Lesson 16: Taking Care of Your Body_Stress Management

PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MUNTINLUPA COLLEGE OF Understanding the Self Taking Charge of One’s Health: I am in Control  Activity 1: (Group Activity) 1. Each member of the group must answer: What stresses you out? Share your a...

PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MUNTINLUPA COLLEGE OF Understanding the Self Taking Charge of One’s Health: I am in Control  Activity 1: (Group Activity) 1. Each member of the group must answer: What stresses you out? Share your answers to your group and discuss how you deal with stress and present it in front of the class. 2. Release the Stress- create a comic strip of you defeating one or most of your stresses away.  Introduction What may be stressful to you might not be stressful to others. Most of the time, it really is just matter of perspective or a matter of properly responding. According to James (2016), a reaction is “driven by the beliefs, biases, and prejudice of the unconscious mind,” (para. 3). Consequently, a response is “based on information from both the conscious mind and unconscious mind… taking into consideration the well-being of not only you but those around you” (para. 3) Most often than not, we associate stress with negative and unpleasant things. Seaward (2018) even mentioned that “stress and change have become synonymous” (Seaward, 2018, p. 2). Change coming from academic, personal, romantic, health, and/or financial aspects of our lives can indubitably bring about stress.  Question: When do you find yourself overly reacting? What do you think are the factors that led you to behave this way?  STRESS- is the experience of a perceived threat (real or imagined) to one’s mental, physical, or spiritual ell-being resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations (Seaward, 2018, p. 2) However, stress may not be negative all the time. Three (3) types of stress EUSTRESS NEUSTRESS DISTRESS Good stress Any kind of information or Unfavorable or negative Any stressor that sensory stimulus that is interpretation of an event (real motivate an individual perceived as unimportant or or unimagined) to be threatening toward an optimal inconsequential (p. 3) that promotes continued feeling level of performance Neither positive nor of fear or anger or health (p. 3) negative More commonly known simply as stress (p. 3) Figure 1. Three Types of Stress (Seaward, 2018)  Figure 2. Primary and Secondary Appraisal (Seaward, 2018) Eustress (+) Coping stimulus/ resources stressor Primary Neustress adequate (perceived, appraisal recalled, Distress / Secondary Coping imagined) stress (-) appraisal resources inadequate  Question: What do you consider as eustresses that others you know consider as distresses? What do you think are the reason for this? STRESSORS - is “any real or imagined situation, circumstance, or stimulus that perceived to be a threat” (Seaward, 2018, p. 10). Grasping the given definition, it shows how powerful our mind really is and how influential our beliefs and values are. Seaward (2018) stated that the “list of stressors is not only endless, but also varies from person to person” (p. 10). But, as explained in so many psychology books and studies, we are in control – only if we choose to be. Three (3) general types of stressors 1. Cataclysmic events Strong stressors Occur suddenly May effect many people simultaneously Disasters such as tornados, plane crashes (p. 474) Natural or man-made calamity  2. Personal Stressors Major life events Death of a parent or spouse, loss of one’s job, major personal failure Even something positive like getting married (p. 474) 3. Background Stressors Daily hassle Minor irritation in life Standing in a long line at a bank Getting stuck in a traffic jam Long term chronic problem- dissatisfaction with school or a job, unhappy relationship (p. 475) Figure 3. Types of Stressors (Feldman, 2011)  It is worth noting that man-made cataclysmic events, such as terrorist attacks, produce more stress in the long run compared to natural calamities, like typhoons or earthquakes (Feldman, 2011). This is because natural calamities have clear resolutions while man- made disasters do not. Having been given this information makes us realize that we or our fellow human beings are the one creating our own problems or our own poison  Question: What other reason can you come up with to justify that man-made disaster are worse than natural calamities in causing distress?  