Stress

What is stress? Stress is anything that physically, emotionally, and psychologically, pressures you. Any effort on your part whether its trying out for the basketball team, preparing for an upcoming exam, establishing an outline for a paper, requires some degree of stress. Stress is an everyday part of many of our lives. Without some stress in our lives, they would seem boring and dull. Stress can be both positive and negative. In that while it is difficult to handle at one time, at moderate doses, it can be a motivator and contribute to our happiness and success at another time. Stress is not only desirable but essential to life. Whether your stressful situation is the result of a major life change or the effects of minor everyday hassles, it is how you respond to it that determines if it is harmful.

Stress or distress There is a type of stress that can be harmful. Distress can be defined as continual stress that requires you to constantly readjust and adapt. Too subject to great strain or difficulties. For example, having a major that your do not like can produce feelings of frustration, defeat, and discouragement. If these symptoms last long enough, they can result in fatigue, exhaustion and even physical or mental breakdown. The healthiest way to avoid distress is to seek work or tasks that you are (1) capable of doing, (2) you really enjoy (3) other people appreciate. In addition, have available places that will allow you to participate in activities that you enjoy, that help you to relax. Your friends, family, peers, and school can be positive resources for challenging good stress or harmful distress. How do you react to stress? You experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts: Environment - Your surroundings bombard you with the demands to adjust. Physiological- Your response to environmental threats and changes along with the rapid growth of adolescence, menopause in women, aging, illness, accidents, poor eating habits and exercise, and sleep difficulties produce physiological changes that are stressful. Thoughts - Your brain interprets and translates complex changes in your environment and decides when to fight or flight. How you perceive and label each experience in your present and future life can either relax or stress you. You may not be consciously aware of the ways in which you respond to stressful events. However, there are signs/symptoms of difficult to manage stress: Psychological Behavioral Psychosomatic Short Fuse Drug/Use Abuse Ulcers Irritability Alcohol Use/Abuse High Blood Pressure Depression Smoking Insomnia Frustration Strained Relationships Indigestion Emotional Irritability Eating Problems Headaches Insecurity Suicide Other Cardiovascular Mental Illness Violence Body Infections Anxiety Impulsive/ Irregular Pulse rate Irrational Behavior What are some possible ways we can handle stress? Stress is a part of living and may never be eliminated from your life. However, you do have the ability to better manage and react to the stress that occurs in your life. When stress becomes overwhelming and hard to handle, there are healthy resources that can help you deal with it. Here are some techniques for alleviating stress: Relaxation Techniques Deep Breathing Taking a Walk Exercising Backwards Counting Imagery Meditation Positive Self-Talk Listening to Relaxing Music Talking to Someone Have a good cry Have a massage Take up a new hobby In addition to the previously mentioned techniques for managing stress, the magazine Current Health, vol. 3, no.8, provided other suggestions on how to live with stress: Learn to accept what you cannot change - if your have no control in a situation, learn to accept what you cannot change. Avoid self-medication - Although there are many drugs available that camouflage or attempt to ward off psychological pain, they are temporary relief and do not help you adjust to the stress yourself. Get enough sleep and rest - Lack of sleep can make you feel more irritable and decrease your ability to deal with stress. Balance work and recreation -Have available time for recreation to help relax your mind. Do something for others - Sometimes when you are distressed, you spend the majority of your time and energy concentrating on yourself and the stressful situation. Doing something for someone else can help to get the focus from yourself. Take one thing at a time - Learn to prioritize things in your life. Attempting to tackle all the tasks in your life can be defeating. Give in once in a while - If you notice that other people are the source of your stress, try giving in instead of fighting and insisting that you are always right. Perhaps others will begin to give in, too. Make yourself available - If your life feels dull and boring, get involved. Isolation and withdrawal will make you more frustrated.

A Quick Relaxation Technique: Deep Breaths: Take a very deep breath, hold it for about 10 seconds, and exhale as if you are blowing up a balloon. Exhale as much of the air from you lungs as possible. Breathe normally for about 15-20 seconds, and repeat. Breathe normally another 15-20 seconds and repeat a third time. Circular Breathing: Take shallow, "tummy breaths" paying particular attention to there being a comfortable, constant flow without holding your breath between inhale and exhale and inhale. This is the most relaxed kind of breathing and it usually causes the rest of your body to become more relaxed. Letting Go: While sitting in a comfortable chair, or better still, while lying down, use you imagination to attempt to let gravity take over your body. Don’t fight against gravity at all. Let gravity win. This is a good way to trick your muscles into becoming more relaxed. Quick Meditation: Every time you inhale think the words "I AM" and when you exhale, think the word "RELAXED." Do this for about five minutes or more. Although it may feel silly if you’ve never meditated before, eventually the boring repetition of the nice words causes your mind to become more relaxed. NOTE: Although it may be ideal to find a quiet place and progress through all four of these steps, it is very useful to perform any one of these steps very often throughout each day. Relaxation is a learned response and it takes a while for the brain to learn how to send out relaxation signals without using tricks like those above. So do the above often and, over the next few months you will react less intensely to stress. If it doesn’t seem to help, please stop in to see us at your counseling services.

Your Counseling Service:Timely, confidential, and professional assistance is available at the UniversityPsychological Services Center(8:00am – 5:00pm, M-F) for UC students located at 316 Dyer Hall. Phone (513-556-0648) or stop in for a no-charge screening interview.

Web Resources: The best psychology sites with valuable information and links to hundreds of other sites on the World Wide Web are Psych Centralby Dr. John Grohol and Internet Mental Health.   Click Here to read a good article from APA.  Another site that you may find useful that deals with issues of suicide is the SAVE Site at: http://www.save.org

This fact sheet is provided as a service by the University of Cincinnati Psychological Services Center and the Division of Student Affairs and Services. This fact sheet was prepared by Dr. Kellie Warren and the professional staff of the Psychological Services Center.