HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

Stress Management and

Prevention

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Program Resource Guide

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Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide

By

Peter Vang

HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

30 Apr 2019

Table of ContentsU N I T 1 T H E N A T U R E O F S T R E S S

Information to Remember........................................................................4Assignment............................................................................................4-5Journal...................................................................................................5-6

U N I T 2 T H E P H Y S I O L O G Y O F S T R E S S

Information to Remember........................................................................7Assignment...............................................................................................8Journal...................................................................................................8-9

U N I T 3 P S Y C H O L O G Y O F S T R E S S

Information to Remember......................................................................10Assignment........................................................................................10-11Journal....................................................................................................11

U N I T 4 P E R S O N A L I T Y T R A I T S A N D T H E H U M A N S P I R I T U A L I T Y

Information to Remember......................................................................12Assignment.............................................................................................12Journal...............................................................................................13-14

U N I T 5 D E A L I N G W I T H S T R E S S : C O P I N G S T R A T E G I E S

Information to Remember......................................................................15Journal...............................................................................................15-16

U N I T 6 R E L A X A T I O N T E C H I Q U E S 1 : B R E A T H I N G , M E D I T A T I O N , A N D M E N T A L I M A G E R Y

Information to Remember......................................................................17Assignment........................................................................................17-18Journal...............................................................................................18-19

U N I T 7 N U T R I T I O N A N D S T R E S S

Information to Remember......................................................................20Journal...............................................................................................20-21

U N I T 8 P H Y S I C A L E X E R C I S E A N D A C T I V I T Y

Information to Remember......................................................................22Assignment.............................................................................................22Journal....................................................................................................23

U N I T 9 A P P L Y I N G S T R E S S : C R I T I C A L I S S U E S F O R M A N A G E M E N T A N D P R E V E N T I O N T O Y O U R P R O F E S S I O N A L L I F E

Information to Remember......................................................................24

A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M A T I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5

R E F E R E N C E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6

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Unit 1: The Nature of StressInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: There are three types of stress and they are eustress, distress, and neustress. Eustress is good stress that motivates the individual towards a healthier and better level of health or performance. On the other hand, distress is a negative interpretation of an event that is perceived to be a threat and promotes a feeling of fear, anger, or anxiety. Moreover, there are two types of distress and they are described as acute or chronic. Lastly, neustress is information that is perceived as unimportant or has no consequential effect. It is neither good or bad (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: The General Adaptation Syndrome is a term coined by Hans Selye, an Endocrinologist. He studied the physiological effects of chronic stress in rats during the fight-or-flight response and noted physiological adaptations with repeated exposures to stress. This syndrome consisted of three stages and they are the alarm reaction, stage of resistance, and stage of exhaustion. His research opened the door to the strong relationship between stress and disease and the mind-body-spirit (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Mindfulness is being aware of our body and our mind in the present moment without filters or judgements. It can significantly enhance our psychological and physical well-being. With some practice and time, we can learn to acknowledge difficult feelings and thoughts which can helps us experience deeper states of acceptance and peace (Stahl, et al., 2010).

Assignment:There are four interconnected components to our wellness paradigm and

they are physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being (Seaward, 2018). No single component is better than the other and each of them requires attention and nourishment to develop. However, each person is different and one person may focus majority of their attention towards their physical wellness while another person prefers to develop their mental well-being over their physical health. Practicing our own personal values can remind us that we are in charge and in control of our mental, physical, and emotional well-being especially when they are affected by stress. Stress cloud our train of thoughts and lead us in making explosive accusations, say words that we don’t mean, and make decisions that could hurt ourselves and negatively impact the relationships that we built

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with others around us. Our mental well-being is something we should always be conscious about so that we don’t sound ignorant, disrespect anyone, or create more stress on top of what is already there due to the lack of knowledge. Having knowledge and information helps us to be mentally prepared and can make us less stress. We have the power to control our physical well-being through physical activities, exercises, and eating a healthy diet. This can help the body to become more resilient and more prepared for stress. This component is important to our wellness and stress level because if we let people control our emotions, they can easily provoke negative effects on us creating a domino effect that can impair our emotional, mental, and physical wellness.

Journal:Complete the Journal Assignment entitled: “How Stressed Are You?”

Directions are found on pages 11 and 12 of the Mindfulness workbook. List the situation on the left. Use a rating scale of 1 through 10 for the start, midway, and end. You will use this Journal Assignment as a way of mapping your stress throughout the course. Keep it handy and refer back to it often.

Situation Start Midway

End

Physical Fitness Test is coming up in 4-6 weeks. I’m worried about not being in weight standards and not running a fast enough run time.

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Planning my trip to Bali and Singapore with two other co-workers.

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Weekly deadlines for school work. This is eustress for me because I am close to finishing my degree and I want to reach my goal as a Physical Therapist.

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A quarterly inspection of my Key Custodian collateral duty.

6 3 1

Monthly teleconference with a program manager.

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Balancing family, friends, work, gym, and myself during school. Spending enough time with each category to maintain positive relationships and/or outcomes.

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Meeting deadlines at work with short notice. My supervisor wants an evaluation write up within the next 3 days.

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Directly working with a negative person. I was assigned to work with this person whose moods are unpredictable and her attitude

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comes off as condescending.Looking for a university to applied to that has the right prerequisites for Physical Therapy and a Physical Therapy program.

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Hearing news that the recent Camp Fire burned the neighboring town down effecting my town causing my family to evacuate our home.