RESPONSES TO STRESS “Usually the body begins to react before a full analysis of the situation is made, but a return to a state of calm is also imminent” (Seaward, 2018, p.10). There are three (3) general levels each of us to respond to stress. Annoyance, anger, anxiety, fear, dejection, grief, guilt, Level 1 shame, envy, disgust (p.61) Emotional Powerful, largely uncontrollably feelings, accompanied by physiological changes (Weiten, p. 55)  Hormonal fluctuations, neurochemical changes (p. 51) Anxiety, memory loss, brain fog, worry, sleep disorder, Level 2 mild or serious illnesses. Physiological Fight-or-flight responses – a physiological reaction to threat that mobilizes an organism for attacking/fight or fleeing/flight an enemy (Weiten et al, 2014, p.54) Lashing out at others Level 3 Blaming oneself Behavioral Seeking help Solving problems (p. 61) Figure 4. Levels of Responses to Stress (Weiten, et al., 2014)  In another study, it was noted that the stress level by generation is highest with the millennials and stress level by gender is higher with females. AVERAGE STRESS LEVEL BY AVERAGE STRESS GENERATION LEVEL BY GENDER 7 5.4 6 5.3 5 5.2 4 5.1 3 5.8 6 5 5.3 2 4.3 3.5 4.9 1 4.8 4.9 0 MATURES BOOMERS XERS MILLENNIALS 4.7 MALE FEMALE REPORTED STRESS LEVEL REPORTED STRESS LEVEL  Question: What do you think are the reasons why the millennials are currently the most stressed generation and why female are more stressed than males?  SOURCES OF COPING AND STRENGTH When we are faced with stress, we need to deal with it by coping well. Coping refers to the efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress (Weiten, 2014, p. 66). However, due to circumstances or influences, one’s coping strategies may be positive or negative. Some examples of negative or counter-productive coping strategies that we may have been guilty of are listed below:. 1. Giving up- feeling helpless 2. Acting aggressively- to hurt someone physically or verbally 3. Indulging yourself- excessive indulgence (shopping, eating, drinking) 4. Blaming yourself- irrational and negative self-talk 5. Defense mechanisms- avoidance strategies (Weiten et al., 2014)  Table 1. Common Defense Mechanisms (Weiten et al., 2014) 6 Defense Mechanisms Examples Repression- keeping distressing thoughts Traumatized soldiers with no recollection of details of a and feelings buried in the unconscious close encounter with death Projection- attributing one’s thoughts, A student who dislikes his teacher but tries to think he feelings, or motives to another person likes her and feels it is the teacher who does not like him Displacement- diverting emotions After being shouted at by her dad, she takes her anger on (usually anger) from the original source to her little brother a substitute target Regression- reversion to immature An adult throwing a tantrum patterns of behavior Rationalization- creation of false but A student watching TV instead of studying and saying plausible excuses to justify unacceptable that additional TV wouldn’t help anyway behavior Identification- bolstering self-esteem by An insecure teenager join a fraternity to boost his self- forming an imaginary or real alliance with esteem some person or group  Since stress will always be part of our lives, it is best that we handle it constructively. There are three categories of positive coping strategies. Constructive coping tactics Figure 7. constructive coping tactics (Weiten, 2014) Appraisal-focused Problem-focused Appraisal-focused strategies strategies strategies Detecting and disputing Active problem Releasing pent-up negative self-talk solving emotions Rational thinking Seeking social support Distracting oneself Using positive Enhancing time Managing hostile reinterpretation management feelings Finding humor in the Improving self control Meditating situation Becoming more Using systematic Turning to religion assertive relaxation procedures  “When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body’s response to stress.” -Kelly McGonigal Having an optimistic mindset is also helpful in dealing with stress. Optimism is “a general tendency to expect good outcomes” (Weiten, 2014, p. 64). Being optimistic does not mean not being able to think of the bad things, it just means choosing not to focus on it. Numerous studies across the years have proven that optimism has a significant correlation with mental health and physical well-being. Optimists had about half as many infectious illness and visits to doctors as did pessimists (Peterson & Seligman, 1987, as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p. 498) Chang (1998) found that people with optimistic beliefs felt less helpless in the face of stress and adjusted better to negative life events than did pessimists (as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p. 498). Optimistic people are at lowered risk of anxiety and depression when confronted with stressful events (Passer & Smith, 2007, p. 498) Optimism may significantly influence mental and physical well- being by the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as well as by adaptive behaviors and cognitive responses, associated with greater flexibility, problem-solving capacity and more efficient elaboration of negative information (Conversano et al., 2010, para. 2)  Question: Identify one stressor you are currently or regularly experiencing and give specific example of how you are going to overcome it using the three categories of constructive strategies.  