Tag Archives: Stress

Spotlight #2

--Original published at Rachel Bickelman's PSY 105 Blog

Website 1: Athletes – https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/perfect-method-reduces-athlete-stress

The first website provides stress management tips for athletes using the “P.E.R.F.E.C.T.” acronym. This method os stress management targets building one’s self-esteem and managing the pressure athletes may feel from their coaches or selves. The P.E.R.F.E.C.T. acronym is as follows: positive self talk, embracing adversity, reverse engineering, focusing on the now, evolve, chill out, and talk it out. Positive self talks and embracing adversity are important because each can affect secondary appraisal, if athletes build up their confidence towards handling stress and having the belief they are capable of reaching their goals, stress will diminish. Secondary appraisal is key in combating stress because the belief in oneself to overcome stress has a key impact in how stress plays a role in everyday life. Those with low secondary appraisal will not manage their stress as people will high secondary appraisal because they will feel incapable, hopeless, and weak. Reverse engineering could also manage stress, this tip is a problem-approach to stress meaning it logically tackles the root the problem and finds different solutions to the stressors. While the problem based technique works psychologists highlight the importance of tackling the emotional repercussions of stress. This emotion based stress management is incorporated through the “chill out” and “talk it out.” These techniques are helpful for when athletes may get in their head and rather than tackling the stressor logically, may need emotional support to help them cope. It is known that self-disclosure to trusted peers and mentors is important in stress reduction. Additionally, everybody has a different way of dealing with stress, so the website also suggest evolving, trying new hobbies. By doing so, the website states having different endeavors can help diversify your life, i.e. get away from stressors, and allow athletes to grow. While finding something one is passionate about and enjoys may aid in stress management, it could also add to the stress if the athlete is continually ignoring the stressors and simply substituting it for different activities; thus, they would not fix the stressor itself. A majority of these strategies are both cognitive and behavioral; all are adaptive as they do not add in complications or stressors.

Website 2: Children/Parents – https://psychcentral.com/lib/7-tips-for-helping-your-child-manage-stress/

PsychCentral presents 7 tips to reduce stress in children. These tips highlight problem-focused coping to teach children how to problem-solve and approach stressors in a healthy manner versus maladaptive coping strategies like food, drugs, alcohol, or self-harm. By doing so, children can learn primary appraisal, how to quantify and understand the stressor. These tips are problem-focused coping because it effects the stressor at its source; the website suggests avoiding over scheduling children and allowing them time to play. The emotion-focused coping suggested includes talking to children and ensuring they know mistakes are not setbacks. This could increase secondary appraisal, and foster kid’s belief in themselves to cope with stress and overcome stressors. An additional tip is just for parents recommending they show as little stress around their children as possible to prevent both lashing out, unhealthy self-disclosure, and observational learning. If children see their parents coping with stress in unhealthy ways, observational learning will take place and children will mimic the parent’s ways. Finally, the website suggests reminding children to assess how they are feeling. It is important to remember the physiological and biological consequences of stress especially because of its correlation with future health status.

Website 3: Students – https://campusmindworks.org/help-yourself/self-care/managing-stress/

The University of Michigan has a website page dedicated to stress management and coping. Again they offer mostly problem-focused coping strategies and while problem solving is important in coping with stress, usually a mixture of both problem and emotional strategies are necessary. The webpage does include self-disclosure, or “venting” to friends and family. They incorporate optimism into many of their strategies, which is a good tip. Optimism has shown to be a quality of those with better quality of life and longer lives. The webpage also highlights to avoid pushing yourself too hard, this is important when considering general adaptation syndrome. When the body is exposed to stressors for too long, it reaches exhaustion since its resistance has been depleted. Another coping strategy the webpage includes is meditation, breathing exercises, and visual imagery. Visual imagery has its benefits; because the brain is so easily influenced, imagining relaxing sceneries and engaging your senses with those relaxing environment can help in temporarily reducing stress. This type of stress coping strategy is part of the mindfulness based stress reduction technique. While the strategies suggested are all good, they mostly focus on problem-solving tactics and do not highlight the importance of regular exercise and social support.

 

Spotlight 2 – Option 2

--Original published at AlyssaM

Source 1: College Students

The first source lists 10 ways for college students to manage their stress. Several of them we discussed in class as beneficial such as, exercise, getting enough sleep, having a social support system, and taking a moment to breathe. However, there were a few the article listed that were not discussed in class. One is to eat well, or so it suggests. There is not a lot of support backing it up and simply claims it is “leading to lower threshold for stress,” yet it provides no evidence. I feel eating well would only benefit health and has nothing to do with stress. If people tried only eating better, they would not be successful in dealing with their stress because it is not dealing with the stressor in an Emotion-Focused Coping or Problem-Focused Coping method.