7 5 2

Peter's Mandala

Spiritual Physical Mental Emotional

(Seaward, 2018)

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Unit 2: The Physiology of StressInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Cortisol is a glucocorticoid released from the adrenal cortex that helps generate glucose, through the degradation of proteins (amino acids) during a process called gluconeogenesis in the liver. This energy production is to be used by the central nervous system (the brain) and skeletal muscles during physical exercise. This is the primary function of cortisol. On the other hand, cortisol is also involved in lipolysis, the breaking down of fatty acids for energy, causing an increase in cholesterol in the blood stream. This leads to artery plaque build-up, hypertension, and coronary heart disease. It has been shown that high level cortisol is linked to suppressed immune system by metabolizing the white blood cells. This can lead to illness and disease (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: There are three levels to the central nervous system and they are the Vegetative level, the Limbic System, and the Neocortical level. The Vegetative level is lowest level of the three and consist of the reticular formation and the brain stem. The Limbic System is the next level up and it is the emotional control center. It consists of the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the amygdala, and the pituitary gland, also known as the master endocrine gland. Each of these glands work together to maintain homeostasis within the body. The most sophisticated level is the Neocortical level where information is decoded as threats or nonthreats. It consists of the neocortex that allows analysis, imagination, creativity, intuition, logic, memory, and organization. Higher level overrides lower level of the brain therefore, our conscious thoughts can influence our emotional response (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: The Autonomic Nervous System consist of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic drive is associated with the fight-or-flight response. During the fight-or-flight response, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) are released into several organs tissues preparing the body for rapid metabolic change or physical movement. This energy expenditure is also known as the catabolic functioning. During the parasympathetic drive, acetylcholine (ACh), a neurological agent that decreases metabolic activity is released and helps the body to return to homeostasis. This energy conservation and relaxation is referred to as anabolic functioning, where cells are allowed to regenerate (Seaward, 2018).

Assignment:According to Psychology Today, neuroscience is a complicated

multidisciplinary field that focuses on the structure and the function of the human brain and the nervous system. This involves cellular and molecular biology,

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anatomy and physiology, human behaviors and cognition and several other disciplines. It can go as far as saying, “the place where psychology meets biology” (2019). Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change, heal and re-wire itself. Back in the 1960s, scientists thought that the brain was “immutable” and “unchangeable” (All Psychology Careers, 2019). This all later changed when studies conducted on rats showed that rats caged in larger cages with large social groups had heavier brain, more connections between synapses, and more neurotransmitter substances. This led researchers to investigate the ability of the brain to grow and change throughout one’s life cycle (All Psychology Careers, 2019). These two disciplines are important to the brain because understanding how the brain and the nervous system work can help researchers find ways to prevent or treat problems that affect the brain, nervous system, and immune system. Some of the common nervous system related disorders include Bronchial asthma, Tension headaches, Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and coronary heart disease (Seaward, 2018). Emotional stress has been shown to also suppress the immune system by changing the molecular structure of neuropeptides and decreasing the effectiveness of various key leukocytes. One common immune system-related disorder is the common cold and influenza. Stress does not discriminate and it appears to be a major factor in many prevalent diseases we see today. Advancing in neuroscience and how the brain changes and heals can help researchers pinpoint the connection between stress and diseases.

Journal Complete the Journal Assignment entitled, explore: How is stress or

anxiety affecting your life? Directions are found on pages 33 through 35 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of this Assignment, you will take the first step toward greater well-being and become aware of how stress is impacting your life. This should be a minimum of two full pages.

How is stress or anxiety about people affecting your life?I experience stress even with family and close friends. I love spending my

energy on myself but I feel like I cannot just close everyone out. I stress out about not putting enough effort into the relationships I have with my family and friends but I don’t feel entirely guilty because I enjoy my alone time. I stress a little bit because I don’t want to make anyone feel like it’s their fault I don’t want to be around them, at least for some of them.How is stress or anxiety about work affecting your life?

Stress at work sometimes makes me don’t want to go to work. It’s the endless, sometimes unexpected deadlines, the negative attitudes from some people, unsatisfied patients, critically ill patients, side taskers requested by the supervisors, etc. These stressors at work can mentally drain me and sometimes affect my mood, which can interfere with my physical health; tiredness and not exercising. Currently, I don’t feel bothered by them.How is stress or anxiety about the world affecting your life?

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I suppose I have anxiety about the world if I think about the all the dangerous things out there such as terrorists, predators, diseases, and all things unknown to me. Global warming, deforestation, ocean pollution, and world hunger are all overwhelming and out of my control but as long as I contribute back to the world, I wouldn’t be too stress about them. How is stress or anxiety about food and eating habits affecting your life?

One of the main stressors in my eating habits is that working in the health care environment, I want to be the “healthy” example for my family, friends, and especially my patients but I don’t always do it right and that is where I feel like I have failed myself. I often find myself eating whenever I am stress or anxious even if I’m not hungry. The more I eat the more I build more stress upon myself because I then become stressed about gaining too much weight, which can lead to heart conditions, joint issues, and overall negatively impact my holistic health. When it gets to the point that my clothes don’t fit me comfortably anymore, I become very self-conscious about my looks and often I would avoid going out as much as I can. Stress eating causes a whole domino effect that leads me to a deeper ditch and makes me avoid going to the gym, lowering my confidence, becoming less sociable, and sometimes causing me to eat even unhealthier.How is stress or anxiety about sleep and sleeplessness affecting your life?

I have slight anxiety when I am not getting enough sleep because I’m afraid I will be late to work or whatever event I’m supposed to attend the next day. I get anxious when I lack sleep especially if I work the next day because I don’t know how well I can function at work and I am afraid to cause any injuries to other people around me and to myself from sleep deprivation. Having anxiety about sleeplessness has helped me recognized that I need to rest my body and my brain so I can function with greater outputs.How is stress or anxiety about exercise or lack of physical activity affecting your life?

