U U N IT

5
Life Styles and Stress
Management

Unit Overview

In the previous Unit, we considered some cognitive

behavioral approaches that would assist in stress
management along with some positive responses
to stress. In this Unit, we will explore lifestyles
and stress management. We will therefore learn
about:

1. Caring for your body

• Exploring Nutrition

• Role of Sleep
cognitive training
• Exercise
Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
2. Caring for your mind, heart and soul: Cognitive_training

• Connecting to a higher power (Spirituality, religion, meaning)

• Expressing upon creative side

• Connecting with others

• Relaxation

3. Practical strategies and tips for managing life (e.g. prioritizing, asking for help,
etc.)

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 Unit Objectives

By the end of this Unit, you will be able to:

1. Apply nutrition to stress management.

2. Demonstrate the role of sleep in stress management.

3. Demonstrate the role of exercise in stress management.

4. Outline how connecting to a higher power helps with stress management.

5. Outline how creativity applies to stress management.

6. Outline how relaxation helps with stress reduction.

7. Demonstrate several practical strategies for managing life.

This Unit is divided into three sessions as follows:

Session 5.1: Caring for your Body

Session 5.2: Caring for your Mind, Heart and Soul

Session 5.3: Practical Strategies and Tips for Managing Life

Readings and Resources

Required Readings
Seward L., B. (n.d.). The Low Stress Diet (power point presentation). Available
at https://healthmatters.idaho.gov/pdf/stress/low_stress_diet_notes.pdf
[Reviewed by] Zelman M., K. (April 23, 2012).

Diet for Stress Management Slideshow: Stress Reducing Foods. WebMD.

Available at http://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-diet-for-stress-
management

Choose my plate: 10 tips to a great plate [tipsheet]. (June 2011). United States
Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition and Policy Promotion.
Available at http://fcs.tamu.edu/files/2015/02/myplate-tip-sheets.pdf

Build a healthy meal: 10 tips for healthy meals [tipsheet]. (June 2011). United
States Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition and Policy
Promotion. Available at http://www.livehealthyiowakids.org/UserDocs/
DGTipsheet38BuildHealthyMealtimeHabits_0.pdf

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 National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. (n.d.). Why is Sleep Important? United
States Department of Health and Human Services. Available at http://www.
nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why.html

Mayo Clinic Staff. (n.d.). Spirituality and stress relief: Make the connection.
Available a: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/
in-depth/stress-relief/art-20044464

Recommended Readings or Other Resources

BeetMedicineTV. (April 16, 2009). Stress Eating and the Consequences. Available
at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7SC2ltMNM

University of California Television (UCTV). (January 10, 2008). Spirituality and

Health. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ucsxP0vUk

University of California Television (UCTV). (June 26, 2008).The Art of Living

Every Minute of Your Life. Available at http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Q1xBjIHEhtg

You are also advised to locate and read: Additional papers relevant to the topics
covered.

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 SSession 5.1

Caring for Your Body

Introduction
As we have previously learned, stress can have both positive (in the short term) and
negative (in the long term) effects on the body. In this session, we will consider how
to counteract the negative effects of stress, or even how to manage stress, by caring for
your body. We will therefore learn about the following:

• Exploring nutrition

• Role of sleep

• Exercise

Exploring Nutrition
As we learned in previous units, stressful encounters lead to the ‘Fight or Flight’
response. During this response, the nervous system and adrenal glands send signals
to the rest of the body through the release of certain hormones. As a result, some of
the functions of our body such as digestion can be negatively affected. We also learned
that a common side effect of stress could either be loss of appetite or over eating.

So how do we counteract the weight that can be gained or lost using proper nutritional
habits?

• We can begin by eating smaller portions at greater frequency during stressful

periods. This minimises peaks and troughs in energy levels and sustains a healthy
metabolic rate throughout the day.

• Ensure that, whether or not you feel hungry, you eat a balanced breakfast. This
is important as it kick starts your metabolism for the day and assist in stabilising
your blood sugar levels. This stabilisation then reduces stress on the body. The
best breakfast choice is fruit or fruit juice and whole-grain cereal.

• Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day ensuring that you get
a healthy supply of vitamin B and C and Magnesium. Vitamin B has proven
to assist in feeling more energetic after a stressful episode. Vitamin C assist in

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 the production of stress hormones. Magnesium reduces anxiety and relaxes the
muscles. Table 5.1 shows the foods that supply these needed vitamins.
Table 5.1: Vitamins and the Foods That Supply Them

Vitamin Foods Containing Them

B Vitamins Bananas, leafy green vegetables, avocados, nuts, seeds and also meat,
fish and dairy products.
C Vitamins Citrus fruit, tomatoes, peppers, kiwi, leafy green vegetables, broccoli.
Magnesium Nuts, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, baths in Epsom salts pro-
vides magnesium that is absorbed through the skin.

