- A bodily reaction to the perception that we are under threat.
- stress is a "help" response designed by your body to help you deal with certain situations.
- It's not the situations causing you stress, it is your body's "helper" response.
- But more often than not it does more help than good (just like allergies and those responses)
- stress is designed to help you to *fight as hard as you can* and *run away as fast as you can* to be used in life or death situations.
- *fight or flight* response
- when the stress response is triggered a host of changes take place in our bodies including
- increase heart rate
- increase in pulse volume
- increased respiration
- rise in blood sugar to fuel muscles
- increase blood supply to the large muscles through vasodilation, the widening of blood vessels in these muscles.
- decreased blood supply to the skin and the digestive system via vasoconstriction, the narrowing of blood vessels in these areas. (maybe that's why we feel so sick when we are stressed haha)
- the release of endorphins (natural painkillers) to prevent us from being disabled or slowed down by the pain of injury.
- senses become more acute
- time may seem to slow down
- you become able to focus on specific vital tasks
- less able to focus on multiple complex tasks.
- creative thinking declines
- a desire to move takes over
- emotions intensified
- desire to escape
- anger
In a nut shell stress should cause you to be stronger, faster, more focused, and more resistant to pain when the stress response is activated.
-these responses were designed for the primitive world. today they may worsen stressful situations.
Write down one of the situations in which you felt yourself becoming stressed in the past week:
- Well in the past week my mom was out of town and I was watching brynn and zac. I had made a commitment to katie parker to watch her kids early in the week and arranged with my dad that he would watch brynn and zac so I could go babysitting. So I got my work schedule covered at abercrombie and thought I had everything all set. Zac asked if he could have a sleepover with his friend travis and I said yes because I thought that my dad was still planning on watching them. So then my dad had a last minute meeting that he had to go to and I had to take brynn and zac and travis over to babysit four other little kids. And to top it off we were late because we were trying to get everyone out the door.
- Running away and screaming really would not have helped me cope with this situation. But it did help me be able to drive faster and run out the door quicker to get there on time. hahaha
- I did want to escape the situation but I couldn't because I had like fifty things I was responsible for at that moment.
- haha Physically attacking someone would not have helped.
- Yes I did want to physically attack someone hahaha doesn't matter who.. anyone would have done.
How do we turn off the stress response?
- you can deal with the situation itself. (confronting the person responsible and clear it up)
- re-evaluate your appraisal. Perhaps you are making too much of the situation. don't overanalyze.
- You can deal with the bodily response itself by using relaxation techniques.
- make some lifestyle changes that will increase your resistance to stress
Building stress related resistance:
- exercise
- eat well: choose salad over fries, simple stuff.
- get enough sleep: make this top priority. It's a huge factor
- watch your caffeine intake: this stimulates the stress response
- lead a balanced life: moderate the tasks that you try and take on. it's ok to say no sometimes and block out things you don't need to do like facebooking, television, and other time wasting activities.
examining your appraisals:
- a minor situation that caused great stress in me was when... I was late for babysitting.
"people are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them." -epictetus (p36)
- To me being late meant that I was being irresponsible and that she wouldn't trust me again and that she would think that I was a flake and didn't put priority on her request.
- Other possible explanations may have been that I was feeling stressed because I was unexpectedly having to take three extra kids and didn't know how to deal with all of them. They could have been that my dad wasn't listening to me and forgot that I needed him that night and that was adding to it. It could have also been that travis's mom would be mad that I was taking him to a house that she didn't know. the possibilities are endless.
Ask yourself these questions about the resons for your stress:
- is my life in danger? stress is a response designed to save your life. you don't need to be tense.
- will being tense help the situation? tension is really only good for fighting and running.
- what is the worst thing that could happen?
- do a three column form:
(situation) (automatic thoughts) (the truth)
Calming the stress response:
another way of handling tension is to calm the stress response is to calm the stress response directly.
- insert a gap: get away from the trigger situation for a while. go for a walk or meditate. or leave a gap before you respond if you can't take that kind of break.
- burn it off: exercise!!!
- breathe: breathe deeply instead of shallowly. practice deep belly breathing daily.
-things I need to work on:
- enough sleep
- eating healthy
- exercise
- overanalyzing
plans for implementing changes:
- instead of facebooking stupidly like a moron do my homework early and set a specific time.... 10:30 also wash face early enough that I'm not putting it off till the last minute. wash my face before I start my homework.
- think about what and why I am eating... don't eat out of boredom. don't eat junk.
- set aside time for exercising. early on the mornings when I don't have school.