I feel anxious when I first started lifting weights with my friends. I didn’t want to slow them down at the gym because I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t comfortable lifting weights in front of all these strong guys and girls. Over time, I started to get comfortable lifting weights. However, I still wouldn’t go to the gym to lift weights by myself. Anxiety about exercise causes me to avoid doing weight lifting exercises and lacking physical activity makes me feel tense.Summary

While answering these questions, I noticed a common factor on what stress and anxiety do to me. That factor is that I bring new stress on top of the stress that already existed because I avoid tending to them. I have here is one stress leading right into another. As my stress stacks up, I become the unhealthiest version of me. However, I also realized that being stress and anxious is what helped me become aware of my unhealthy habits and how it is effecting my life. My body and mind is simply urging me to make changes.

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Unit 3: Psychology of StressInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Anger is a common survival emotion to all animals. This emotion usually is used to defend and protect themselves. It is also said to be the fight response of the fight-or-flight response during stress. However, humans are able to combine anger with conscious thoughts and create a “unique phenomenon.” Furthermore, researches stated that anger is within the normal human emotional range and any type of ventilation that produces catharsis is healthy. However, one should learn what type of anger-mismanagement they are. These four types of anger-mismanagement are: somatizers, self-punishers, exploders, and underhandlers. (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Uncontrolled stress or uncontrolled anger or fear can result in depression. This emotion is described by experts as “anger turned inward.” Interventions for depression may include reestablishing a balance between positive and negative feelings as well as psychotherapy, such as coping and relaxation techniques (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: There are six categories that the emotion fear falls under and they are: failure, rejection, the unknown, death, isolation, and the loss of self-dominance. According to Professor Brené Brown, shame is the foundation of fear. Shame is the “fear of disconnection” and through shame, we don’t engage in the things we want to do. When we fear failure, we forget to learn, be creative and be innovative. The opposite of shame is vulnerability where we make ourselves authentic and fear does not exist (Seaward, 2018).

Assignment:Stress to the Tibetans is merely a perspective of their mind. They believed

that their mind is the creator of health and sickness, in fact, it is the creator of all our problems (stress) (Hawter, 1995). They also believe that the mind can help the body to achieve health and happiness if all negative thoughts and behaviors are eliminated (1995). Psychological theories of mind and stress all have a balanced spiritual well-being as a common factor. Freud’s theory of ego and id, Gustave Jung and the Iceberg theory, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and her theory on Death of Unmet Expectations, Viktor Frankl’s search for meaning of life, Wayne Dyer’s guilt and worry theory, Leo Buscaglia’s lesson of self-love, Abraham Maslow’s self-actualization, and Martin Seligman’s optimism and art of being happy (Seaward, 2018).

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Fear is part of our survival emotions which helps us flee and hide from threats that are intimidating, overwhelming, or even fatal. It is often described as a state of anxiety. Later on, it was then believed that it can be a learned response. Ways to cope with fear is Freud’s approach through uncovering childhood experiences, behavior therapy that teaches coping and relaxation techniques to desensitize the stressor(s), and systematic desensitization and exposure desensitization by slowly introducing the stressor(s) to the individual (Seaward, 2018).

Technology compromised our face-to-face communication skills which can lead to anxiety and low self-esteem. Miscommunication can add additional stress to us. Simply practicing face-to-face communication skills such as those mentioned above can significantly decrease miscommunication.

Journal:Complete the Journal Assignment entitled: Five-Minute Mindful Breathing

and Bringing the Eight Attitudes of Mindfulness into Your Life. Directions are found on pages 45 and 46 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of this Assignment, you will begin to understand the importance of making them a part of your daily life. See what changes occur in relationships with yourself and others around you. This should be a minimum of one full page. Take some time to write about whatever you came up for you mentally, emotionally, and physically when doing this practice for the first time.

I followed the suggestions from the workbook and placed myself in a comfortable position. I decided to lay comfortably on my bed with all the lights turned off except for my bedside lamp. I closed my eyes and began to place my mind only on my breaths, letting myself breathe naturally without extending my inhalations or exhalations; no counting or figuring out the breaths. At first, I kept my focus on my breaths noticing how shallow they are but how natural they were. I also noticed that my chest and my belly would raise and drop together as I breath in and out of my nose. In a short period after, I drifted to thinking about work, and began to create a list of things I needed to accomplish or check off to lower my stress level. However, once I became aware that my mind was wandering off, I immediately brought my awareness back to my breaths. Quickly, my mind wandered off thinking about how mentally fatigue I’ve been for the last couple of days but I can tell that my body had a lot of energy. I assume that it could possibly be my anxiety building up about work. Nonetheless, I was surprised that I merely just acknowledged the facts and I did completely nothing but brought back my awareness to my breaths. Eventually near the end of the 5-minute exercise, I became tired and was falling asleep.

Throughout this mindful breathing exercise, I felt mentally tired more than anything. It’s probably due to the lack of sleep and stress at work. Emotionally, I felt quite neutral; I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t sad or happy. I wasn’t fully relaxed but I wasn’t tense either. I didn’t even feel like I was stress. Physically, I didn’t notice much but just the minor aching pain in my left knee

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and right shoulder from playing badminton earlier in the evening. And I wasn’t bother by them either. Summary

During the mindfulness breathing exercise, I noticed that my mind was wandering often. I was focused on my breaths, and then drifted off about work, found my way back to my breaths, then wandered off again thinking about how tired I was and end up losing my focus to sleep. Although my mind was racing, I merely acknowledged them probably because I was too tired to even give my judgements to my own thoughts. I wasn’t really in the present as I should be through this mindful breathing exercise but I think I was successful in that I didn’t provoke myself into feeling stress.

