Stress, Illness

and Management
“THE ONLY PERSON WITHOUT STRESS IS A DEAD PERSON”
- Hans Selye
What is stress?

An adverse reaction people

have to excessive pressure
or other types of demand
placed on them. S = P > R

Can be triggered from:

Environment; bad weather conditions, traffic etc
Social issues; work, school, friends, finances.
Physiological; body changes, inadequate sleep,
illness.
Thoughts; interpretation (irrational thinking)
Key Definitions
• Stressor – environmental conditions that
cause individuals to experience stress
• Eustress – positive stress that results from meeting
challenges and difficulties with the expectation of
achievement
• Dystress – negative stress; often referred to simply as
stress. Often results in overload.
• Job strain – function of workplace demands and the
control an individual has in meeting those demands.
 TYPES OF STRESS
• Acute stress
The most common type of stress. It’s your body's immediate
reaction to a new challenge, event, or demand, and it triggers
your fight-or-flight response.

• Episodic stress
When acute stress happens frequently, it’s called episodic acute
stress e.g People who always seem to be having a crisis. They
may not change their life style but accept it as part of their
life
TYPES OF STRESS…
• Chronic stress
If acute stress isn't resolved and begins to increase or lasts for long
periods of time, it becomes chronic stress. This stress is constant
and doesn’t go away. It can stem from such things as, poverty, a
dysfunctional family, an unhappy marriage, a bad job.

It can be detrimental to your health, in ways such as: Heart disease,

cancer, lung disease, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide.
 Good of Stress …
• Stress is a state of physical and mental arousal. It is a normal
and necessary part of life. Without the stimulation of stress,
one would die.

• Good Stress helps one to stay focused, energetic, and alert

by helping you rise to meet challenges, make choices,
develop plans, change our behaviors and begin new
activities.

• Stress gives us energy and a drive to be our very best.

Controlled stress can help us to be innovative, efficient and
productive.
How the body respond to stress  When the body is threatened, the nervous system
responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones-arouse
the body for emergency action (Fight or flight response).
The fight or flight response is controlled by the brain when
the cerebral cortex (thinking part) sends an alarm to
hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus stimulates the

sympathetic nervous system causing
the heart to pound faster, muscles
tightens, blood pressure rises,
breath quickens, and impairs
judgement.
Stress: illness onset and progression
Research indicates that
stress causes physiological
changes that have
implications for promoting
both the onset of illness
and its progression.
Stress causes changes in
both Sympathetic Activation
(SA) (e.g. heart rate,
sweating, blood pressure)
via the production of
catecholamines and the
Hypothalamus Pituitary
Adrenocortical (HPA)
activation via the production
of cortisol- impact upon
health and illness onset.
Stress: illness onset and progression
SA Prolonged production of
adrenalin and noradrenalin can
cause:
• blood clot formation;
• increased blood pressure;
• increased heart rate;
• irregular heart beats;
• fat deposits;
Proneness to kidney and heart
diseases
HPA
The prolonged production of
cortisol can result in:
• decreased immune function;
and
• damage to neurons in the
hippocampus.
High chances of infection,
psychiatric problems and losses
in memory and concentration.
 Unhealthy Stress

• Unhealthy stress cause major damage to your

health, mood, productivity, relationships, and quality
of life. Acute stress affects major life domains;
– Cognitive
– Emotional
– Physical
– Behavioral
– Spiritual
• It lowers the immune system exposing the body to
health dangers
Factors that Contribute to Stress Level

• Suddenness – surprise causes more stress.

• Intensity – how awful the experience.

• Degree – how widespread is the impact.

• Duration – the longer the exposure, the greater the harm.

• Frequency – the more horrible events, the greater a

potential for a problem.
Protective Factors

• Training, education, experience – helps us

to build up resilience.

• Resource availability – the more resource,

the better we cope.

