Health & Stress

Ms.Sadia Aziz Ansari

What is Stress?

Stress is a nonspecific response:

• to any demand made upon us
• to a real or imagined threat, event

or change
 Threats, demands, events or change
are called Stressors.
 Stressors can be internal (thoughts,
beliefs, attitudes or external (loss,
tragedy, change)
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 Meeting overly ambitious deadline (Doing project)
 Too much to do and too little time (Exams)
 Stuck in rush hour traffic (hurry to reach office
or home)
 Troubling thoughts about the future( what is
going to happen)
 Not getting enough sleep etc..

How you think about a challenge determines

whether you will experience positive or negative
stress.
Nature of Stress
 Positive
Not all stress is bad, it can be viewed as
‘stimulation to growth and development…it is
challenge and variety, it is the Spice of life’

(Hans Selye)

 Everyday
the only person without stress is dead…we
all suffer traffic jams, market , queues,
arguments with people

 Negative
exists where there is a perceived imbalance
between demands and our ability to meet
these demands
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 Eustress or positive stress occurs when your
level of stress is high enough to motivate you to
move into action to get things accomplished.
 Eustress brings inspiration we need to attain
goals.
 e.g. An athlete will experience the strength that
comes form eustress right before they play a big
game or enter a big competition. Because of the
eustress, they immediately receive the strength
that they need to perform.
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 Negatively perceived event or trigger that
promotes upset, suffering, illness; at the
extreme it can lead to psychosis, even death
 Distress is one of the negative types of stress.
This is one of the types of stress that the mind
and body undergoes when the normal routine
is constantly adjusted and altered.
 Reason: mind is not comfortable with changed
routine, and wants familiarity of routine back.
 There are actually two types of distress: acute
stress and chronic stress.
Types of Distress
Acute Stress
Stress that comes immediately
with a change of routine.
It is an intense type of stress,
but it passes quickly.
Acute stress is the body's way
of getting a person to stand up
and take inventory of what is
going on, to make sure that
everything is OK
Illness,Kid in trouble, Lose
wallet, In-laws coming etc..
Chronic Stress
 Chronic stress will
occur if there is
 a ongoing, long lasting,
unpleasant events for
week after week.
 Chronic stress affects
the body for a long
period of time.
 Job loss, Divorce, Loved
one died
Sources of Stress or Types of Stressors
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1. Natural disaster: unpredictable, large-scale
events e.g., war, earthquake
2. life events that require
Life Changes:
some adjustment in behavior or
lifestyle
e.g., death, marriage, divorce, loss of job
make person more vulnerable to disease
3. Daily Hassles: annoying events in everyday life
e.g., rush hour traffic, classmates, cumulative effect
on health
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4. Social & environmental sources
Social conditions that promote stress. e.g.,
poverty, racism, crime, culture clashes lead to
stress e.g., refugees, immigrants
5. Chronic Stress is an ongoing, long lasting,
unpleasant events.
6. Frustration is an unpleasant tension
resulting from a blocked goal.
 Conflicts:

Conflicts occurs when you are making choices between

available two options. It’s a pull between two opposing
desires or goals
Approach-approach conflict
 choice between 2 appealing outcomes
 easy to resolve, low stress
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
 choice between 2 unappealing outcomes
 more stressful than approach-approach
Approach-avoidance conflict
 one goal with appealing & unappealing aspects
 most stressful type of conflict
 often result ambivalence & indecisiveness
Approach-approach
 the individual is faced with the necessity of making
a choice between two (or more) desirable goals.
 Since both goals are desirable, this is the least
stressful situation. "Shall I fly or take a boat to
Europe?" might be easily resolved if both means of
travel are seen as pleasurable.
 Such situations produce a state of unstable
equilibrium. As soon as one goal is approached, its
desirability increases and completely dominates,
thereby making the choice easy. The choice
becomes easier the closer one moves toward either
goal.
Avoidance-avoidance
 An individual is faced with two goals, both of
which are negative, or repellent. He is "between
the rock and the hard place." In that very
position, for example, is the child who is faced
with "Either you do your homework or you go to
bed without dinner.“
 Since the equilibrium is a stable one, the child
is likely to remain balanced between the two
negatives as long as possible. The nearer the
individual comes to a goal he wishes to avoid (a
repelling one), the stronger is his tendency to
avoid it.
 Approach-avoidance
 An individual is both attracted and repelled by the same goal.
The same goal has qualities that make the individual want to
approach it and other qualities that make him want to avoid it.
 E.g. a hesitant man who wishes to propose to his girl friend
fears rejection (the quality he wishes to avoid) and hopes for
acceptance (the quality he wishes to approach). Hence he is in
conflict about a single goal. If you are tempted to eat a certain
food but know from experience that it gives you indigestion,
you experience an approach- avoidance conflict.
 The approach-avoidance conflict situation is a stable
equilibrium. As the individual nears the goal , the strength of
avoidance increases more rapidly than that of approach,
pushing him from the goal ; at this point the strength of
approach is higher than the avoidance tendency. In this
manner the person is brought back to the original point of
equilibrium .
How the individual
responds to the
stressor will depend
on their personality,
their perceptions, and
their past experience.
What Makes an Event Stressful?