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human SpiritualityInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Although there are many theories about human spirituality, there are four common themes that seem to come up again in many of the theories. These common themes are four processes that help nurture our spiritual growth. They are centering (autumn), emptying (winter), grounding (spring), and connecting (summer) (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: It was found that there are three personality traits that collectively contribute to the hardy personality. These three traits include commitment, control, and challenge. People who possesses the hardy personality is said to be less likely to succumbed to stress. (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Stress is likely to be the catalyst for unhealthy behaviors such as drinking, smoking, binge eating, etc. Antecedent is a term to described the relapse of unhealthy behaviors triggered by perceived stress. Researchers suggested that it is best to change unhealthy and/or undesirable behaviors one at a time instead of all at once because it is less likely to fail. Several behavioral change theories include self-monitoring, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, modeling (Seaward, 2018)

Assignment:Self-esteem is a trait that is said to be the “bottom-line defense” against

stress, despite whatever personality type the individual is identified as. It is

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described as the “sense of underpinning self-values, self-acceptance, and self-love” (Seaward, 2018). Individual with low self-esteem is often found to be prone to stress. On the other hand, individuals who exhibits a high self-esteem can resolve stress and even become more stress resistant. Stress can be an encouraging force that can teach us a lesson that makes us a stronger person or it be a demoralizing force that can break us and negatively affect our internal and external relationships, our values, and even how we feel about our purpose in life. Our personality is thought to consist of three factors which are values, attitudes, and behaviors. These factors are quite interconnected but what makes them different from one another is how difficult it is to influence them. Prochaska’s Stages of Changes consist of six stages: pre-contemplation, contemplative, determination, action, maintenance, and relapse (Seaward, 2018).

Journal:Complete the Journal Assignment entitled: Explore: Identifying Emotions in

the Body. Directions are found on pages 74 through 77 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of this Assignment, practice taking a moment to mindfully tune in to your body and discover any physical sensations associated with strong emotions. This should be a minimum of three full pages.

FEAR: apprehension, anxiety, distress, edginess, jumpiness, nervousness, panic, tenseness, uneasiness, worry, fright, feeling overwhelmed. The words that are most familiar to me for fear are anxiety, distress, uneasiness, and worry. To be honest, I didn’t even think that these words are similar to fear. However, with these emotions, I notice my heart pounding, my breaths are shallow and fast, my hands and armpits become sweaty, and sometimes I feel a whirlpool is in my stomach. When I don’t take time to manage these emotions, my face breaks out, my body is on alert but my mind becomes restless, and overall I feel mentally and physically beaten. During these emotions, I also can’t think right and my mind is foggy.

CONFUSION: bewildered, uncertain, puzzled, mystified, perplexed, chaotic, foggy, or unaware. The words that are most familiar to me when I am confuse are uncertain, puzzled, unaware, and foggy. I can’t really pinpoint anything that alters me physically when I feel these emotions may because I have little experience with it or I was not aware of my physical symptoms during these emotions. However, I know that my mind just doesn’t know what to think because it would be racing around aimlessly trying to put together the pieces. Furthermore, I like to analyze things so I feel like I put myself into a mind trap.

ANGER: aggravation, agitation, annoyance, destructiveness, disgust, envy, frustration, irritation, grouchiness, grumpiness, rage. With anger, the emotions that is most familiar to me is annoyance and frustration. I noticed that for me, the feeling of annoyance leads to frustration. When I feel annoyed, I tend to walk away from the situation usually thinking to myself, “Why do I have to deal with

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this annoyance again?” or “I can’t deal with this right now.” Over exposure to the same annoyance will eventually make me frustrated. With these emotions, I often noticed a hot boiling sensation in my chest, quick breathing, and my pulse goes up. I may or may not tune out whomever or whatever that is making me feel this way. However, walking away helps alleviate the physical symptoms that comes with annoyance and frustration and protects me from having an emotional explosion that I might regret later.

SADNESS: alienation, anguish, despair, disappointment, gloom, grief, hopelessness, insecurity, loneliness, misery, unhappiness, rejection. The emotions that relate to me the most when I am sad are disappointment and insecurity. Disappointment is a fear I have with each project, each task, each assignment, each relationship with my family, friends, and co-workers. I don’t think it gets me as much if I didn’t meet my own goals and values. I do get disappointed at myself but I feel like I am also lenient on myself. What is devastating to me is hearing a person I respect tell me that they are disappointed in me. Physically, I recall feeling sluggish, not really wanting to do anything as my mind is pondering on what I could’ve done. I would often ruminate and continuously ask myself, “Why couldn’t I think of that before?” or “I should’ve done this instead of that.” Insecurity is another emotion that I experience most days. I negatively self-talk my way out of things I want to do like going to the beach or going to the gym or going to the store. Some examples that I am insecure about are my weight, my balding head, and how I present myself (my posture, my clothes). When I actually go out and I become aware of my insecurities, in that moment my face turns red, my body feels hot, my skin feels itchy, and I began to sweat similar to the symptoms of fear.

SHAME: guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, invalidation, regret, remorse, mortification. Shame is an emotion that I feel I tried to avoid and that’s probably the main reason why I have little experience with this emotion. But, what is most familiar to me is embarrassment. In the moment of embarrassment, my face turns red, my body feels hot, my skin feels itchy, and I began to sweat. My mind draws blank and I stutter my words or I speak too fast and my words get jumbled together and I probably would not remember what I said.

