SlMIIUtrSfOcU • 145635769
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How to decrease it?
TO
What causes it?
What is it?
Is it all negative?
How does it affect me?
Symptoms are?
Stress is not all bad.
Even though stress makes us feel uncomfortable, it's not always a bad thing.
Stress helps you to deal with life's challenges, to give your best
performance, and to meet a tough situation with focus. A little stress keeps
us alert and helps us work harder.'
Ages ago, when people had to survive in the jungle, the emergency nervous
system was a great thing to have. Imagine your great, great, great ancestors,
Sam and Zelda, eating some berries and soaking up the sun. Suddenly they
saw a tiger and they knew they had to run! Hormones gave them the huge
burst of energy that they needed to escape.
How did their bodies react? First, Sarri and Zelda got a sinking feeling in
their stomachs as the blood in their bellies quickly went to their legs so they
could run fast. Then, when they jumped to their feet, their hearts beat faster
to pump more blood. As they ran from the tiger, they breathed faster to get
more air. Their sweat cooled them as they ran. Their pupils became bigger
so they could see in the dark, in case they needed to jump over a log while
running away. They didn't think about anything but running because they
weren't supposed to stop and figure out a friendly way to talkto the tiger.
Sam and Zelda would never have survived without the stress reaction, but
stress helps us do more than run from tigers. It keeps us alert and prepared.
(You can be sure that the next time Sam and Zelda sat down to munch on
berries, they listened for the sounds of a tiger.)
Few of us need to outrun tigers today, but we all have worries that turn on
some ofthose same stress responses. That panicky feeling you sometimes
get when you're studying for a big test comes from your body's reaction to
stress. Your heart beats almost as fast as it would if you were running from a
tiger. Your breathing becomes heavier and you sweat, just as if you were
getting ready to run.
The body's stress response is important and necessary. However, when too
much stress builds up, you may encounter many physical and emotional
healthproblems. If you don't deal with stress, the health problems can stay
with you and worsen over the course ofyour life.
Average Pally Hours Spent In these Activities
inig;
latins
Job/Work
Exercising!
Socializing:'!
Organizations!
Relaxing:
The pie crust is divided
Into 24 sections.- draw
lines and Fill in the
hours for each activity
Try following your
Priority Pie
time allotments for 2 weeks!
What can I do right now that will decrease my stress?
These are simple things that can help you in the short-term reduce your
stress and get yourmind off of yourworries. Some of them, when done on a
regular basis, will reduce your stress for longer periods of time. Experiment
and see what works best for you.
1.
2.
Take a hot bath or better yet, a bubble bath!
Clean your closet.
3.
Go for a walk.
4.
Call a friend and ask them about their troubles. It might help to get
your mind off ofyour own for a while..
5.
Do your laundry.
6.
Ride a bike.
7.
8.
Read a book (not related to class).
Watch a little television but not too much that you are
procrastinating.
9.
Listen to music.
10.
Eat something. Many people skip meals when they're stressed.
11.
Maybe.you're hungry.
Do something that's physical. Physical exertion is great to get
your mind off of your worries.
12.
Go for a swim.
13.
Take up Yoga.
14.
Make a list ofthings you need to do today and number them from
most important to get done to least important to get done. Do them
one step at a time. Now you havejust broken your stress down into
more attainable tasks.
15.
Breathe. Seriously! Many people inadvertently hold their breath
when they're stressed. Take five minutes, close your eyes, and
only focus on the sound of your breath.
Styles of Distorted Thinking that Causes Stress
1.
Filtering- you take the negative details and magnify them while
filtering out all positive aspects of a situation; tunnel vision.
Alternatives: No need to magnify, "Ican cope"
2.
3.
. Polarized Thinking- black and white thinking; things are either
good or bad; you have to be perfect or you're a failure; there is no
middle ground or gray area.
Alternatives: Think inpercentages. There is a middle,ground.
Overgeneralization- you come to a general conclusion based on a
single incident or a piece of evidence; if something bad happens,
you expect it to happen over and over again; thinking in terms of
"always" and "never".
Alternatives: Quantify. CheckofEvidence. There are no
absolutes.
4.
Mind Reading- without their saying so, you know what people are
feeling and why they act the way they do; in particular, you are
able to define how people are feeling about you.
Alternatives: Do not assume and ask them
5.
Catastrophizing- you expect disaster; you notice of hear about a
problem and start thinking "what ifs"- "I got a bad grade on this
quiz, what if I don't pass this class, I'm never going to get into
college now because I failed this quiz." Believing the worst
conceivable thing is going to happen to me.
Alternatives: Askyourself "Is this realistic? "
6.
Blaming- you either hold others responsible for your pain, or you
blame yourself for every problem.
Alternatives: Each person is ultimately responsiblefor their lives.
Others are not responsiblefor doingyour homeworkor vice-versa.
Accept the consequences for your choices but don't attackyour
self-esteem or label yourselfbad ifyou make a mistake.
7.
Personalization-you thinkthat everything people do or say is
some kind ofreaction to you.
Alternatives: What isyourevidence? Check it out before you
conclude it's about you. It may have nothing to do with you.
8.
Self-Comparison- you compare yourselfto others, trying to
determine who's smarter, better looking, etc. in order to determine
your worth. Sometimes you win and really outshine someone, but
when you lose you set yourselfUp for a blow to your self-esteem.
Alternatives: Does yourworth depend on being better than
others? Why startthe comparison game? "Iamjust me"
9.
Shoulds-you have a strict list of rules about how you and other
people should act. People who break these rules anger you; if you
violate these rules you feel guilty.
Alternatives: Beflexible. Replace "should" with "could". Be
tolerant ofselfandothers. Yourpersonal rules arejust thatpersonal People oren't the same.
10.
Being Right- you are continually on trial to prove that your
opinions and actions are correct. If you've always got to be right,
you don't listen because it may lead you to see that you are wrong
sometimes.
Alternatives: Listen. You may not have all the answers; there isn Y
always one right answer. Focus on whatyou can learnfrom
someone else's opinion.
'NOTES: