--Original published at Sierra's College Blog

How do you manage or cope with different levels of stress. It seems almost everyone in the world experiences stress in some way or another. It does not matter how old someone is or even one’s occupation. Since there are multiple people with stress occurring each and every day, some psychologists have given ways and examples to manage the stress. Now I am going to take a look at three different sources, each specifically written for a certain audience, to determine whether or not the stress management tips seem to be successful based on my previous background knowledge.

The first website I have viewed explains stress management advice for sports and athletes. This website’s article, “Stress Management Techniques for Sports,” is written by Christie Morton. Morton explains how athletes can be under much stress due to how well they perform. This stress can be caused from multiple different variables, including coaches, teammates, parents, and one’s own self. By examining research from a 2003 study, Morton suggests three helpful tips for stress management. She believes cognitive restructuring, visualization, and guided relaxation can be beneficial. For cognitive restructuring, Morton explains the significance for athletes in finding a balance between the stressful events and the not so stressful ones. After a game or practice, athletes can write down the pros and cons. They are able to then make a plan for the future to work on the imperfections. She describes how this has been beneficial for athletes in the Olympics of 1988. Next, she discusses the importance of visualization, which allows athletes to imagine themselves performing and accomplishing their goals. This allows athletes to have higher self-confidence. Lastly, she explains how guided relaxation can lower cortisol levels and work on the focusing of one’s breathing.

After viewing Morton’s suggestions, I am able to see whether or not they will be successful for athletes. I believe all three of the techniques provided will be successful for athletes. Cognitive restructuring is important, and relates to cognitive responses to stress we have talked about in class. Here an athlete is able to realize he or she can get past the stress and move forward. In chapter eleven of our textbook and class lectures, visualization and relaxation is also described to help lower stress. These two steps involve imagery and mindfulness meditation. The athletes imagine themselves crossing the finish line, completing a new skill, or even getting the winning point. With relaxation, an athlete is able to improve his or her health. As chapter eleven explains stress, a state of mindfulness can focus an athlete’s attention, regulate his or her emotions, and allow calmness in difficult situations. Relaxation is beneficial and helps decrease depressive outlooks on life. I believe all three techniques will be successful for athletes.

The second website provides helpful ways to decrease stress for students. “Student Guide to Surviving Stress and Anxiety in College & Beyond” is written by Melissa Cohen. She discusses how stress can be both positive and negative, depending on the certain situation and the extent in which it is expressed. She gives plenty of resources for college students to use, and she even allows you to rate your own stress. Moving away from home, the heavy work load, finances, and future aspirations are all reasons for why college students may stress. With these factors in mind, college students can decrease some anxiety by getting sleep, thinking positively, having a stress free space, relaxing, and talking to others. Sleep is important and can help get students through the next day, and positive reinforcement will create less depressive thoughts or feelings. Cohen describes how relaxation is beneficial, and even meditation can be productive. Lastly, she explains how talking to another person and sharing one’s feelings can decrease stress.

I am able to determine which of the stress management techniques are going to be beneficial, based off my previous knowledge of stress. The first step for students is to get enough sleep. I think this is very crucial because we continue to emphasize this point in lectures and through class. Getting an adequate amount of sleep will decrease negative moods and strengthen the body. It also will help people feel reenergized and alert, instead of having fatigue. Thinking positively is also beneficial, as seen in the textbook. People who act and see life in a happy view, will also likely have a positive view of the world. As stated earlier, relaxing and finding a space where one can be free from stress will result in a decrease of anxiety. Also, I believe the last strategy for students is great because it allows someone to have social support. It is healthy to vent your feelings to someone and get stressful things off your chest. A social support system can encourage a student to persevere and tackle any problem in the future.

Lastly, the third website suggests stress management tips for parents who want a healthy family.  The American Psychological Association (APA) has published this article, and they explain how many parents feel stress each day due to their responsibilities. This stress is then passed on to their children, who follow in the same paths. APA suggests parents take a couple steps to improve their lives and decrease the stress levels. This website encourages parents to evaluate their lifestyles, talk about their stress, create a healthy home, focus on one’s self, and change one habit at a time. By evaluating the lifestyle, a parent can see whether or not he or she responds to stress negatively or positively. Open communication allows a family to share thoughts and feelings. A neat and organized home decreases stress levels as well. It is important to create a healthy self by eating right, getting enough sleep, and exercising. Lastly, it is crucial to take one step at a time, so this plan does not become too stressful.

These suggestions to stress seem useful and helpful for parents. If parents evaluate their lifestyles, it can mean new or old habits can be incorporated for the family. A bad habit, such as eating junk food, is more likely to occur when one is feeling depressed. This example involves exercising, which is able to decrease stress when done regularly. It can be beneficial mentally and physically for a parent. By having positive emotions, a parent will be more inclined to make healthier food. Open communication is also a beneficial technique because it involves coping with a social network. This social network can make stress a little easier by discussing problems and finding solutions. If a parent focuses on himself or herself first, he or she will be able to have more self-esteem and confidence. This will then allow the parents to focus more time with their children. Lastly, I believe taking one step at a time is great too because you do not want to add additional stress on top of the stress you already have. Gradually adding steps to decrease the stress will be the most beneficial.

