands next and your arms last. Remember to close your eyes, clear your
mind and focus on the task at hand. Your partner will count to ten for you as
you tense and relax. Afterwards, you will count for your partner.
 Visualizing
Example A: Close your eyes. Imagine a picture of a peaceful
place you would like to be. This can be a place you have
already visited or a place you have only heard about. Try to
imagine every detail. See yourself relaxing in the picture.

Example B: Close your eyes. Imagine achieving a goal you

have identified for yourself. This picture should be still, like a
snapshot. You feel proud because you have succeeded. Think
about who else is in this picture with you. Together with your
partner, close your eyes and imagine a picture. This may be a
picture of a peaceful place or a picture of personal success.
After about one minute, tell your partner about your picture.
 Deep Breathing -
Mindfulness
Find a quiet place to sit or lie down. While counting to five slowly,
take in a deep breath through your nose. Hold your breath for
another five seconds. Next, let your breath out through your mouth
while counting to five slowly. Repeat this several times. Have your
partner count for you as you breathe in, hold and breathe out. Repeat
this five times before counting for your partner. While you are
breathing, consider where in your body you feel your breath. Focus
on this area.
 Exercise
Exercise is a popular way of dealing with stress. Many
people run, participate in sports, or work out at the gym .
You can choose any form of exercise that you enjoy. You
may choose to exercise alone or with a friend. Look at the
list of exercise listed on the sheet to try out!
Try to allow yourself time each day to be active and to
exercise. At the same time as your partner, complete a
series of of each exercise for one minute. If you feel
yourself getting tired, simply slow down your pace. Try not
to stop before one minute passes. When you finish, relax
for one minute.
 Lighten up!
Laughing, having fun and taking time to enjoy the moment are other
popular ways of dealing with stress. Make a list of ways to “lighten up!”
Think of activities, sayings or jokes that help you smile and cheer you
up.
Try to do at least one thing from your list each day. Your list can have
as many as 50 items on it. Start small and add new ideas each week.
With your partner, brainstorm five items you would like to include on
your list. Here are a few examples: Play with a pet, start a pillow fight,
make up a silly song, run through the sprinkler, invent a new laugh…

Try telling each other some jokes!

Write about it!

Research has shown that writing about stress can

help improve overall wellbeing. Sometimes,
writing about positive things, like what we are
grateful for, can alleviate anxiety.

Make a list of things you are grateful for! Why are

are you grateful for all these thing?
 Get outside in nature
Spending time in nature is an effective way to relieve
stress and improve overall well-being.

Since you can’t go outside without supervision, go into

the learning commons and sit next to the living wall
(plants). Take a few moments to observe the plants, take
some deep breaths and connect!

Share with a friend how being in nature helps you!

Where do you like to go?
What do you like to do?
 Reflection

On the following slide, share about ONE

relaxation technique that you enjoyed and
that you think will be helpful to use in the
future.
- Why did you choose this technique?
- When it will help you most?
- How often you will use it?
- The results you expect to see? How will it help you?
 Reflection
Relaxation technique:

I chose this technique because... It will help me most when...

I think I will use the technique I think this technique will help me
(frequency) about... because...