LOVE: affection, arousal, attraction, caring, compassion, desire, fondness, infatuation, kindness, liking, longing, warmth, sympathy, sentimentality. Although I don’t think that I am a very affectionate person, I find that caring, kindness, attraction, fondness, compassion, warmth, and desire are most familiar to me. Whenever I feel these types of emotions, I feel warmth in my chest but nothing near the burning feeling of anger. My heart beats stay normal, I am calm and for some reason, I always image a soft, light cloud. I think because my body becomes relaxed and my spirit lightens up. I think I even become a little shy to where I blush. Often I would smile and I could not stop smiling.

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JOY: amusement, bliss, contentment, eagerness, elation, enjoyment, enthusiasm, excitement, exhilaration, hope, optimism, pleasure, satisfaction. Words associated with joy that I am most familiar with are excitement, hope, optimism, eagerness, and contentment. These emotions give me the same kind of warmth in my chest just like with love. I find that my entire body perks up with these emotions and they give me some sort of energy that gives me confidence. I noticed that I become more talkative, I can think about what I want to say faster, I reach out to help other people more, and I become more open about myself.

SummaryBecause our emotions are very influential to our mind and body, it is helpful to practice being mindful when we feel the different emotions. As we become aware about how each emotion can affect our mind and body, we learn to flow with them and learn where tension is stored in the body. I realized that some emotions make my body feels like it just finished sprinting without actually being physically in motion. Some fogs up the mind making it hard to think properly. While feeling other emotions give me energy to sprint an entire lap without being exhausted and actually makes me want to do more. Some feelings even allow me to think faster and more precise. Furthermore, I noticed that I need to be more mindful of the effects I place my mind and body in for each emotion.

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies Information to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Laughter have both short-term and long-term effects on the body’s major physiological systems. In the short term, laughter goes into the sympathetic drive (stress response), causing a slight increase in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and ventilations. However, this is quickly followed by a significant decrease in these parameters below previous resting levels. The overall effect is a profound level of homeostasis, much like that seen when progressive muscular relaxation is practiced (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Prochaska’s Stages of Changes consist of six stages. These stages are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse. At one time in our lives

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we go through these stages of change to help improve our health or our relationships. (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Reframing is a concept suggested by Borysenko. It is to look at the same situation from a new reference or vantage point and finding some good aspect in it. Tools such as humor, positive affirmation, and creativity can help us with initiating this concept. Furthermore, our unconscious mind does not acknowledge negative thoughts therefore, thinking positively can help the unconscious and conscious mind to work together. (Seaward, 2018).

Journal:Choose from either formal practice: Walking Meditation or Mindful Self-Inquiry for Stress and Anxiety. Directions are found on either pages 58 through 60 or 119 through 121 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of either practice, take a moment to reflect on whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally, and physically. This should be a minimum of two full pages.

Take some time to write about whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally and physically when doing this practice for the first time.

I chose to do practice the mindful self-inquiry for stress and anxiety. As I was performing this practice, I was able to pin point the cause of my current anxiety. Before this practice, consciously, I don’t feel anxious or stress because I tend to let whatever situation play out as I watch and control what I can to minimize my stress. However, through this practice I find my body alert and it feels like it’s on guard. I don’t feel my heart racing or my hands sweating but it seems like my body is preparing to react. My upper and lower back had some tension, a little bit sore but I acknowledged it and let it be. Thoughts also flooded my mind during this practice when I identified this emotion. I had thoughts one after another trying to figure out the root of my anxiety; Was it because of the physical readiness test in a couple of days and I feel under prepared? Was it because I was told I will be covering down as a supervisor and I’m not prepared for that? Was it because of school? I need to plan for this and this and write a check-list for that and so forth. So many thoughts came up that I had to catch myself from getting into a mind trap. I went back to focusing on my breaths several times to keep myself calm and then let my thoughts follow out again. Each time a thought form, I just tell myself, “That’s alright and I’m okay with that.” Summary

Practicing mindful inquiry is not easy for the first time. I find myself trying to fight my thoughts and analyze them while I should’ve acknowledged them and let them flow freely without any judgment. However, I feel that it does allow me to explore deeper into what really causes me to feel these emotions. At the very least, it brought awareness to the anxiety that I consciously deny and it did help me pinpoint some of my stressors. What I would like to improve on is to allow my thoughts to flow more freely without judging or analyzing them. I believe that if I can get better in this mindful inquiry, I can learn to manage my emotions which could positively affect my physical and mental health.

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Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing, Meditation, and Mental Imagery Information to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Meditation produces an altered state of consciousness. In the altered state, the mind typically shifts from left-brain thinking to right-brain thinking, which allows the brain to be more receptive and more aware. Several characteristics indicates the occurrence of the brain shifting from left to right during meditation. This includes time distortion, ineffability, present-centeredness, perception distortion, enhanced receptivity, and self-transcendence (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Unaware of holding your breath can put stress onto the nervous system which causes the body to produce more epinephrine. Epinephrine can cause your resting heart rate and your blood pressure to increase. This unawareness of holding your breath is called “anxiety breathing” (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Mental imagery can be a helpful complementary tool for managing chronic pain and stress. It is the ability of the unconscious mind to generate images that have a calming and healing effect on the body. Furthermore, it is divided into three types: peaceful natural scenes, behavioral changes, and internal body images (Seaward, 2018).

Assignment:Diaphragmatic breathing is also called belly breathing or abdominal

breathing (Jewell, 2018). During this breathing exercise, the individual inhales through the nostrils while he or she should feel the abdomen expand without the chest rising too much. This breathing technique it thought to be an effective relaxation technique because when breathing with our abdomen, we allow the pressure and the muscle contractions of the thoracic cavity to decrease, permitting the body to enter a parasympathetic drive that overrides the sympathetic drive. When assuming a comfortable position, it is suggested to either sit or lie down on your back with eyes closed (Seaward, 2018). Meditations have shown remarkable benefits to the mind and body. Psychologically, practicing meditation have been shown to calm one’s mental state.

