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Intrapersonal Interventions

Intrapersonal Interventions. Ways to lower your stress level without need to involve others. Eliminate as many dis-stressors from your life as is feasible Diary/journal technique: Identify stressors, their effect on you, and your response Detailed journal model in text, p. 74

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Intrapersonal Interventions

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  1. Intrapersonal Interventions

  2. Ways to lower your stress level without need to involve others • Eliminate as many dis-stressors from your life as is feasible • Diary/journal technique: Identify stressors, their effect on you, and your response • Detailed journal model in text, p. 74 • Aims at identifying stressors that can be eliminated • Class assignments 1 and 2: Identifying how time is spent in relation to one’s goals • Knowing the costs in time for activities facilitates decision-making and helps identify imbalances

  3. Nutrition and Stress • saturated fats  high blood cholesterol  clogged arteries  insufficient oxygen in heart  parts of the heart die = heart disease • Production of cortisol (a stress hormone) requires vitamins • Chronic stress depletes vitamins, esp. B & C • Breaking down sugar and processed flour also requires vitamins • Stress can interfere with calcium absorption • Salt: Contributes to high blood pressure • Caffeine: “pseudostressor”

  4. Today’s trivia question: • Synthetic motor oil has a “magic ingredient” which sticks to metal surfaces much better than mineral (petroleum) oils. As a result, these metal surfaces are always partially lubricated, even when the engine is “cold” and oil is not yet flowing through the engine. • What is that magic ingredient?

  5. Question: • What is the name of the convenient snack (the one that stores well without refrigeration and can be eaten anywhere without preparation) which is also • healthy • low-cost • low-fat • low-salt • low-sugar • great-tasting

  6. Body Mass Index • Body Mass Index chart, pp. 80-81 • "Desirable:" 21-23 females, 22-24 males • Too little food: anorexia/bulimia  harmful imbalances • Role of mass media in promoting distorted body images • Low-carb craze diets at odds with USDA nutritional pyramid

  7. The manifold perils of noise • Raises blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension • Related to job satisfaction • Less conscious awareness of stable or "background" noise • when was the last time you hear a car alarm? • Conscious awareness is not required for the noise to be harmful • Noise reduction starts in the home • Relaxing sounds: usually nature or soft sounds

  8. Life Events • Scale, see text pp. 83 - 85 • Numbers measure an average of perceptions, not the actual event • Life-change units (LCU) correlated with illness • December holidays: peak time for crisis • Some events controllable, others not • Moderating factor: social support

  9. Hassles and Chronic Stress • Scale, see text pp. 90 – 91 • Cumulative effect of hassles is often regarded as more influential on stress and personal adjustment than life events. • Interpersonal hassles seem especially taxing: • The woman who balances her checkbook at the ATM machine while you wait in line to withdraw cash. • The auto mechanic who rolls his eyes while describing all the work your car needs when you bring it in for a routine oil change. • College instructors who actually expect you to stop and write down what you’re doing every 15 minutes of the day.

  10. Uplifts • The opposite of hassles, “uplifts” are minor enjoyable daily events. • Identifying and appreciating uplifts is a cornerstone of emotional health.

  11. Success Analysis • As Greenberg proposes it, a structured activity. • However, success analysis does not require detailed journaling in order to work. Regarding any one event, simply ask yourself: • What did you do that worked? (Do more of it.) • What did you do that didn't work? (Try something different.)

  12. Success Analysis (cont’d) • Please do not blindly accept every idea that is offered to you in this class. • At the top of p. 89, a list of possible definitions of “success” is presented. • How could a person become less happy and more stressed as a result of “buying in” to some of those definitions?

  13. Thought for the day • If your personal definition of “success” hinges on external events (such as what other people think or do)… • Get ready for a bumpy ride, because your self-esteem is about to go on a roller coaster!

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