United Campus Ministry

Stress Management

B. What is meant by stress. A medical researcher Dr. Hans Selye, a endocrinologist introduced the concept of stress as a research topic. He saw how events in life had an effect on the systems of the body. Stress can be defined as the result of when the various demands of life tax and exceed the adaptive resources of an individual. Basically stress is outside pressure from the that can make us feel tense and anxious. The stress reaction of the body is natural and the body does not distinguish between good or negative stressors.

C. What are these demands? The major ongoing ones are marital difficulties, financial difficulties, and work problems. Other ones are personal loss, illness, and family changes. Too many changes at one time in these area can cause stress.

E. There are two basic ways we can respond to stressful situations.

One, we can take direction action by using problem solving skills that seek to modify the actual stress.

The other way is seek to alleviate the stress by relieving the impact of stress without actually changing the stressful situation.

1. Talk things over with a friend or trusted counselor.

2. Take a break and get a change of pace.

3. Learn to relax, even if just for a few moments here and there.

4. Exercise regularly at whatever you enjoy.

5. If possible, avoid too many big changes at any one time.

6. Take care of yourself by eating right and getting enough sleep.

7. Finally, avoid self medication, especially alcohol, as this does not get at the root cause of stress by only serves to mask the symptoms.