Secondly, the article mentions “avoiding unnatural energy boosters” such as energy drinks students are addicted to. For this they claim it deals with stress because then it doesn’t result in sleep lost. Really the issue here is the sleep not the energy drinks and they hardly provide incite as to that. This method could work, if the energy from the boosters are keeping the individual awake at night, but otherwise it may not always be the best method.

The article suggests making time for passions, even if there is a ton of work to be done. Doing something one enjoys, is a good way to de-stress and it helps most people put it from their mind. I agree that this method is a strong one in dealing with stress, although it does not eliminate the stressor because it is using the Emotion-Focused Coping to do something fun that the individual enjoys – while the stressor is right there still waiting. Generally though, this is a good method and works well taking the college student’s minds away from the work and deadlines to have a little own-self-time.

Source 2: Parents

Parents like teens stress a lot, even if they never let it show, so this article has a few suggestions as to what they can do to deal with it. One they mention seeking guidance from professionals, such as a therapist or a psychologist. This can be a good method because the psychologists are well informed on the topic and that is there job to help others with their situation. It can be a successful method, but it may not work for every parent due to not having time to fit it in, or they don’t want to get outside help.

Luckily, this article has backup suggestions in case one of the methods do not work for everyone. The second it suggests is an effective method, spending time with family and putting all other tasks aside. Having a good time with family is a good way to take the mind off, while (potentially) engaging in exercise like running around the yard, or playing a game of soccer with the dog. Plus this method helps strength the bond between those all involved in the time, regardless if it is exercise or sitting together for a meal. Being around people that care about you and you care for helps ease one’s mind.

However, as the article suggests it is important to take time for oneself as well, otherwise one could get emotionally exhausted. Every now and then even parents need to take alone time and do something they want to do like reading a book because it will refresh their mind.

The article also suggests using support systems. As discussed in class having good close friends and social groups to raise one up, is a great method. The friends can be there to be a shoulder to lean upon in to help emotionally if needed, or they may offer advice as to what to do to get rid of the stress that is hanging above the parent like a storm cloud. As we know from class and reading the studies in the textbook, it is important to have a support group because every now and then we all need a friend to tell us it is going to be okay.

Source 3: Writers

Finally, the source I chose deals with stress management for writers. I myself am a writer, so I know what methods do and don’t work for me at least. However, one of my methods to dealing with stress is writing, so that is a different story.

The article starts off by suggesting the writer sets a realistic goal. I understand how hard it can be to reach getting to a certain point by a certain day. However, I the article talks about setting goals as in pages or words written, but that can create more stress than it eliminates. Putting the bar too high can definitely add to stress, so I agree making realistic standards is a good idea, but still if it is how much content there is it can create a problem. A better suggestion would be to set a goal of how long to focus on writing each day.

Like the first article, it suggests eating nutrients to add more energy and keep the creative mind thinking. It also suggests exercise again because writers sit a lot, so they need to get up and do more sometimes. I agree these can be helpful methods in this case and are definitely beneficial.

It advises writers if they are stressed to try a different genre of writing. I disagree that this is a good method. Trying a different genre that a writer is not familiar with can create a heck of a lot more stress than initially. It is better to stick with what they know because writers can find comfort in their bubble. Save the experimenting with different genres for when one is not extremely stressed out and using writing as a way to cope.

Another it suggests is imagining the finished result, whether it is the published version, or just finished manuscript. This could be a successful method because it helps the writer remember the end goal and it could create the feeling that the “happy” place we talked about in class can.

A helpful method it suggests is to “free your mind,” which can include Mindfulness Meditation as a way to clear the mind. When it comes to writer’s block it is best not to think about it and let other thoughts wander the brain. Going for a walk or simply changing tasks can help clear the mind and then the imagination will have gotten a chance to replenish and maybe will have formed an idea in the process.

Regardless of all three sources, each method they suggest has its good points and its bad. Still though stress is like a person, it is different for each individual and there is no right way to deal with it; one must find their own methods that are the most beneficial for them.

Spotlight Blog 2 Prompts – Fall 2018

Regardless of which option you choose, make sure to use the tag “Spotlight” on your post. Also include the tag listed for the option you choose below.

Option 1 – Use the tag “Memory”

Now that we’ve discussed how memory works and you’ve had a chance to think about your own study skills, I want you to critically evaluate websites that give students advice about how to study. If you select this option, I want you to find three different websites that provide advice for studying: one targeted toward college students, one targeted toward middle or high school students, and one targeted toward parents. Evaluate the advice provided on each and compare it to what you know about how memory works (include sources), making sure to correct anything you think is bad advice. Be sure to include links to the websites you are evaluating.