Overall, there are multiple ways to handle and lower stress levels for different scenarios. Many of the tips and suggestions from these three websites give a great overview of some beneficial ways to work on decreasing stress levels for different audiences. Two other examples for coping with stress includes self-indulgence (to a degree) and finding a religious network. There are numerous other sites which also provide suggestions to help manage the anxiety through life. I believe looking at these websites, as well as our textbook, has given me numerous options to decrease my own stress levels.

Links:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/371195-stress-management-techniques-for-sports/

https://www.learnpsychology.org/student-stress-anxiety-guide/

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/managing-stress.aspx

--Original published at Rachel's Blog

Many people experience stress, which can be defined as a response to a situation that threatens one’s sense of well being.  Stressors are something that triggers a stress response which can be something little like stressing over a test, or it can be something bigger like medical concerns.  Whether the stressor is small or long lasting, both can cause people large amounts of stress which can affect their everyday life.  Stress can target many different audiences such as college students, athletes, and parents, and for each specific group, there can be different coping mechanisms.

The first audience that this can relate to is college students.  This is because college students are under high levels of stress because there is much more work to be completed, and the professors expect more out of the students.  Especially freshman, they find that their first semester is very stressful, so it is important for these students and all students to develop new habits so that they can get used to things since it will be different than high school.  According to the University of Michigan, there are pros and cons to stress.  A pro is that it can help you avoid danger, and it can keep you motivated.  If stress builds up, this can affect different things such as sleeping, concentration, and school work.  They suggest a few ways to try to manage or reduce the amount of stress you are having.  The first way is to find a balance in your schedule, which means to find time for what must get done, like attending class and finishing homework, but then also find time to relax and give yourself a mental break.  This forces you to have a good sense of time management, which is an essential skill to everyday life.  A second suggestion is to start a journal.  This would be helpful because you could write down everything that is causing you to feel stressed.  When these thoughts are written down, if it is school related, you could then prioritize what is needed to be completed first, and then you can cross items off of the list, which will give you satisfaction.  A third way to manage stress is to have good sleeping habits.  Usually college students will stay up late at night trying to finish homework, but this can cause you to feel worse off because you will be sleep deprived, causing you to feel more stressed.  I think that these strategies provided will be successful because finding a balance and having good sleep habits are essential to life even after college.  These strategies are adaptive strategies because they are aiming to improve the situation without causing other problems.

The second audience this topic can relate to is athletes.  This is because athletes have a lot to focus on all at one time such as homework, practices, games, and training outside of practice to prepare.  This can cause them stress because there is so much to do in so little time.  The author Christie Morton, of the article, “Stress Management techniques for Sports,” says that there are three components to managing stress.  The first is cognitive restructuring, which “helps you think through a situation.”  The way to perform this is to write down what is making you feel stressed, write down your thoughts about it, and then write down how you plan to overcome the situation.  The message of this is to plan ahead and write down ways to improve yourself for the future.  The second part is all about visualization, which means that you see yourself achieving a goal that you set for yourself.  An example could be seeing yourself medal at a track meet, or scoring a goal during your soccer game.  This motivates you to keep going, and it will make you get through some of the hardest moments while training.  A third part is guided relaxation, which could be playing calming music so that you can relax your muscles.  By listening to calming music and doing deep breathing exercises, this will help relax your muscles because they will not be as tense as they are when stressed.  I also think that these strategies will be helpful because a part of overcoming tough situations is believing in yourself that you can do it.  This could go along with self- indulgence because it can be stressful to play a sport, but you can do something pleasant to deal with stress which could be having a pass with someone or shooting a basketball which deals with your sport, but does not cause you to feel more stressed.

The final audience that this can relate to is parents.  This is because they are worried about finances, work, and raising a family.  One way is to talk about problems or stress with your children.  If you notice that they are stressed it would be best to approach them and ask them to talk about what is on their mind.  If you are able to have this conversation with your children, then it might help them a little bit because they know that someone is willing to help them.  Also, this will lead to good communication which can help when it comes to problem solving.  This could be seen as emotion- focused coping because it will help parents to focus on feelings that their children have due to a stressor.  A second way is to create a healthy environment.  Different areas around you can contribute to stress, so trying to work in a different area could be beneficial.  Also, cleaning up messy areas can help because it will make you feel less stressed and it is something that you can control.  Finally, it is important to change one habit at a time.  If you try to change multiple things all at once, you will be overwhelmed, and it can cause you to feel stressed, which is what you are trying to avoid.  Also, changing one thing at a time can lead to success, which can then encourage you to accomplish more.  I think that these strategies provided will be successful because it is important to take things one step at a time, and to have good communication skills.  This could be considered as adaptive strategy because parents are trying to improve the situation without having other problems arise.

http://campusmindworks.org/students/self_care/managing_stress.asp

https://www.livestrong.com/article/371195-stress-management-techniques-for-sports/

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/managing-stress.aspx

--Original published at Madison's Blog

Stress can come about in many different forms for different groups of people. Student stress varies from athlete stress, which is different than a parent’s stress. All of these groups of people can have different ways to reduce their feelings of stress. Not all methods work properly, which can be harmful to the individual since they can actually cause more stress.