There are also foods that should be avoided if we strive to uphold healthy nutritional
habits. These include caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt and nicotine. Caffeine in particular
affects sleep negatively and can remain in the body up to six hours after consumption. It
is found in coffee, tea, chocolate and some carbonated drinks. These can be substituted
therefore for decaffeinated, herbal or green teas or water. Nicotine cause greater stress
on the body over time and alcohol, sugar and salt strips the body of essential nutrients.

Role of Sleep
Getting enough sleep and the quality of sleep that we get is vital for stress management.
Sleep has several benefits noted by the American Psychological Association.

1. It allow our bodies to rest and our brains to recharge

2. It provides muscle repair and memory consolidation. Therefore lack of

sleep can have the following effects:

• Negative effect on memory, judgment and mood

• It can cause feeling of listlessness, obesity and high blood pressure.
• Can put you at risk in your daily lives for example in instances when you
are driving sleep deprived.

Sleep and stress interrelate like the proverbial chicken and egg. Stress can cause lack of
sleep and lack of sleep causes increased stress. The quality of sleep is just as important
to decreasing sleep as the number of hours one sleeps for. You can sleep for many
hours getting restless sleep and wake up feeling just as tired as you were when you
went to bed. Good quality of sleep is obtained by ensuring that it is completely dark
and that there is minimal negative noise around. So for best sleep, turn off your lights,
and cover all light from small appliances in your room such as your alarm clock light.
Put your phone on silent is possible to ensure that you are not spattered out of your
sleep. Get heavy curtains that would block out the light from the sun until you are
ready to get up again.

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 Exercise
Without probably realising it, we already started looking at the effects of exercise
as a tool in stress management. You would recall in previous chapters looking at
Eastern exercises such as Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong as means of stress relief through
meditation. They are however also a form of stress relief through exercising the body.
Exercising the body is a healthy and effective from of stress management and can have
the following benefits:

1. It improves your mood:

2. It pumps up your endorphins

3. It allows you to meditate

LEARNING ACTIVITY 5.1

Think about a personal situation in which you were stress. Describe
based on the information in this session what you did correctly to
reduce stress and what could have been done differently to help
reduce stress.

Session Summary

In this session, we began exploring Lifestyles and stress management by considering

caring for your body. We therefore learned about stress management, friendly nutrition,
sleep and exercise. In the next session, we will begin to explore caring for the mind,
heart and soul.

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 SSession 5.2

Caring for Your Mind, Heart and Soul

Introduction
In the previous session we began exploring Lifestyles and Stress Management by
considering caring for the body. As such we looked at Stress Management as it relates
to nutrition, sleep and exercise. In this session, we will consider Lifestyles and Stress
by looking at Caring for the mind, heart and soul. We will therefore learn about the
following:

• Connecting to a higher power

• Expressing your creative side

• Connecting with others

• Relaxation Revisited

Connecting to a Higher Power

For many centuries past and even today, people looked to a higher power as a means
of finding meaning, reassurance and hope. They have found ways to cope and elevate
their anxiety through spirituality, religion and meaning. Because of the many religions
that exist, spirituality in its mere definition, continues to be a highly subjective,
personal and individualistic concept (Coyle, 2002). However, some definitions have
been determined based on common views of what spirituality is. Young and Koopsen
(2011) note.
“To many, spirituality represents a necessary essence of life that energizes both
thoughts and actions (Taylor, 2002). To others, spirituality is a belief in a power
operating in the universe greater than one’s self. Still others define it as a sense of
interconnectedness with all living creatures and an awareness of the purpose and
meaning of life (Walton, 1999). (p9)

Taylor (2002) notes that dictionaries have defined the word spirituality for these points
of view:

• Sacred
• Moral

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 • Holy or divine
• Of pure essence
• Intellectual and higher endowments of the mind
• Ecclesiastical (relating to religions organization)
• Incorporate (without a physical dimension)
• Spirits or supernatural entities
• Highly refined in thought and feelings (Young and Koopsen 2011, p10)
So what does spirituality have to do with Stress Management? Dossey (1997) notes
that Spiritual issues are core life issues. That being said, they affect the way we view
life, relationships, people and so on. In so doing, spirituality can affect the way we
approach personal and internal healing and may even cause us to remove things
from our life that cause stress to become a spiritual issue. According to Dossey these
spiritual issues are as follows:

• Mystery: That which cannot be understood or explained.

• Suffering: Why mind, body and spiritual pains are present and what they mean
• Forgiveness: The choice to release one’s self or another from judgement because
of a perceived wound.

• Grace: An understanding of, the gifts of life that are often attributed to providence.
• Hope: Desire accompanied by expectation of fulfillment.
• Love: An acknowledge mystery that is experienced and expressed in caring acts,
both given and received (Young and Koopsen 2011, p11).