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Physiologically, studies have shown that meditation reduces the release and responsivity of norepinephrine in the nervous system, which is released during the sympathetic drive. Three ways that imagery and visualization can be useful for relaxation can include calming the mind, accomplishing a goal, or using them in conjunction with relaxation techniques as a healing modality.

Journal:Complete the Journal Assignment entitled: Explore: Is Your Body-Mind Happy? Directions are found on pages 151 through 153 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of this Assignment, practice identifying unkind messages you send to yourself and turn it around with positive affirmations. This should be a minimum of two full pages. Mindful of how you interact with yourself?

I believe that I’m an analyzer. I like to think about things and try to figure out a meaning or a logic behind it. With that being said, I talk to myself a lot in my head and sometimes I do verbalize my conversation to help let go of some of the emotions that gets built up. In a situation, I’m always thinking, “What should I do first? Should I do this first and that later? Is that the correct way or safest and faster way to do it? Do I need help? Who can help me? Do I need this right now?” At times, I go on a debate with myself trying to resolve simple things and sometimes I get frustrated going back and forth with myself that I just completely omit my thoughts and do what I feel like doing. Not listening to my thoughts is probably the one main reason I would call myself an idiot, or I would tell myself, “What were you thinking?!”

When I look into the mirror and I see my droopy body, that’s when I do all the negative name callings. All I see is a droopy chest, flimsy arms, floppy belly, the double chin. I would call myself fat or Mr. Jiggles and laugh about it. I often feel disappointed about myself for letting myself get to this and I would feel a sink in my chest. I try to avoid pictures because I look fat and I feel very self-conscious whenever I go out. However, I’ve been practicing optimism on and off and there were a handful of times that when I look at myself in the mirror, I feel motivated to change and improve myself. Sometimes I verbalize it out loud, “You’re getting there. Just keep it up.” I’m not where I would like myself to be which often gets me going back and forth with positive and negative comments.Seeds of suffering?

Being mindful of how I interact with myself and why I would send some unkind messages to myself had help me figure the seed to my suffering. I believe all of this comes to embarrassment. I think and analyze so much so that I can execute a task without embarrassing or making a fool out of myself. I don’t want to be ridicule for being fat or being a fool and I don’t want be an example of what not to do. It’s a fear to be an embarrassment and I’ve been stressed from it for a long time. Sometimes I think to myself that if I didn’t care about being an embarrassment like being fat or making a fool out of myself, where would I be at

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in my life? Would I have been more outgoing? Would I have learned more in my classes? Would I have been more confident? These questions could go on and on.

When I reflected on this question, my mind automatically takes me back to one childhood event when I was 9 or 10 years old and this could possibly be the root of it. I remember playing tag with my cousins. I was it, and I was it for a long time. I was determined to tag one particular cousin because he wasn’t nice to me. I spotted him afar and I chased after him as fast as I could. I was closing the gap between us, reaching out with my finger tips to tag him but he was too fast for me. He led me to a slippery muddy path and just when my determination became stronger, I ran so fast after him that I slipped on the muddy path falling forward on to my chest. I just remembered him pointing down at me and laughed just like it was in a bullying movie. I remember feeling frustrated and embarrassed at the time because I tried my best and I slipped and fell into the mud. I never was able to tag him afterwards because I think I quit the game feeling embarrassed and frustrated. Day-to-day life feelings of resentment?

I’ve been practicing optimism on and off depending on how I feel. Days when I’m on the couch all day and I haven’t done any physical activity, I feel negative. Sometimes when I stay in for the entire weekend, I feel like I lose all my social skills and I get awkward around people because I absolutely have no idea what’s going on outside of my door. Other days when I go lift weights, play badminton, run/jog, hang out with some close friends, I feel great about myself and motivated to socialize, work out more, and eat healthier. I don’t think I have day-to-day life feelings of resentment and I am thankful that I don’t constantly have that sourness in my life. Days when I do have feelings of resentment such as, “What am I doing with my life?” or “Why are am I so fat?” makes me feel depress and lost. These emotions actually help me rethink things over and with optimism, a new mindset, and some behavioral changes, I bounce right back.Reflection on writing?

To answer the question, “Is your body-mind happy?” In all honesty, I would say no but it is in progress. Some days I work really hard to reach my goals and I feel accomplished and I feel one step closer to where I want to be. This makes me happy about myself. However, I relapse a lot and I have to constantly bring myself back and as long as I can continue to do that and not let myself drown in my own unkind messages, then I know for sure that I will get to where I want to be.

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Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress Information to Remember:

Key Learning Point: The relationship between nutrition, stress, and the immune system is best illustrated with four dominos. The first domino represents the stress that depletes the nutrients in our body. The second domino represents the current American lifestyle which does not promote a good eating habit. The third domino represents food that can increase the sympathetic drive (stress response). These foods include caffeine, processed flour, processed sugar, salt and excessive alcohol. The last domino represents all the processed food many of which contains residue of herbicide, pesticide, and synthetic or petroleum-based fertilizer. They are toxic to the body’s immune system, compromising one’s health (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Spiritual nutrition derives from the Eastern culture and under the Ayurvedic principles from India, it suggested that people should consume food (fruits and vegetables) that correspond to the colors of the energy centers. There are seven energy centers that are associated with a color: red (base of spine), orange (navel), yellow (spleen), green (heart), aqua-blue (throat), indigo blue (forehead), and violet (crown). It is said that if we eat the food with the specific color frequency, it can help with the function of various organs (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Chronic stress depletes certain minerals and vitamins in the body. Some of the minerals that are greatly affected under chronic stress include magnesium, chromium, copper, iron, and zinc. Additionally, vitamins such as A, C, E, and B complex are affected as well. The result of this impact decreases the integrity of the immune system (Seaward, 2018).

