Stress Management

Stress Management FINALY! Youth Mentor Workshop Series 2008-2009

Overview
What is stress?
Common myths about stress
Types of stress
Responses to stress
Effects of stress on behaviour
Effects of stress on the body
Positive stress

Stress
Describe a stressful situation that you have experienced in the past year.
Answer the following questions:
What happened?
How did you feel?
How did you handle the situation?
what could you have done differently?
How did this situation affect those close to you?

What is Stress?
the body’s response to any demand made on it.
It does not automatically translate into anxiety or tension.
Fight or Flight response.

Example
I am chased by a dog….
My first day at a new job…
Your body does not know the difference, it goes
through the same process.

Stress is…
A necessary part of life, fight or flight enables us to handle many situations.
When repeated, it wears your down and you suffer from physical, emotional, and social impacts of stress.

Stress is…
Difficult to define because it varies so much from one person to the next.
Includes many characteristics – it involves family/friends, relationships, school/work, or any other number of things, which will vary as each person has different experiences.
It can be positive or negative (we will discuss that a little later).

Types of Stress
There are four main types of stress that people experience.
Eustress
Eustress is a type of short-term stress that provides immediate strength. Eustress
arises at points of increased physical activity, enthusiasm, and creativity. Eustress is a
positive stress that arises when motivation and inspiration are needed. A gymnast
experiences eustress before a competition.
Distress
Distress is a negative stress brought about by constant readjustments or alterations I
a routine. Distress creates feelings of discomfort and unfamiliarity. There are two types
of distress. Acute stress is an intense stress that arrives and disappears quickly. Chronic
stress is a prolonged stress that exists for weeks, months, or even years. Someone who
is constantly relocating or changing jobs may experience distress.

Types of Stress
Hyperstress
Hyperstress occurs when an individual is pushed beyond what he or she can handle. Hyperstress results from being overloaded or overworked. When someone is hyperstressed, even little things can trigger a strong emotional response. A Wall Street trader is likely to experience hyperstress .
Hypostress
Hypostress is the opposite of hyperstress. Hypostress occurs when an individual is bored or unchallenged. People who experience hypostress are often restless and uninspired. A factory worker who performs repetitive tasks might experience hypostres s.

Physical Effects
increased heart rate
trembling
insomnia
Headaches
Pain

Emotional
Irritability
Moodiness
unspecific anxiety
distress

Social
Distance yourself from friends and family.
Arguments with those closest to you.

Effects of Stress on Behaviour
Stress could cause the following behavioural responses:
Increased likelihood of smoking or drinking heavily
Lack of exercise
Unhealthy eating habits
Lack of sleep, due to worrying

Common Myths About Stress
Stress is the same for everybody:
Stress is actually different for everybody because individual people respond to stress in different ways.
Stress is always bad for you:
There is positive stress (which we will talk about later) and negative stress. The key is learning to deal with stressors.

Stress is everywhere and you cannot do anything about it:
You can create an action-plan so that you will not become overwhelmed. Mismanagement of stress causes problems to occur.
• The best stress-reduction techniques are most popular:
There is no “best” technique. Choose a technique that works for you. Each Individual is different- there are different things that cause stress, so it just makes sense that different things will relieve stress.

No symptoms = no stress:
This is NOT a general rule. Sometimes symptoms
can be hidden with medication (i.e. taking Tylenol
for a headache). This can deprive you of the signals
needed to reduce strain on your physiological and
psychological symptoms.
Only major symptoms of stress require attention:
Minor symptoms should be your warning signal that you
need to implement a stress management plan. Do not
wait until something major happens to be your wake-up
call!

How to Cope with Stress
Group activity!!!
Brainstorm five healthy methods and two unhealthy methods to deal with stress.

Get Rid of That Stress!
Make exercise a part of our day.
Eat well balanced meals.
avoid caffeine (it may make anxiety worse)
Reduce or eliminate the use of alcohol and drugs
Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night

Time Management
Do you feel pressed for time?
Here is a short quiz to help you figure out where your time is going

What’s Something You’ve Been Putting Off?
Describe something that you have been putting off doing.
Answer the following questions:
How long will it take to do this?
Why have I put it off?
Can I do it?
When will I do it?

Something You Don’t Want to Do….
we all have to do things we don’t really want to do.
It comes with being an adult!
Do these things first, you’ll feel so much better once they are crossed off your list.

Maximize Your Time
You are waiting for a friend to pick you up to go out for coffee, you jump on the internet and do some on-line banking (pay a phone bill).

Make a To-Do List
List of items that need to be completed.
Each item has a time constraint.
Prioritize items on the list and complete the most important things first.

Other Timely Tips
focus on one thing at a time
Set deadlines for yourself
Delegate responsibilities where ever possible
Ask for advice when needed
Before you go to bed each day do one extra thing that you had planned to do tomorrow.

Stress Can be Positive
It is true, believe it or not!
Positive stress is often referred to as “eustress”.
This type of stress helps you to feel motivated and have a creative mindset, in order to complete a task.

Characteristics of Positive Stress
Helps to motivate you to accomplish something good.
Helps you to make necessary changes in your life.
Helps you make discoveries and come up with creative solutions.
The fight-or-flight response could even help your body fight infections!

Advantages of Positive Stress
Gives you the ability to realize when things are wrong.
Helps your body tell you when to do things, Ex: put on a sweater when you are cold.
Helps initiate your problem solving process and come up with more creative solutions.

Questions?

Thank you!
www.finaly.ca

Stress Management

by sydneyblackmore

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