Option 2 – Use the tag “Stress”

We’ve discussed a number of different stress management approaches in class, and now I want you to evaluate online resources for stress management. Specifically, I want you to identify three websites that provide stress management tips and discuss how likely you think the strategies they provide are to be successful. Make sure to explain your rationale using what we’ve learned in class and your textbook. Each of the three websites need to be targeted at a different audience but you may select the audiences you want to use (e.g., college students, athletes, parents, artists). Make sure to include links to the websites as part of your post.

Option 3 – Use the tag “Drugs”

One of the largest campaigns to prevent drug use among children was the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. This federal program sought to provide kids with information about the dangers of using drugs, using things like the slogan “Just say no!” While people had high hopes for the program, it ended up being very controversial largely because of how it ended up impacting the rates of drug abuse among children exposed to the program. Research what the data say about the DARE program and argue whether or not it was a successful program. Then take what we learned from DARE and argue whether or not you think similar abstinence-based programs (e.g., sexual education programs) should be used in schools. Make sure to cite your sources.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Thomas Hawk

Chapter 11: First Impression Post

--Original published at Jayln's Perspective

For this blog post, I will be analyzing my current stress management strategies and how they work, and then I will be discussing other strategies which could also be effective in alleviating stress.

As I started college, I don’t think I was completely aware of how stressful it can be at times. Compared to the stress of high school, college stress manifests itself in more intense ways. For example, in high school, my teachers would constantly remind us what assignments were due and when. In college, a lot of knowing what is due falls on the responsibility of the students. This is just a part of the growing up process, but it can be difficult and stressful to adjust to at first. Another part of college that is stressful is learning how to time manage effectively. In high school, we spent the majority of the day in class. This is very different than college because most days, I only have one or two classes, which means that I am only spending about 1-2 hours of the day in class. Even though I am only in class for a couple hours a day, there is a lot more work and reading expected of me. In high school, most of my grades revolved around homework, paper, and in-class assignments. If I did not do as well as I wanted to on a test, there were still a lot of chances for me to earn points back. This is very different from college, and a specific example of this is my Biology class. In Biology, there are no papers, homework, or in-class assignments; instead, the grade received in this class is based on how you perform on quizzes and tests. Since our tests are so high stakes, it creates a very stressful testing situation. I tend to get very anxious as I am taking the exam, and I am sure this affects my performance.

In order to cope with stress, I make myself a schedule. If I have 2 big exams in one day, like I did last Monday, I will set a certain amount of time aside to make sure I am dedicating enough study time for each exam. I know that this is an effective strategy because whenever I make a schedule, my exam grades typically increase. Another strategy I use is whenever I get stressed, I listen to music because it relaxes my brain. Any type of music usually works, I just like focusing on the lyrics. Lastly, I have a “stress journal” I like to write in whenever I am feeling overwhelmed. Writing stressful assignments down usually helps me prioritize them, and then I feel like I have more control over them. Getting thoughts down on paper and out of my mind usually does the trick, and I highly recommend this strategy to everyone.

Three other strategies that I would like to become a part of my regular schedule are working out, to quit procrastinating, and to get more sleep. I have read online that working out helps relax your mind. Whenever I get really stressed, I go to the gym, and I normally feel much better afterward. I am hoping this can eventually become a habit. Secondly, I feel like everyone struggles with pushing things off to the last second. Whenever I do this, I tend to feel pressure and an uncomfortable amount of stress. I would like to stay more on top of things, and I think this would reduce my stress levels. Lastly, getting more sleep is always a good idea. If I would stop putting assignments off to the last minute, I could go to sleep earlier. Then, I would wake up less stressed out.

 

Chapter 11 First Impression Post

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

Image result for goat

As a college student, I am very used to the feeling of stress, and not always the best at finding ways to alleviate the overwhelming feeling. I cannot say that I have the best stress management strategies and am overall a very large ball of stress. My two biggest ways to alleviate stress are hanging out with my friends and watching Netflix. I really enjoy being able to walk around Park City Mall or Target with my friends because I am able to socialize and get a bit of exercise while enjoying myself. My friends are the main reason why I have not collapsed under stress so far this year because they force me to leave my room and put my books down. Also watching something a tad bit mindless and something that does not take too much brain power relieves a lot of my stress. These tend to work pretty well for me because I am able to reduce the amount of brain power that I need to use. However, I do not believe that I use them as much as I should because still the majority of my time is dedicated to studying until my brain feels numb. This is not a healthy strategy; however, since I have anxiety no amount of studying that I do is enough for my brain to feel calm. I always feel guilty when I am with my friends or am watching Netflix because it is time that I could be studying. I do believe that I would get many benefits from adding in some more stress management strategies and making more time for them. I do see benefits in exercise and believe that I would benefit greatly from incorporating it into my daily life. It will be able to help me work out my stress and get my body a way to relieve the physical stress on my body. Overall, I would benefit greatly from adding some more stress management techniques and making time for them in my life.