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 LEARNING ACTIVITY 5.2
In this session you have learned what spirituality is. Read the
following article and answers the questions below that teach you
about how spirituality helps with stress relief.

uu http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stres-management/in-depth/
stress-relief/art-20044464

1. What is spirituality?

2. List five ways in which spirituality helps with stress relief.

3. Complete the Discovering your Spirituality exercise.

4. Define what spirituality means to you.

Expressing Your Creative Side

Research has shown that creative activity reduces stress. How? According to Poindexter
(2015) “The focus, emotional expression and perspective that come through creative
acts, disrupt mental patterns of stress and anguish, and help people lead more fulfilling
lives.”

Professor Teresa Amabile launched research where she got two hundred persons to
journal during their daily work. She found that creativity usually leads to productivity.
She also found that when people were less stressed, they were more creative. However,
she also found that creativity naturally resulted in positive feelings and therefore
reduced stress.

There are therefore several reasons why creativity reduces stress. They are as follows:

• It provides a distraction from stressful thoughts as it requires focus.

• It breaks individuals out of their normal thought patterns disrupting the cycle of
habitual stressful thinking.

• It reduces anxiety and produces positive thought.

• The mental space created by creativity allows persons to put things in perspective.
• Creative activity, such as journaling, allows you to celebrate small wins that would
have otherwise have gone unnoticed.

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 Connecting with Others
As mentioned in previous Units, socialisation is a good way to reduce stress from
going to a bar or club with friends, to texting or chatting online, to having a phone
conversation (even if its about the thing that is causing the stress) and other social
activities; all are a source of stress reduction. That is, because human beings are social
animals and these types of social activities serve to reduce loneliness and promote
feelings of safety, belonging and enjoyment (Mills, Reiss and Dombeck 2008).

How does socialisation achieve all this?

It affects our balance of hormones by increasing a hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin

works to decrease anxiety levels while stimulating the parasympathetic nervous
system calming down responses and making us better able to cope.

It directs our energy outward rather than inward.

It provides a temporary distraction.

It provides present and future persons to help deal with stress (added support).

Socialisation forms connection with others and gives a sense of meaning and purpose.

It improves your mood.

Relaxation Revisited
Relaxation is another stress management technique that is part of a lifestyle change.
Like a change in diet, relaxation is a necessary addition to one’s daily habits as a
means of reducing stress. We however, already discussed relaxation in great detail in
Unit 3b Session 3b.1 Relaxation principles and Relaxations Techniques. As a means of
review then, ensure that you are able to answer the following questions:

1. Why is relaxation effective?

2. What is the Relaxation Response Hypothesis?

3. What are the tenets of the ABC Relaxation Theory?

4. What are some effective relaxation techniques?

Session Summary

In this session we continue our exploration of lifestyle and stress management by

looking at caring for the mind, heart and soul. We therefore considered connecting
to a higher power, expressing creativity, connecting with others and relaxation. In the
upcoming session we will look at practical strategies and tips for managing life.

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 SSession 5.3

Practical Strategies and Tips for

Managing Life

Introduction
In the previous session, we looked at caring for the mind, heart and soul as a part
of lifestyles and atress management. We therefore considered connecting with a
higher power, expressing creativity and connecting with others and we did a recap of
relaxation. In this session, we will work together in a practical exercise to determine
strategies and tips for managing Life.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 5.3

For this activity first go over all that was learned in this Unit including
the two previous sessions and watch the following videos. Once this
is done, the class will meet in a discussion forum and discuss; based
on the information provided as well as information gained in your own
research; what are the practical strategies and tips for managing life?
For example prioritising, asking for help and so on.
Beet Medicine TV. (April 16, 2009). Stress Eating and the
Consequences. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=DP7SC2ltMNM
University of California Television (UCTV). (JANUARY 10, 2008).
Spirituality and Health. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=A0ucsxP0vUk

Session Summary

In this Session, we concluded Lifestyles and Stress Management by engaging in a

practical exercise in which we worked together to determine strategies and tips for
managing Life. As a result, we considered both what we have already learned in the
previous Units and Sessions and we also had some new ideas coming forward in the
group discussion.

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 Unit Summary

In this Unit, we explored Lifestyle and its impact on Stress and Stress Management. We
therefore learned how to care for the body through exploring nutrition, understanding
the role of sleep and good exercise habits. We further studied the impact of caring
for the mind, heart and soul on stress by considering connecting to a higher power;
expressing creativity; socialisation and relaxation.

Finally, we worked together to discover useful, practical tools and tips for managing
life.

In the next unit, we will look at Macro Level Approaches to Stress Management. We
will therefore look at the following:

• Stress Management through health promotion

• Preventative Stress Management

• Wellness Programs.

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 References
Mills, H., Reiss, N. and Dombeck, M. (2008) Socialisation and Alturistic Acts
As Stress Relief. https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/socialisation-and-
alturistic-acts-as-stress-relief/

Pointdexter, O. (2015), Study: Creativity Can Reduce Stress – And Become

A Habit. http://reset.me/study/study-creativity-can-reduce-stress-and-
become-a-habit/

Young, C. and Koopsen, C. (2011). Spirituality, Health and Healing: An

Integrated Approach. Canada: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. LLC.

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