Journal:Choose from either formal practice: Sitting Meditation or Mindful Lying Yoga. Directions are found on either pages 87 through 89 or 91 through 107 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of either practice, describe your formal practice and take a moment to reflect on whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally, and physically and explain. This should be a minimum of two full pages.

In the previous meditation sessions, I’ve been practicing mindful lying yoga which I learned that I often wandered deep into my thoughts or I doze off into sleep. For this meditation session, I decided to switch it up and so I choose to practice the sitting meditation. Instead of sitting in a chair, I was in the lotus pose

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on the carpet with my back against my bed. I was comfortable in this position at the beginning of the meditation.

Right before this meditation, I made a phone call to inquire an answer that I’ve been hoping to find out for the last couple of days. Unfortunately, the person over the phone had told me something opposite of what I wanted to hear. The answer I received made me upset and a little angry and it was not at the person or at myself, but at the answer I got. Immediately, I can feel my chest and my stomach burning. Needless to say, I started this meditation angry and upset.

As I started my practice, I couldn’t focus and I knew right away that my mind was going to wander off trying to analyze and find an answer to this. However, I was being mindful of my emotions and my thoughts and I knew I just needed to focus on my breaths. I followed the suggestion of the meditation and performed a couple belly breaths and brought my attention to the rise and falls of my belly. This immediately cleared my thoughts and I then was able to continue onto sensing tension and tightness in my body.

In the sitting position, I still feel the burning sensation in my chest from being angry but the burning in my stomach had subsided. I also noticed that my shoulders are rolled forward causing some discomfort in my upper and lower back to which I readjusted my pose and rolled my shoulders back and down. My body relaxed a little bit but I still had those discomfort. When the meditation suggested to give it space, something clicked in my mind telling me this emotion and these discomforts are only temporary and with time they will diminish.

I started to calm down and followed on to the next step of the meditation. In the next step, it suggested to bring awareness to my hearing. I sat on the carpet and remained silent to hear the sounds bouncing around me. I had my fan on so I can hear the mechanics of the fan running in a constant sound wave. At times the sound waves actually sound like it moves in a wave. At the same time, I can hear the white noise surrounding my room. It was a constant high pitch sound that sounded far away or maybe it was just quiet. On top of all that, I could hear people talking outside of my room in which I simply just acknowledged them as noises.

At this time, I felt less angry already. The burning sensation in my chest had already disappeared and I wasn’t paying attention to my emotions and angry thoughts. But as the meditation prompt me to bring awareness to back to thoughts and emotions, I thought about it again. This time my body didn’t react to it. The meditation suggested, “Simply realize that even this awareness is a way of returning to the present moment. Let your awareness recognize that all of these mental states are fleeting and changing, once again revealing impermanence.” To this suggestion, a question came up. I asked myself, “what is present moment? What do I focus on in the present moment?” (Stahl, et al., 2010). To my realization, I simply just needed to focus on my position and my breaths and that is the present moment. I don’t need to worry about tomorrow or about yesterday.

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At the end of this meditation, it reminded me to let my emotions, my thoughts, and the sensations in my body flow. It reminded me to be aware of them that they are not permanent and that we don’t need to be fully indulged in them. If we give them space, they will eventually diminish. From start to finish, my mind and my body completely did a 180 turn over. I went from being angry and upset to calm and hopeful.

Unit 8: Physical Exercise and ActivityInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Yoga and T’ai Chi Ch’uan both work in their own theoretical ways that promote physical and psychological health and ultimate can help reduce stress. What is important for me is that these relaxation techniques are egoless exercises. It should be reminded that even though many people have changed the practice, especially yoga, and made it seem more egotistic, techniques like these can be practiced by anyone and at any level of fitness that allows them to. One should not judge or compare oneself to another and as well as judge others during these practices. (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: It was thought that stress increases the production of cortisol, which then promotes the production of the chemical neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the brain. This chemical is said to be responsible for making people crave for carbohydrate-rich food, specifically sweets This chemical level is normally high during the morning, hence eating a well-balanced breakfast is believed to maintain its normal level (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Many people drink caffeine, especially coffee, in order to go on with their stressful day. Because caffeine appears to be in many people’s diet, it is good to remember some facts about it. Caffeine is a diuretic that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. What causes this stimulation on the sympathetic nervous system is the chemical called methylated xanthine. This chemical heightens the state of arousal and triggers the release of several stress hormones. This alertness makes the individual more susceptible to stress (Seaward, 2018).

Assignment:The goal of this wellness program is to help reduce the stress levels for the

employees of this particular company through the use of mind-body exercises. These mind-body exercises are fully paid for through the employer, low in the

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total budget, require minimal equipment, and are made to be flexible and easily accessible to the employees. When employees are able to learn and manage their stress levels through these exercises, it can greatly benefit their overall health and positively impact their lives and the employer.

Journal:Complete the Journal Assignment entitled: Explore: Creating Connection. Directions are found on pages 161 through 163 of the Mindfulness workbook. Upon completion of this Assignment, practice developing these qualities in building stronger and healthier relationships. This should be a minimum of one full page.

OPENNESS: When interacting with anyone, I like to stay open minded and I think mainly because I don’t want to get into a heated conversation. That’s just unnecessary energy wasted. More than often, I would listen to them and acknowledge the person’s perspective and in my head I would say, “Okay. That’s understandable. I can see that or I can see why.” I think this helps me to be more engaged in the conversation without having my perspective clouding my thoughts.