Stress and Filipinos: The Social and Cultural Dimensions of Success By now, we already have an understanding that what we consider stressful is subjective and dependent on our perspective – which is highly influenced by our social and cultural experience (Weiten, 2014). As Tan (2006) puts it: “Not enough’s being done to understanding stress in its local context, yet stress is mediated through culture: from the very nature of the stressors, to the ways we respond to the stress” (para. 8). This challenges us to conduct research about stress in the Philippines in various contexts and population respondents. What we Filipinos may consider stressful may not be stressful to other cultures and vice-versa. This may be experience with our encounter with tourists, international guests, relatives who grew up in other cultures, international peers, friends, colleagues, or by visiting or working in a different country. According to Tan (2006), one of our Filipino cultures/behavior is that we get “so attracted to home and hearth that we even have a term namamahay, missing home, to describe a range of symptoms, from insomnia to constipation that plagues us when we are away from home”(para.24). Being labelled as hospital culture, we see or experience our kababayan, fellow Filipinos, lavishly preparing food for guest or visitors even if it means being in debt or having none left for the family. This may be the reason why we may easily regard other as selfish when they do not offer to share their food. Simple communication in our everyday lives may lead to stress when we give and get a response such as “okay lang.”We hear or maybe are guilty of conversation like: “Do you want to have some?” “Okay lang.”The indirect answer hoping to be interpreted as how the speaker want it to be may pose possible conflicts.  Our culture, still patriarchal and of close family ties also determine what could stress us out or not and how we deal with it. It can also be observed that Filipinos parents or adults often us specific social roles, mostly to scare the children instead of encouraging them or highlighting the positive and relevance. We usually hear the threats to kids like: “papaalisin ka ng guard,” “Ayan na yung nurse, tuturukan ka,” “Lagot ka kay teacher” or “Sige ka, magiging basurero ka.” “How you think and how you act transform your experience of stress” -Kelly McGonigal Being aware of cultural and social influences can help us have a better understanding of ourselves, of why we have a certain existing mindset and how it came to be looking into the culture and social influences we have. Understanding ourselves better fortunately also helps us to improve for the better understanding others as well. Knowing more about our culture and others may hone us to become more considerate, forgiving, or patient rather than being judgmental or over critical of other’s actions or inventing ideas of other’s intentions and motives.  Taking Care of Self We cannot give what we do not have, an old adage that makes such relevant sense in most, if not all, aspects of our life. We have to learn how to take care of ourselves before we can properly take care of others. 1. HEALTH LITERACY – includes: the capacity of individuals to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. 2.SELF-AWARENESS OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITION – includes: knowing your body mass index (BMI), cholesterol level, blood pressure; engaging in health screening. 3.PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - practicing moderate intensity physical activity such as walking, cycling, or participating in sports at a desirable frequency. 4.HEALTH EATING- includes: having a nutritious, balanced diet with appropriate levels of calorie intake. 5.RISK AVOIDANCE OR MITIGATION- includes: quitting tobacco, limiting alcohol use, getting vaccinated, practicing safe sex, using sunscreens. 6. GOOD HYGIENE- includes: washing hands regularly, brushing teeth, washing food. 7.RATIONAL AND RESPONSIBLE USE OF PRODUCTS, SERVICES, DIAGNOSTICS AND MEDICINES- for example: being aware of dangers. The seven pillars of self-care is really a call to go back to the basics, once more making us realize and emphasizing that most of what we need is really, already, within us and within our reach. It is just up to us to be committed in consistently taking care of ourselves so we can win over stress and its potential negative effects to our physical and mental health. “Caring [for others and self] creates resilience.” -Kelly McGonigal  Taking care of ourselves is holistic, it fosters hardiness - “ a disposition marked by a commitment, challenge, and control that is associated with strong stress resistance”. It also strengthens our coping self-efficacy – which is the “ belief that we can perform the behaviors necessary to cope successfully – an important protective factor ” (Bandura, 1989 as cited in Passer, p. 498). Lastly, finding meaning in stressful life events through positive spiritual beliefs also help us cope with stress better (Davis et al., 1998 as cited in Passer &Smith, 2007). THANK YOU FOR LISTENING ! GOD BLESS !