Stress in Students

 Stress: The human reaction to events in our environment  Wear and tear on the body

STRESS!!!

 Eustress: Good Stress – Getting into college – Performing Arts – Sports Competition

STRESS !!!

 Distress: Stress from bad sources – Difficult homel environment – Overwhelming sights and sounds – Threat of personal injury

FOUR TYPES OF STRESS

1. General Stress: – Everyone has this kind of stress – It resolves itself within a day or two – No intervention is necessarily required

FOUR TYPES OF STRESS

2. Cumulative Stress: – Stress builds up in your body – It becomes more difficult to alleviate your symptoms – You may have more serious physical symptoms – You may have more serious mental anguish

FOUR TYPES OF STRESS

3.

Acute Traumatic Stress: Acute stress disorder develops within one month after an individual experiences or sees an event involving a threat or actual death, serious injury, or physical violation to the individual or others, and responds to this event with strong feelings of fear, helplessness or horror.

– Critical Incident Stress – Produces considerable psychological distress – A normal reaction to abnormal events

FOUR TYPES OF STRESS

4. Post Traumatic Stress:  When in danger, it’s natural to feel afraid. This fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or flight” response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm. But in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.

– Severe stress produced by severe psychological trauma – Created by unresolved Critical Incident Stress – Produces lasting changes

General Adaptation Syndrome

•  Stage I – The Stress Response (Alarm Reaction) – The “fight, flight, or freeze” response which causes you to be ready for physical activity In times of danger, the human body responds with the “fight, flight, or freeze” response – in which the body’s systems most needed to get out of a jam quickly – the heart, lungs, and muscles are activated (as part of the autonomic nervous system).

Stress Response

• • • Increased flow of blood containing oxygen and sugar go to these organs, providing extra strength and energy A special hormone, adrenaline, is released to signal these systems to work at a faster pace However, it decreases the effectiveness of the immune system which makes you more susceptible to illness.

General Adaptation Syndrome

 Stage II – Stage of adaptation – If stress continues, the body adapts to the stressors it is being exposed to.

– If the stressor is starvation, the person experiences a reduced desire for physical activity to conserve energy, and the absorption of nutrients from any food intake is maximized.

General Adaptation Syndrome

 Stage III – Stage of Exhaustion – Stress persists for a long time.

– The body’s resistance may be reduced or collapse quickly.

– People who experience long-term stress may have heart attacks, severe infections, or chronic pain or illness.

Short Term Physical Stress Symptoms

– – – – – – – – – – – Dry mouth Cool skin Cold hands and feet Increased sweating Rapid breathing Faster heart rate Tense muscles Feelings of nausea Butterflies in your stomach Diarrhea A desire to urinate

Long Term Physical Stress Symptoms

– – – – – – Insomnia Change in Appetite Sexual disorders Aches and pains Frequent colds Feelings of intense and long-term tiredness – Prone to illness

BEHAVIORAL STRESS SYMPTOMS

 Yawning   Talking too fast Talking too loud  Fiddling  Twitching  Nail biting  Grinding teeth   Drumming fingers Pacing          Over reacting Emotional Defensive Irritable Irrational Defensive Hostile Critical Aggressive

BEHAVIOR STRESS SYMPTOMS

 These symptoms will have a negative affect on your performance – – – – – – – – By reducing your effectiveness Making you accident prone Causing you to be forgetful Causing you to be very negative You may neglect your appearance You may make poor judgments Causing you to make more mistakes Increasing your absenteeism

PERFORMANCE STRESS SYMPTOMS

 You may not make good decisions  Your fine motor skills are affected  You may no longer enjoy your work  Your attention span may be affected  You may have more negative thoughts  Your self confidence will suffer  You may have difficulty concentrating  All of your positive energy is consumed

HEALTHY LIVING TO CONQUER STRESS

 Examine your diet – intake – Lower your intake of refined sugars and carbohydrates – Lower your caffeine intake  Add to your diet – – Fruits Complex Carbohydrates – – Vitamins Water

HEALTHY LIVING

 Rest: – Get a minimum of seven hours of continuous rest

HEALTHY LIVING

 Exercise: – At least thirty minutes, five times a week – break a sweat, to release endorphins

HEALTHY LIVING

 Talk things out with someone you trust a family member or a good friend

HEALTHY LIVING

 Make an increased effort to organize your life  Ask for help  Delegate things when you need to

HEALTHY LIVING

 Learn to manage your anger  Anger affects your health  Anger causes you to over react to many situations

HEALTY LIVING

 We get angry often because someone did not do what we thought they should  Rethink the situation and learn to be more flexible

HEALTHY LIVING

 Fill your life with fun things to do!!!!

 Keep your sense of humor!!!!

 We call it : PLAY THERAPY

HEALTHY LIVING

 Take charge of your life.

 Act appropriately don’t simply react to stressful situations  Find balance in all that you do.

HEALTHY LIVING

  Too many people look for an easy answer to stress management by misusing Alcohol    Drugs Marijuana Medicines & Pills

HEALTHY LIVING

 We all need a lengthy list of things that will help us relax…..

 Reading, music, working out, etc.

HEALTHY LIVING

 Relaxing needs to be part of your daily routine.