EMPATHY: I struggle with empathy. I put myself in the other person’s position and yet I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel sometimes. Most times I pretend I know how they feel but my actions and my words don’t match with what I am trying to feel like them. I think because I internalized a lot of my emotions and when I’m supposed to empathize I really don’t know how to react or if I do, I only let out a little of the emotions. However, I do still respect the other person’s emotions.

COMPASSION: As I imagine myself interacting with someone I care while focusing on being compassion, I find it a bit difficult to summon up that sorrow and pain that the person holds. Oddly, it was easier to show compassion when imaging myself interacting with someone random. Compassion is something I wish to practice and work on it more.

LOVING-KINDNESS: I was able to practice this quality recently when one of my close friends had a fallout in a 4-years relationship. I wanted to let him know that he’s not alone in this situation and I cared about him. And even though we are not close to each other, I told him I’ll be available for him if he needed anything. This felt a little out of my comfort zone because I don’t normally do it but I feel that it really brought our relationship closer.

SYMPATHETIC JOY: I remembered when some of my friends advanced to the next pay grade, I felt so much joy for them that I almost cried out of happiness. I was just so happy for their success even when I did not advance that cycle.

EQUANIMITY: I think I do possess equanimity because I feel I know what emotions I need to react with when interacting with love ones or other people.

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The problem for me is that I don’t really know how or I’m afraid to show those emotions freely. Summary

All in all, I feel that I have a high wall out of fear of judgement such as, “Oh, you’re too emotional” or “You’re a man, you need to show less emotion because it makes you too soft. A man should be stern.” However, I’ve also learned to become less fearful of judgements as I slowly open up my emotions to close friends and family. I believe that being aware of this wall of fear can help me bring it down sooner so that I can create a more meaningful relationship with anyone around me.

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for Management and Prevention to your Professional LifeInformation to Remember:

Key Learning Point: Hobbies can help reduce stress. They are healthy activities that help individuals temporarily take their mind off of problems. These leisure activities should bring them pleasure when indulged in them. Furthermore, hobbies can boost self-esteem and give the person a sense of control in their life. (Seaward, 2018).

Key Learning Point: Social support groups bring a feeling of connectedness and belongingness. Several theories suggested that they are considered an aid in the coping process. These theories include the buffer theory, compensation theory, direct-effect theory, and cognitive-dissonance. The buffer theory suggestion that social support creates a buffer against stress by lessening the stress impact. The compensation theory states that social support acts as a compensation for those at an emotional loss due to stress and it can bring connectedness. The direct-effect theory suggested that positive social contacts are pleasing to the ego. Lastly, the cognitive-dissonance states that when an individual is engaged with social groups who has similar values and attitudes can promote a positive feeling that far exceeds the negative feeling experienced by only the individual. (Seaward, 2018).

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Key Learning Point: Forgiveness is a coping technique that may come hard for someone because most people think of condonement, absolution, and self-sacrifice, which, may create a feeling of victimization. When we forgive, we shift our attitudes from have toxic thoughts and grudges to healing our self-esteem. It is a process where we have to learn to love ourselves and others including those that have violated us (Seaward, 2018).

Additional Information A book by Gunarantana, Mindfulness in Plain English, is an easy read for people that wishes

to start the practice of mindfulness without access to a teacher (2015).

Myers-Briggs personality type test identifies four components which are how we get our energy (extrovert or introvert), the way we take in information (sensing or intuition), how we make decisions (thinking or feeling), and our attitude toward the external world (judgmental or perceptive) (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2019). Understanding our personality type can help us understand how we deal with stress or provide better help to others that need help dealing with stress.

A Ted Talk that introduces a different and more positive perspective about stress (Ted Talks, 2015)

An article found on Psychology today by Dr. Melanie Greenberg. She talks about the psychology and biology of stressed-related overeating and weight gain (2013).

“How to Prevent Stress and Weight Gain” by Lisa @8Fit provides tips to prevent stress-related weight gain such as nutrition, mindfulness, exercise, and sleep.

The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention provides healthy ways to cope with stress. The site also provided tips for populations such as parents, teens, and school personnel (2019).

The Help Guide.org provides a summary of what stress is and listed some signs, symptoms, and causes of stress. It important to recognize them so that we can treat it before it becomes a health issue (2019).

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References

All Psychology Careers. (2019). What is Neuroplasticity? Retrieved from

https://www.allpsychologycareers.com/topics/neuroplasticity.html .

Center for Diseases Control and Prevention. (2019). Coping with Stress. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/copingwith-stresstips.html

Greenberg, M. (2013). Why We Gain Weight When We’re Stressed – And How Not to. Retrieved

from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201308/why-we-

gain-weight-when-we-re-stressed-and-how-not

Gunaratana, B. H. (2015). Mindfulness in Plain English. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications

Hawter. V. P. (1995). Healing: A Tibetan Buddhist Perspective. Retrieved from

http://www.buddhanet.net/tib_heal.htm.

Jewell, T. (2018). What is Diaphragmatic Breathing? Retrieved from

https://www.healthline.com/health/diaphragmatic-breathing.

Lisa @8Fit. (n.d.). How to Prevent Stress and Weight Gain. Retrieved from

https://8fit.com/lifestyle/how-to-prevent-stress-and-weight-gain/

NERIS Analytics Limited (2019). 16 Personalities. Retrieved from

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

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Psychology Today. (2019). Neuroscience. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/neuroscience

Seaward, B. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (9th ed.).

Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Segal, J., Smith, M., Segal, R., and Robinson, L. (2019). Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes.

Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-signs-and-

causes.htm

Stahl, B. & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New

Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Ted Talks. (2015). How to make stress your friend. Retrieved from

https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend

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