Stress

Management
Understanding Stress
 Stress
What is stress?
It’s the spice of life or the kiss of death depending
on how we cope with it. Stress gives us the means
to express our talents and energies and pursue
happiness; it can also cause exhaustion and illness,
nervous breakdowns, heart attacks, accidents.
Strictly speaking, stress is simply the body’s non-
specific response to any demand made on it, and is
not necessarily synonymous with nervous tension
or anxiety….
 Anxiety
Anxiety or tension is a feeling of apprehension or
fear that lingers. The source for this uneasiness is
not always known or recognized which adds to the
distress: "Everything stresses me out.“ "I am
always worried."
Fundamentally, it is not the quality or intensity of
the events that counts. What matters is not what
happens to us, but the way we take it.
Judge how you are taking the stress in your life at
any particular moment; if there are too many
signs of distress in your feelings or behavior, there
are various little tricks to minimize these
 Practice Relaxation:
Tips to Reduce Stress ¨ Meditation
¨ Deep Breathing
¨ Get a Massage
¨ Visualization
Organize your life: ¨ Take a Bath
¨ Manage your time ¨ Try saying the Serenity Prayer
¨ Make to do lists
Take a break
¨ Plan ahead
¨ Breath deeply Stretch
¨ Set mini goals
¨ Sit back and ¨ Stand up and reach
¨ Learn to Plan
relax up
¨ Do something you ¨ Neck stretch: roll
love Communicate: your head in a half circle,
¨ Read a good book ¨ Express your starting at one
¨ Change your emotions side, then dropping
surroundings ¨ Talk to a friend your chin to your
¨ Learn to Play ¨ Eliminate negative chest, then to the
talk other side
¨ Cry ¨ Watch a cat stretch
¨ Laugh and do the same
Other stress management tips:
¨ Learn to live one day at a time
¨ Improve your appearance
¨ Do something for someone else (volunteer
work)
¨ Allow yourself private time everyday
¨ Learn to forgive and forget
¨ Watch a good movie
¨ Listen too your favorite music
¨ Eat well
¨ Be a positive person
¨ Avoid unnecessary competition
 Anxiety Exercises
1. What is your definition of anxiety?

2. Write five examples of how students who cope with anxiety in positive ways
might feel, think, and work toward successfully completing their coursework.

3. Write five examples of how students who cope with anxiety in negative ways might feel, think,
and work towards successfully completing their coursework.

Analyzing anxiety:

1. Have you ever gotten so stressed on a test that you forgot the material you
knew?

2. Do you have problems with worrying about how you will do even before you take a test?

3. Do you ever feel like you are getting so much pressure from others that you
can’t concentrate on your coursework?

4. Are you easily discouraged about your grades?

Your personal reactions to anxiety:
For one full week, record moments when you feel anxiety.
Where were you (in class, at work), what was the situation
(were you being called on in class, ice breaker during an
extracurricular activity, at work), why did you feel anxious,
how did you react physically (did your stomach hurt, did you
shake, palms sweat)? How does anxiety influence your attitude
or behavior? (do you get angry with yourself; do you have an
attitude with other people?) What are some techniques for
dealing with each situation?

Then plan to use some relaxation technique the next time you
encounter these situations. With a little planning you will be
able to anticipate and, therefore, better manage your anxiety.
These two questions should help you get started:

1. I usually feel anxious when:

2. I notice when I am anxious I see these changes in myself:

 Better Sleep Guide

We all have too much to do, recharge

yourself by getting a good night’s sleep.
The quality and quantity of your sleep
can make all the difference in how
productive you’ll be the next day.
 Tips to get the a good sleep
1. Give yourself “permission” to go to bed. As hard as it may be to put away your “to do”
list, make sleep a “priority,” You’ll thank yourself in the morning.

2. Unwind early in the evening. Try to deal with worries and distractions several hours
before bedtime.

3. Develop a sleep ritual. Doing the same things each night just before bed signals your
body to settle down for the night.

4. Keep regular hours. Keep your biological clock in check by going to bed around the
same time each morning – even on weekends.

5. Make your bedroom a Sleep Haven. Create a restful place to sleep. Sleep in a moderate
(temperature not too hot or too cold), dark room that is free from noises that may
disturb your sleep. Make sure the mattress and foundation meet your needs for both
comfort and support.

6. Sleep on a comfortable, supportive mattress and foundation. It’s difficult to

sleep on a bed that’s too small, too soft, too hard, or too old.

7. Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can help relieve daily tension and stress – but don’t
exercise too close to bedtime or you may have trouble falling asleep.
 Tips to get the a good sleep
8. Cut down on stimulants. Consuming stimulants, such as caffeine, in the
evening can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

9. Don’t smoke. Smokers take longer to fall asleep and wake up more often
during the night.

10. Reduce alcohol intake. Drinking alcohol shortly before bedtime

interrupts and fragments sleep.

11. Exercise. Sometimes exercise an hour or two before bed can relieve you
from the stress gained throughout the day. It not only is healthy for you,
but can help you rest better.

12. Journal. Keep a journal of the day’s activities, highlighting challenging

moments of the day and developing strategies on how to handle such
situations in the future. Also discuss the lessons learned from both positive
and negative interactions with other people, noting blessings also.

13. Herbal tea. There are several brands of non-caffeine herbal teas
available in your local grocers that are natural sleep aids.
Relaxation Techniques
The information below briefly describes several relaxation
techniques. To learn more about these relaxation techniques,
please visit the LAC Blackboard website, which has links to
various websites.

1.Meditation: this technique involves focusing on something

unchanging (such as a spot on the wall) or something repetitive
(such as repeating a word – a mantra). Then you realize your
mind has wandered, merely return to repeating the word.

2. Imagery: Imagery can be guided or unguided. When guided,

someone else determines which image you should keep in mind
when trying to relax. When unguided, you decide what image
would be relaxing. If possible, it is best to choose your own
image since you have a better idea of what you find relaxing
than does someone else. Some images people generally find
relaxing are sunshine warming the body, a day at the beach, a
rippling lake, a walk in the woods, the surf rolling on the shore,
birds flying through the air, a carpeted room warmed by a fire,
and a sailboat floating on the water.
 Relaxation Techniques

3. Autogenic Training: Autogenic training requires you to imagine your arms and
legs feel heavy, warm and tingly. By doing this, blood flow increases to these
body parts due to a dilation (widening) of blood vessels in the arms and legs.
This is part of the relaxation response. After the body is relaxed this way, the
mind is calmed by adding images of relaxing scenes. Imagery that is part of
autogenic training is called autogenic mediation.
4. Progressive Relaxation: Progressive relaxation teaches the sensation of muscular
contraction by focusing attention on the feeling of the muscles as they are
tensed throughout the body. It then teaches the sensation to your more tense
parts. The relaxed sensation can be imagined to be a warm ball that travels to
various bodily locations warming and relaxing them.
5. Diaphragmatic Breathing: Relaxed breathing occurs as a result of the diaphragm
expanding, as opposed to stressful breathing that is a function of the chest
expanding. Relaxed breathing is called Diaphragmatic Breathing. To try
Diaphragmatic Breathing, lie on your back and place your hands on your
abdomen. As you breathe you should feel your abdomen riseand your chest
remain fairly stable.
 Relaxation Techniques

6. Quieting Reflex: With practice, this technique is said to relax a person in just six
seconds. The Quieting Reflex is done as follows:

o Think about something that makes you afraid or anxious.

o Smile inside. This breaks up the anxious facial muscle tension.

o Tell yourself, “I can keep a calm body in an alert mind.”

o Let your jaw go loose as you exhale, keeping your lower and upper teeth
slightly apart.

o Imagine heaviness and warmth moving throughout your body, from head
to toe.
 Relaxation Techniques
7. Instant Calming Sequence: Another relaxation technique said to take just
seconds to elicit the relaxation response is the Instant Calming
Sequence.

Step 1: Uninterrupted Breathing. In the face of the stressor, keep breathing

smoothly, deeply and evenly.
Step 2: Positive Face. Flash a slight smile as soon as you recognize you are
being stressed.
Step 3: Balanced Posture. Keep your chest high, your head up, neck long,
chin in, and in other ways balanced. Imagine being lifted from a hook at
the top of your head.
Step 4: Bathe in a Wave of Relaxation. “Imagine you’re standing under a
waterfall that washes away your tension.”
Step 5: Acknowledge Reality. Face your causes of stress head-on. Don’t try
to deny it or wish that it hadn’t happened. Think: “This is real. I can
handle it. I’m finding the best possible way to cope right now.”
Step 6: Reassert Control. Instead of fretting about how the stressor had
robbed you of control, focus on what you can control and take
appropriate action. Also, think clear-headed, honest thoughts instead of
distorted ones.