 Intensity: negative events more stressful

than positive events.
 Controllability: events that are uncontrollable
and Unpredictable are more stressful Than
controllable, predictable events.
 Personality attribute: people with high self-
esteem experience less stress than with low
self-esteem
 Overloaded people are more stressed than are
people with fewer tasks to perform.
Stress & Coping
Explanatory Personality style
 Optimism
 use external, unstable, & specific
explanations for negative events
 Pessimism
 use internal, stable, & global explanations
for negative events
Type A vs. type B personality
 Type A
 time urgency
 general hostility
 intense ambition and competitiveness
 associated with heart disease
 Type B
 more easygoing
 not associated with heart disease
Type A Behavior Patterns
 Intense drive; ambition; Need for achievement
 Time urgent; competitive; need to control
 Aggressive; hostile
 Multitasking
 Talks fast, walks fast, finishes others’ sentences
 More likely to be a heavy smoker or Red Bull
User
 Seldom out sick
 May be difficult to get along with
 Little time for exercising or socializing
 Hates vacations
 Accepts & sticks to difficult goals
 What are the Signs of Stress?
Physiological Emotional Behavioral
Pounding heart Irritability Sleeping more
Rapid breathing Nervous, edgy Sleeping less
Sweaty palms Lack of patience Eating more
Cold hand &feet Crying Eating less
Lack of energy Losing temper Angry outbursts
Headaches Worrying Withdrawing from
Muscle tension Emotional sensitivity others
Sleep difficulties Memory lapse
Stomach Lack of concentration
disturbances Increase in careless errors
Stress & Coping
What is coping?
 A coping skill is a behavioral tool which may
be used by individuals to overcome or reduce
stress caused by underlying condition
 Coping implied to restore psychological
imbalance certain stress has resulted in
 It is to minimize perceived threat & negativity
 Lazarus defines two ways to coping
Problem-focused
 Problem-focused or approach coping : when
efforts are directed at solving or managing
 the problem that is causing distress. It includes
strategies for gathering information, making
decisions, planning, and resolving conflicts.
This type of coping effort is usually directed at
acquiring resources to help deal with the
underlying problem and includes instrumental,
situation specific, and task-oriented actions.
Emotion-focused Coping
 Emotion-focused or avoidant coping is
coping that is directed at managing or
reducing emotional
 distress, which includes cognitive strategies
such as looking on the bright side, or
behavioral
 strategies such as seeking emotional
support, having a drink, or using drugs.
 Social Support, diversion, smoking or any
other habit etc.
Quick Tips of Coping with stress
 Do something that relaxes you such as: deep and slow breathing,
stretching exercises, yoga, a massage, meditation, listening to music,
reading.
 Get a hobby or do something you enjoy.
 Learn to accept things that you cannot change.
 Think positive.
 Set limits. Learn to say no. Take one thing at a time.
 Get 7-6 hours of sleep each night.
 Eat a healthy diet that includes fruits, vegetables, protein and whole
grains.
 Limit caffeine and sugar and other stimulants.
 Exercise regularly. Exercise will help relax tense muscles, improve your
mood and help you sleep better.
 Talk to your family and friends about your problems.
 Do not deal with stress in unhealthy ways such as eating too much,
not eating enough, using tobacco products, drinking alcohol or using
drugs.