Stress and Anxiety Workshop

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Get a Grip!!
Managing Stress and Anxiety
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Stress

• Hans Selye stress is not necessarily something
  bad it all depends on how you take it. The
  stress of exhilarating, creative successful work
  is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation
  or infection is detrimental.
• Selye believed the biochemical effects of stress
  would be experienced irrespective of whether the
  situation was positive or negative.

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What is Stress?

• A combination of physiological and emotional
  responses to an event or situation
• a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense
  
• survival mechanism used to respond to perceived
  dangers
• stress is a powerful internal communication to
  raise awareness
• source of energy due to the release of hormones
  secreted during the physiological stress response

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What is Stress?

• Cognitive and Emotional responses include
• Negative self talk
• Restlessness
• Inability to concentrate

• Physiological responses include
• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Sweating
• Dry mouth
• Headaches

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Negative Self Talk

• words our inner dialogue uses when we think
• can increase our stress levels by limiting our
  potential
• Can color our experience in a negative light
• When you tell yourself something is difficult
  or unfair, it becomes more stressful to deal
  with than if you tell yourself its a
  challenge, or even a test
• Patterns of negative self-talk typically begin in
  childhood
• the negative self-talk habit may have been
  coloring thinking for years

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Promoting Positive Self Talk

• Notice your patterns The first step toward
  change is to become more aware of the problem.
  You may not realize how often you say negative
  things in your head, or how much it affects you
• Journal Writing keeping a journal can be an
  effective tool for examining your inner process.
• Thought-Stopping As you notice yourself saying
  something negative in your mind, try to alter
  your thought mid-stream my saying to yourself
  Stop.

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What causes stress?

• Academic pressure
• Frustration
• Perception of lack of time to meet demands
• Difficulty making decisions
• Social pressures

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What causes stress?Stress building beliefs

• Perfectionism
• Feeling a constant pressure to achieve
• Self criticism
• Inability to feel a sense of accomplishment or
  achievement

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What causes stress?Stress building beliefs

• Control
• Have to be in control at all times
• Worry about how other perceive you when you are
  nervous
• Feel that a lack of control is a sign of
  weakness/failure

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What causes stress?Stress building beliefs

• People Pleasing
• Self esteem depends on others opinion of you
• Better at caring for others than yourself
• Repress negative feelings to avoid displeasing
  others

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What causes stress?Stress building beliefs

• Competence
• Feel as though you cannot do as good a job as
  others
• Feel that your judgement is poor
• Feel you lack common sense

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Managing Stress

• Lead a balanced life, dont overdo studies or
  recreation
• Understand and accept personal strengths and
  weaknesses
• Take frequent breaks during study periods
• Expand your support network
• Exercise regularly
• Learn and practice relaxation skills

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Managing stress

• Living a stress-free life is not a reasonable
  goal. The goal is to deal with it actively and
  effectively.
• - David Spiegel, Ph.D.

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Managing stress Anticipatory Planning

• Set realistic long and short term goals
• Maintenance time
• Break up large tasks into smaller chunks
• Take breaks!
• Give yourself rewards!!!

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Managing stress Time Management

• Monitor yourself
• Schedule tasks
• Build in breaks and reward time
• Build in maintenance time
• OVERESTIMATE the time needed for each task!
• Get down and just do it!

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Managing stress Anxiety Reduction

• Take charge of your situation
• Get good sleep
• Exercise regularly
• Relaxation techniques
• Quiet time
• Talk to your friends
• Get consultation if you need help with work

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Managing stress Positive Thinking

• Dont deny your anxiety
• Review your accomplishments
• Remember you have overcome hurdles before
• Dont get caught up in negative thinking
• Positive imagery
• Focus on small achievable goals
• Congratulate yourself for small steps
• Nobodys perfect, youre doing just fine!

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Managing stress Attitude Check!

• Attitude affects how successful you are at
  completing your goals and how you feel!
• Are you willing to learn?
• Do you try your best when studying?
• Do you demonstrate enthusiasm?
• Do you welcome challenges?
• Do you have a sense of humor?

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7 Steps to a New Attitude

• Be confident
• Be positive
• Be punctual
• Be patient

• Believe in yourself
• Set goals for yourself
• Get fun out of life

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Managing StressRelaxation

• Deep Breathing Exercises
• Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair
• Your body should be as relaxed as possible
• Close your eyes and scan your body for tension
• Pay attention to your breathing
• Place one hand on the part of your chest or
  abdomen that seems to raise and fall with each
  breath

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Managing StressRelaxation

• Deep Breathing Exercises
• 6. Breathe through your nose
• 7. Notice if your chest is moving in harmony
  with you abdomen
• 8. Now place one hand on your abdomen and one on
  your chest
• 9. Inhale deeply and slowly through your mouth
• 10. Relax as you focus on the sound and feeling
  of long, slow, deep breaths

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Managing Exam Anxiety

• Stay on a regular schedule of reviewing, eating,
  sleeping and relaxing
• Try to start this pattern several days if not
  weeks before the exam
• Dont try to study 24 hours per day
• Dont force yourself to study beyond your normal
  limits of concentration
• Short, regular study periods are more productive
  than lengthy single sessions

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Managing Exam Anxiety

• Eat a well balanced diet
• Drink lots of fluids
• Dont use drugs or alcohol
• Be reasonable and conservative about the demands
  you place on yourself

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Alcohol and Stress

• Alcohol can have negative effects on performance

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Heavy Drinking

• Impaired transfer of information from short to
  long term memory
• Attention span shortened up to 48 hours of
  drinking
• Disrupts sleep cycle, including REM sleep you
  may feel tired even after 7-8 hours sleep
• Hangovers arent fun

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What does that mean?

• Information learned before drinking is harder to
  remember
• Harder to pay attention on work
• Alcohol-induced sleep problems may decrease
  learning abilities
• So.
• Drink responsibly and in moderation and
• balance academic and social lives

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Moderate Drinking

• Moderate drinking (1 or 2 drinks) can impair
  learning and health
• Alcohol consumed up to 6 hours before bedtime can
  affect sleep patterns

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Alcohol and Sleep

• A drink or two before bed may help you fall
  asleep, BUT as the alcohol is metabolized during
  the night, sleep is lighter and more disturbed
• The more you drink, the faster you fall asleep,
  but the more disturbed the sleep
• Sleep disturbances lead to fatigue during the day

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SleepDo you need more rest?

• It takes you at least an hour to fall asleep each
  night
• You struggle to get out of bed when your alarm
  sounds
• You worry about getting enough sleep most nights
• If you wake up during the night you cant get
  back to sleep
• You use sleeping pills or alcohol to help you
  sleep
• You feel exhausted
• You sleep in or take naps to compensate for lack
  of sleep
• You get drowsy during the day

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How to improve sleeping

• Know and get the sleep your body needs (sleep
  without an alarm to determine your bodys needs)
• Keep a regular sleep schedule
• Exercise regularly
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol
• Wake up early
• Relax and unwind the last hour before bed
• Deal with worries before bed by reviewing
  concerns and considering possible solutions