• Positive mental attitude – most important

in stress control.
Common External Factors of Stress
(Come from outside of us)
• Academic pressure
• Major life changes
• Relationship difficulties
• Financial problems
• Trauma
• Children and family
• Noise
• Toxins/Pollution
 Common Internal Causes of Stress
(Come from inside us)

• Feelings of anger, fear and chronic worry

• Anticipation of the unbelievable
• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
• Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
• All-or-nothing attitude
 Stress Symptoms: Cognitive
• Memory problems

• Inability to concentrate

• Poor judgment

• Seeing only the negative

• Anxious or racing thoughts

• Constant worrying
Physical
 Emotional
• Moodiness
• Irritability or short temper
• Agitation, inability to relax
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Sense of loneliness and isolation
• Depression or general unhappiness
 Behavioral
• Eating more or less

• Sleeping too much or too little

• Isolating oneself from others

• Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities

• Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax

• Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

 Behavioral…
• Significant changes in speech patterns.
• Excessive anger at minor inconveniences.
• Excessive crying or laughing.
• Violent physical reactions; destroying property.
• Meaningless repeated actions.
• Wringing hands, body shakes, and/or facial
tremors.
 Spiritual
• Anger at God and Clergy.
• Questioning of basic beliefs.
• Withdrawal from place of worship.
• Uncharacteristic religious involvement.
• Sense of isolation from God.
• Religious obsessions or compulsions.
• Religious hallucinations or delusions.
Stress Management Techniques
Stress Management

• Refers to the wide • Social support

• Coping
spectrum of techniques
• Cognitive restructuring
and psychotherapies
• Positive Mental Attitude
aimed at controlling a • Nutrition
person's levels of stress, • Exercise
especially chronic • Relaxation
stress, usually for the • Spirituality
purpose of improving
everyday functioning.
1. Social Support
• It is generally used to refer to the perceived
comfort, caring, esteem or help one individual
receives from others (Wallston et al. 1983).
• Social support influences the health status of
the individual and increased social support has
predicted a decrease in mortality rate.
• Wills (1985) has defined several types of social
support and these are;
Forms of Social Support (Wills, 1985)
• Esteem support, whereby other people
increase one’s own self-esteem;
• Informational support, whereby other people
are available to offer advice;
• Social companionship, which involves support
through activities;
• Instrumental support, which involves physical
help.
Forms of Social Support…
• Emotional support – expression of empathy,
understanding, caring, etc.
• Esteem support – positive regard,
encouragement, validating self-worth
• Tangible or instrumental – lending a helpful
hand.
• Information support – providing information,
new insights, advice.
• Network support – feeling of belonging
Influence of Social Support on Health
Two theories have been used to explain this
• The main effect hypothesis suggests that
social support itself is beneficial and that the
absence of social support is itself stressful. Its
presence reduces the effect of the stressor
and its absence is itself a stressor.
• The stress buffering hypothesis. Social support
helps individuals to cope with stress, therefore
mediating the stress–illness link by buffering
the individual from the stressor
 Social support…
• The existence of other people enables
individuals exposed to a stressor to select an
appropriate coping strategy by comparing
themselves with others.
2. Coping
• Coping is the process of managing stressors
that have been appraised as taxing or
exceeding a person’s resources (Lazarus et al,
1978).
• Process of managing the discrepancy between
the demands of the situation and the available
resources.
 Forms of Coping
• Approach coping- confronting the problem, gathering
information and taking direct action.
• Avoidant coping - minimizing the importance of the
event.
• Problem focused coping - taking action either toreduce
the demands of the stressor or to increase the resources
available to manage it.
• Emotion focused coping - attempting to manage the
emotions evoked by the stressful event. e.g behavioural
strategies like talking to friends about a problem, or
turning to drinking
Choice of a coping strategy
• Coping is influenced by external resources such
as time, money, education, children, family and
education
• Children tend to use more problem focused
coping strategies whereas emotion focused
strategies seems to develop in adolescence
• Work problems seem to evoke more problem
focused coping while health and relationship
problems tend to evoke emotion focused
coping
Choice of a coping strategy
• Men generally employ more of problem-
focused coping strategies women employ
more of emotion-focused strategies.
• If men and women in same occupation,
gender differences disappear, suggesting that
societal sex roles influence choice of coping
strategies.
• People with higher SES tend to use problem-
focused coping strategies more often (Billings
& Moos, 1981).
3. Cognitive Rehabilitation
Do not rely on your memory to tell you when and
where to be, certainly for the next week or months -
keep a calendar

