HLTH 4200 - STRESS MANAGEMENT

1. HLTH 4200 - STRESS MANAGEMENT Jim Lidstone & Bud Cooper Department of HPER May 2001

2. Coming to terms with stress • What is stress? • What is a stressor? • What is a stress reaction? • What does it mean when someone is “stressed out?” • Is stress “good” or “bad?”

3. Stress Stressor Perception Stress Response

4. THE PIONEERS • Walter Cannon • Hans Selye • A. T. W. Simeons • Harold Wolff • Stewart Wolf • Lawrence LeShan • Friedman & Rosenman • Herbert Benson • Oskar Vogt • Johannes Schultz • Edmund Jacobson

5. WALTER CANNON “The Fight or Flight Response” • When confronted by a threat, your body prepares itself to either stand ground and fight, or to run away.

6. HANS SELYE • The Father of Stress • General Adaptation Syndrome • Stress • Distress • Eustress

7. GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (G.A.S.) • Phase 1 - Alarm Reaction • Phase 2 - Stage of Resistance • Phase 3 - Stage of Exhaustion

8. ALARM REACTION • Fight or flight response (stress reactivity) • Diminished resistance • If stressor is strong enough, shock sets in and death may result (e.g. severe burns, temperature extremes, etc.)

9. STAGE OF RESISTANCE • Body adapts to continuous exposure to the stressor • Bodily signs characteristic of alarm reaction disappear • Resistance rises above normal • Leads to exhaustion

10. STAGE OF EXHAUSTION • After prolonged exposure to the same stressor, adaptation energy is exhausted • Signs of the alarm reaction reappear • Irreversible • Death results

11. STRESS “The non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.” Selye (1956)

12. EUSTRESS • The stress which results when “good” things happen to us

13. DISTRESS • The stress which results when “bad” things occur Whether the stressor is perceived to be a good thing or a bad thing, the stress reaction is the same!!

14. A. T. W. SIMEONS • Fight or flight response is inappropriate for 20th century life • Link between stress and psychosomatic illness

15. FRIEDMAN & ROSENMAN • The Framingham heart study • Linkage between stress and CHD • The “edge of your seat” • Type A personality

16. HERBERT BENSON • Cardiologist • Developed a relaxation technique similar to transcendental meditation • The “relaxation response” • Used relaxation to treat hypertension

17. OSCAR VOGT • Physiologist • Self-hypnosis

18. JOHANNES SCHULTZ • German psychiatrist • Auto-hypnosis • Autogenic training • Warmth & heaviness in the limbs

19. DR. EDMUND JACOBSON • M.D. • Patients experienced extreme muscular tension (bracing) • Progressive relaxation • Systematic tensing and relaxing of all major muscle groups

20. The Stressor • A stimulus with the potential to trigger the fight or flight response. • Can be real (e.g. a car bearing down on you) or symbolic (e.g. threat to self-esteem, work overload)

21. Classifications of Stressors • Environmental (e.g. heat, cold, air quality, noise) • Psychological (e.g. threats to self-esteem, depression) • Sociological (e.g. unemployment, death of a loved one, high crime area) • Philosophical (e.g. purpose in life, moral/ethical issues)

22. Stress Reactivity • Stress reactivity = fight or flight response • Increased muscle tension, increased HR, increased BP, increased respiration rate, increased acid in the stomach, etc, etc. • When we build up stress products we don’t use, it becomes unhealthy • Keys are duration and degree • Which of these is most important?

23. What is stress? • Stress is the combination of a stressor and stress reactivity • Without both of these, there is no stress Stress = Stressor + Stress Reactivity

24. Stress management goals • Eliminate all stress in our lives? • Limit the harmful effects of stress - Alter our perceptions of the stressor - Control our reaction to the stressor - Find healthy ways to utilize stress products