Chapter 3Stress Management

Lesson 1

• A Natural Part of Your Life

Stress

• Combination of a new or possibly threatening situation and your body’s natural response to the situation

Stressors

• Anything that causes stress

Distress

• Is the negative physical, mental, or emotional strain in response to a stressor

Positive Stress (eustress)

• A stress response that happens when winning, succeeding, and achieving

Stressor in Your Life

• Arguing with a brother or sister

• Getting glasses or braces

• Moving to a new home• Getting in trouble with a

teacher• Making a speech in front

of the class

Serious Stressors• Being pregnant and unmarried• Experiencing the death of a parent• Going through parents’divorce• Becoming an unmarried father• Becoming involved with drugs and alcohol• Experiencing the death of a brother or sister• Experiencing a change in your acceptance by

your peers• Experiencing the death of a close friend

Lesson 2

• How Stress Affects You

Stress Response

• Fight or flight is your body’s reaction to a stressor

Epinephrine

• Hormone that increases the stress level of sugar in your blood

Body’s reaction to short-term stress

• 1- Mouth may be dry

• 2- You may feel sick

• 3- Muscles may tighten up

• 4- You may feel like you have extra power

• 5- Vision and hearing may sharpen

Lasting effects of stress

• Physical fatigue

• Mental fatigue

Distressed Continuously

• 1- Difficulty sleeping or frequent headaches

• 2- Mental or emotional problems, or cry for no reason

• 3-Become bored, depressed, or frustrated

• 4-Feel tense, irritable, and overwhelmed• 5-Trouble concentration on schoolwork

and making decisions

Lesson 3

• Defense Mechanisms

Defense Mechanism• Is an automatic, short-term behavior to

cope with distress

Type of Defense Mechanisms

• 1- Rationalization-making excuses instead of admitting mistakes

• 2- Displacement-shifting negative feelings about one person to another

• 3-repression-blocking out unpleasant memories• 4-denial-ignoring reality or pretending that

something doesn’t exist• 5-projection-putting the blame for your problem

on someone or something else.

Lesson 4

• Managing Your Stress

Stress Management

• The ability to handle stress in healthy ways

Warning signs of physical stress

• Headaches • Indigestion • Muscle aches• Dry Mouth• Shortness of

breath• Fatigue• Insomnia• Teeth grinding• Pounding heart

Warning signs of mental and

emotional stress

• Nightmares• Depression• Anxiety• Mood swings• Frustration• Irritability• Worrying• Loneliness• Poor concentration

Reframing

• Changing the way you think about a stressor and changing your emotional response to the stressor

Managing distress

• Asserting yourself-Tell other people how you feel

• Plan ahead-Make time to do things you must do even if you don’t like to do them

• Laughing –is important. Make it a point to laugh every day

Emotions• Are the feelings that are produced as you respond to

something in your life• Anxiety -Love• Panic -Sadness• Anger -Sympathy• Fear -Happiness

Lesson 5

• Preventing Distress

Plan

• Is a detailed program, created ahead of time for doing something

Tips for preventing Distress

• 8 hours of sleep• Lot of fruits and vegetables• Set short and long term goals that

are realistic• Have fun• Believe that every problem has a

solution• Laugh every day• Learn something new each day• Treat others the way you want to be

treated

Time Management

• Is making appropriate choices about how to use your time

Prioritize

• Arranging items in the order of their importance

Chapter 3Stress Management