Stress Management

What is Stress?

A normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way.

When you sense danger—real or imagined—the body’s defenses kick into high gear

A.K.A. “fight-or-flight” response or “stress response”

Your body’s way of protecting youHelps you stay focused, energetic, and alert

Can save your life in emergency situations

Pair and Share

Talk with a partner and describe a situation you’ve experience when the stress response helped keep you out of danger.

How Does Stress Cause Damage?

At a certain point, the stress response stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your

Health

Mood

Productivity

Relationships

Quality of life

The Stress Response

When you perceive a threat, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones rouse the body for emergency action.

• Hearth pounds faster

• Muscles tighten

• Blood pressure rises

• Breath quickens

• Senses become sharper

These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, reaction time, and enhances focus—preparing you to fight or flee.

Stress Overloadsigns and symptoms

Cognitive Symptoms• Memory problems• Inability to concentrate• Poor judgment• Seeing only the negative• Anxious or racing thoughts• Constant worry

Emotional Symptoms• Moodiness• Irritability or short temper• Agitation, inability to relax• Feeling overwhelmed• Sense of loneliness and isolation• Depression or general unhappiness

Physical Symptoms• Aches and pains• Diarrhea or constipation• Nausea, dizziness• Chest pain, rapid heartbeat• Frequent colds

Behavioral Symptoms• Eating more or less• Sleeping too much or too little• Isolation from others• Procrastinating or neglecting

responsibilities• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs

to relax• Nervous habits (biting nails,

pacing)

How Stressed Are You?

Stress Test

Stress Relief

decide to make stress management an ongoing goal and monitor your stress levels

Identify your stress triggersNegative AND positive trigger

Develop strategies to deal with triggers

Maintain and healthy lifestylePhysical activity, healthy eating, time management

Seek help!

Stress Relief Techniques

Deep Breathing

When you’re under stress, muscles tense and breathing becomes shallow and rapid. When you breathe slowly and deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down. The brain then sends this message to your body. Deep breathing increases the oxygen available to your body and produces a relaxed feeling.

Here’s How:

1. sit in a comfortable position and take a few breaths. Notice how your belly pushes out as your lungs fill with air, and how it naturally goes back in as the air leaves your lungs.

2. Then take some deep breaths. Breath in for a count of 6. Pause for a count of 3. Then breathe out for another count of 6.

3. Do this 20-30 times.

Stress Relief TechniquesProgressive Muscle Relaxation

This is a good technique to use any time you’re tense. Progressive means something happens a little bit at a time. In this technique, you tense different muscle groups one at a time and then let them relax. The tension helps the muscles relax more deeply when you let go.

Here’s How:

1. Start with your toes. Curl them under as far as you can. Hold for 5 seconds, then relax.

2. Then move to your ankles. Bend your feet toward your body as far as you can. Hold for 5 seconds then relax.

3. Continue to move up your body, tensing different muscle groups, holding for 5 seconds then relaxing. Do this with your thighs, hips, abdomen, back, shoulders, elbows, hands, neck, and face. Notice how your body feels as you tighten and relax the different muscles.

4. End by tightening all the muscles in your body for 10 seconds and then relaxing. All your muscles should now be more relaxed.

Stress Relief TechniquesGuided Imagery

Deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation reduce stress by helping your body relax and calm down. Guided imagery is a way to help your mind do the same thing. In guided imagery, you picture a calm place and imagine a restful experience.

Here’s How

1. Choose a place you’re familiar with and one that you find beautiful or that feels safe. You might picture a deserted beach, a green meadow or a quiet place in your home.

2. Close your eyes and imagine yourself leaving wherever you are at the moment and going to the calm, safe place you’ve chosen.

3. See yourself in that place, with all your senses experiences the sights, sounds, smells, and other details. Really imagine what you’d see, hear, smell and feel on your skin in that place.

4. Picture yourself relaxing in the place—you might lie down on a beach or the grass, sit on a bench or in a tree, wrap a warm blanket around you—whatever helps you feel calm and safe.

5. Stay in this imaginary place until you feel fully relaxed. Then slowly picture yourself leaving it and coming back to where you actually are, knowing that you can return any time you want to relax.

Stress Relief Techniques

Meditation

Meditation is a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or as an end in itself. The term refers to a broad variety of practices (much like the term sports) that includes techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy, and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.

guided meditation