What is stress

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What is stress?

• Process by which we appraise and cope with
  environmental threats and challenges
• Stressor the threat or challenge we face
• Strain results of feeling stress
• For example
• High blood pressure
• Fatigue
• Depression

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Stress Appraisal
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Fight or Flight?

• Cannon found that extreme situations trigger and
  outpouring of epinephrine and norephinephrine
• Sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate,
  dulls pain, and releases fat and sugars
• This stress response fight or flight mechanism

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Selyes General Adaptation Syndrome
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Three types of stressors

• Catastrophes unpredictable large scale events
• Significant life change- personal events that
  occur in ones life
• Daily hassles- everyday annoyances

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Lazarus hassles and uplifts

• Hassles for students
• Troubling thoughts about future
• Not getting enough sleep
• Wasting time
• Physical appearance
• Not enough time
• Being lonely

• Uplifts for students
• Completing a task
• Relating well with friends
• Giving a present
• Having fun
• Laughing
• Entertainment
• Music

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Effects of Stress

• Daily stress has been associated with flu, sore
  throat, headaches and backache
• Stress can put us at risk for the major leading
  causes of death
• Heart disease
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Chronic lung disease
• Behavioral factors may also be related to stress
  and disease as well.

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What about personality factors?

• Friedman and Rossman conducted a classic 9 year
  longitudinal study
• Interviews 3000 healthy men ages 35-59
• Characterized individuals as Type A or Type B
• Type A competitive, hard driven, impatient,
  verbally aggressive, and supermotivated
• Type B Easygoing, dont get upset easily

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Findings

• 257 men had heart attacks
• 70 Type A
• 30 moderate
• 0 Type B completely
• Negative emotions appeared to be a critical
  factor in Type A (toxic core)

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Promoting Health

• How do you cope with stress?
• Coping efforts we make to manage situations
  that are perceived as taxing
• Problem focused
• Emotion focused

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Promoting health cont.

• Aerobic exercise is
• linked to reduced stress, depression, and anxiety
  and longer life expectancy
• Social support feeling liked, affirmed, and
  encouraged by intimate friends and family
• Linked to happiness, health, and increased
  survival rates after illness
• Perceived control

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Habits that we do control

• Sleep 7-8 hours
• Eat breakfast
• Healthy weight
• Dont smoke
• Use alcohol moderately or not at all
• Exercise