Stress Management For Students:

Students seem to deal with the most amount of stress in their daily lives. Students in  higher level education tend to have the highest levels of stress, which can lead to emotional health problems if not resolved. Students can experience three main types of stress, which are daily life hassles, social, and academic. Methods commonly used to reduce stress are, time management skills, exercise, staying positive, organization, stopping procrastination, and spending time with friends. Some of these methods seem more beneficial than others in helping reduce stress. The suggestion to not procrastinate seems like a natural thought for a student. I do not think it is a effective method to reduce stress, since most of the time procrastination is intentional. The student knows he/she is doing it. I feel a better method in place of this is to prioritize assignments, so you cannot push off large assignments that are due.

On the flip side, I think that time management is key to college life. You need to be able to do all your work efficiently, so it can all get done on time. I also think that exercise is a great way to reduce stress. It allows good hormones to be released into the body, which in turn relaxes the body and mind. Organization can also be make or break for a student. I think being organized helps reduce stress for the simple reason that you do not have to think about what is next. Making a check list for the week of assignments to get done can help ease the mind. You have everything written down, so there is no need to think about what to do next, since it is there for you. Overall, I think some methods can be more beneficial to students than others.

https://psychcentral.com/blog/stress-management-tips-for-students/

Stress Management For Athletes:

Athletes have a lot on their plates when it comes to dealing with stress. They have to be able to combat life stress, school stress, and also their competitive training stress. Stress is very pivotal in an athletes life, since it can make or break them. A small amount of stress has been shown to enhance an athletes abilities, but too much is harmful. Balancing the daily life struggles of stress from different areas can cause damage to an athlete. Our bodies cannot tell the difference between life stress, school stress, and athletic stress, so too much has a direct effect on immune system and hormonal balance. Methods to help athletes stress less is to not train too hard too fast. Training should be an act of progression, to enable the body to repair itself. Many athletes train everyday, all day, and they think it is helping them get stronger. Actually is is hurting their bodies, and this causes stress. Progressively training can help lower that type of stress. Another method to reduce stress is to do yoga instead of a vigorous exercise class. Yoga can provide physical and mental benefits for all athletes. It also increases core strength, concentration, flexibility, and lung function.

I think that yoga is a great way to reduce stress in any situation. Athletes can benefit from it, since it gives such great health bonuses. It can help with all types of stress related to athletes, so it can really help them. Yoga can ease the mind and body to help repair itself after a long day of exercise. I think that the method of training less aggressively can help the athlete see that training is not everything in a sport. A healthy mind also matters in life and in the game.

http://www.oksportsandfitness.com/StressedAthlete.php

Stress Management For Parents:

Parents tend to deal with stress in different ways than other groups of people. They have to hide it more, since they are the role models to their growing family. Parents destress more often, since they encounter more stressors during their days. Types of stress they encounter are, family stress, work stress, financial stress, and more. Methods for parents to reduce stress vary, since the stress also varies on a wide range. Typically, parents will use breathing exercises, wake up earlier to have alone time in the morning, write things down so you do not rely on memory, plan ahead of time, leave time for unexpected events, and be optimistic. These are just a few of the hundreds of ways parents can lower their stress levels. I think that parents have the most options to reduce stress. The options are endless, since they can use different smaller ways to destress more. I think that for parents, stress can hit harder, since their lives cannot stop for them.

I feel the methods can work well, since they do not require a lot of time. Small things can make a big difference in a life. I think the option to write things down can be tedious to a parent, since their might not be a list readily available. Maybe typing things in the notes feature of a cell phone would be more practical and handy. I like the idea of waking up earlier than the rest of the family to have alone time. Even a small amount of quiet time can be very beneficial to the mind, and it can help reduce stress levels. The parents can plan the day and have peace all in one time slot. I think that is a great idea for anyone who needs some alone time.

https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/family-living/stress/#.WtImt4jwY2w

Overall, I think that stress can effect anyone, but in different ways. Students face stress in a different way than athletes and parents. Different aspects of life adversely affect people of other groups, age, genders, and more. The coping skills discussed can work for any situation, and are not limited to the groups included. All methods of reducing stress can benefit different people facing different situations.