Develop a system to leave items where they are visible

and where you will see them until you need them.

Engage in mental exercise- Brain challenge games such

as word puzzles, or playing strategy games on your
phone. The purpose of performing these task is
stimulate brain cells
4. Positive Mental Attitude
•You make valuable contributions to people.
•Stress is a challenge; overcome it.
•Stress is controllable.
•You can think, categorize, remember, visualize
and anticipate a situation.
•Find humor where you can every day.
•Emotions should serve us, not dominate us.
•Have a life beyond the job.
Positive Mental Attitude ….
•Challenge your negative thoughts. Ask yourself whether
there's really any truth in them.
•Do not jump to conclusions. Review the facts.
•Think first and then take action.
•Self-blame and guilt distort reality.
•Admit mistakes, apologize, correct what you can and
move on.
•Decide which battles are worth a fight. Then take a
stand.
•Avoid petty issues.
5. Nutrition

•Poor nutrition and bad eating habits can compromise

performance, stamina and stress tolerance.
•Avoid or limit caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, etc.).
• Caffeine elevates blood pressure and heart rate
and increases the need for oxygen.
• Stimulates cardiac muscle and central nervous
system.
• Causes nervousness, sleeplessness and
irritability.
Nutrition …
•Go easy on the soft drinks. Cool water is better.
•Avoid fatty foods, salt, sugar and white bread.
•Eat whole grain breads, hard cheese, dairy products,
vegetables, fresh fruits, dried fruits and granola bars.
•Don’t put alcohol and smoking on the top of your stress-
reduction list.
 Avoid Alcohol and Smoking
Alcohol (Nicotine) Smoking (Caffeine)
• Negatively impacts •Nicotine enhances stress
performance, behavior, reactions.
judgment and physical
coordination. •It also depletes vitamins
• Reduces the level of vitamins B
C and E and thus
and C and thus makes the body
increases vulnerability to
more vulnerable to stress and
disease.
stress-related diseases.
• Suppresses rapid eye
movement (REM) sleep, which
is vital to our ability to process
the stress experiences by
natural means.
6. Relaxation: Breathing

•Voluntary control of breathing pattern is one of the

most effective rapid methods to reduce excessive
arousal.
• Inhale the deepest breath possible and hold for 4
seconds – then exhale a count of four.
• Exhale as much as possible and hold of 4 seconds
– then inhale a count of four.
• Inhale through the nose; exhale through the
mouth.
Other Relaxation Techniques
•Meditation.
•Visual imagery.
•Music.
•Exercise.
•Hypnosis.
•Massage.
7. Spirituality
•Spirituality or personal beliefs are effective in stress
management. People who believe in a caring God, a
force, or power beyond and more powerful than
themselves tend to cope with high levels of stress for
longer times.

•Beliefs, prayers, mediation, contemplation and religious

ceremonies are important for health.
CONCLUSION
Stress is a fact of life, particularly for work, family, schooling,
exams etc. Because unexpected events, we tend to shoulder
more burden. We like to be in control, we like to be productive,
and we like to do things on our own. However , when taken to
the extreme, such qualities can end up costing us our lives.

We hope that after this session, you’ll see that while stress may
be unavoidable, there are things we can do to help mitigate its
detrimental effects.

Stress is unavoidable in the work-at-home life – but it doesn’t

have to overwhelm us. Use these suggestions to make your
stay the best it can possibly be.