 

Picture Credit: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-more-bleating-goats-gone-gourmet-8885k7xnq

Chapter 11 First Impression

--Original published at Chey's Blog

College life is filled with stress. I do not think that my life is as stressful now as it was in high school. I think that is because I am learning what I want to learn and I am not just thrown into random classes. I deal with my stress in a lot of different ways. One of the main ways that I deal with stress is by making art. I do a lot of painting to put my focus on something other than what is stressing me. Just moving the paint or charcoal or graphite around on paper and canvases is very stress relieving for me. I also play the guitar and/or sing to relieve stress.  It also works really well for me. One of the things that relieves stress the most for me is something I do not get to do very often. I love to drive my car with the windows down and the music up. That is one of the most freeing and stress relieving things for me to do. I love it so much, but as a poor college student I do not have the gas to do that. That fact, in turn, puts stress on me. I think that one thing I could start doing is keeping a journal.  I have heard that writing out what happens in your day and what is stressing you can help to relieve that stress.  I think that would be a good idea for me since I like to write.

 

First Impression: Stress

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

Stress is extremely prominent in college students because of the difficult classes, rigorous schedules, and the want to succeed brings a lot of stress on a student. A large number of college students do not know various stress management strategies that are healthy and helpful. I have a lot of stressors in my life because of sports, school, and high expectation of myself as well as from my family. This causes high stress levels almost all the time. In order to cope with this stress I do not have the best strategies, I usually just go to sleep and ignore my problems for a few hours. Other times, I make lists whether it just says to do my laundry or I sometimes go as deep as saying I need to study a certain chapter in a certain course. These lists allow me to feel like I have accomplished something, even if it is a small, easy task, at least I am being productive in some way. I think that sleeping is not working at all because it is just a way to procrastinate and avoid my assignments and studying. Making lists is very helpful in my opinion because it lays out what I need to do and shows what I have already accomplished and what I still have to do. In the future there are much more realistic and effective ways of dealing with stress. I will try to incorporate eating healthier and going to sleep at an earlier and more consistent time, without taking as many naps. These will hopefully help alleviate some of my stress, which will ultimately make me a happier person.

 

Chapter 11 First Impression Post

--Original published at Psychology 105

As a college student, I find that I have a lot of stress but there are certain things I can do to help with its effects on my life. The most significant sources of stress currently are school and work. To help with these, I try to plan out my weeks and work schedule so I can space out all my assignments. This helps to make fewer days where I have a huge list of things to do all at once. This is important because it keeps me from getting too overwhelmed at one time and helps me manage my time a lot more efficiently. A big problem I have is that I tend to take on many things at one time, and often say yes to other people even if I don’t really have time. I think if I cut out some things so that I could focus on only a few that are important than I would be a lot less stressed. When I do find that I’m stressed, I’ll usually go work out or talk to friends and family to help me deal with it. Sometimes I’ll do yoga to help me relax or just go for a walk and spend time outside. There are some things I could incorporate into my routine that would probably help even more. I think a big factor in my stress is how much sleep I get, so if I tried to get even a little more per night this would be beneficial. I do sometimes procrastinate as well and avoiding that would probably really help as well.

Chapter 11 First Impression Prompt – Option 1

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

No matter how you slice it, everyone has stress within them. Some may break under it easier than others, but everyone still has it. Now along with everyone out there, I have to cope with stress, but I may have different ways to de-stress myself.

The ways I de-stress myself is by playing video games or watching a YouTube video or movie/TV show. When my stress reaches a certain level, I need to step away from reality and play a video game that lets me escape. This is how I got hooked on RPGs because you get lost in the world of the games due to the ways you can change your character and the story around you. Watching the YouTube videos or a movie/TV show also helps me escape, but it also lets me learn new things I may not have know before. Mr favorite show to watch when stressed out is Mythbusters. No matter how many times I’ve seen an episode or what the episode is, I will always watch because I love seeing these people solve these myths while also expressing their background of special effects. They always manage to make me smile and laugh even if I’ve heard the joke before. It’s the best show to veg out on because you can still learn something.

Granted these only work for me if my stress level is low to medium level. If my stress reaches high then these methods will barely work for me because of how I can’t pull my mind away from what’s stressing me out. When my stress levels reach its high, I just have to sit down and focus on what it is that’s stressing me out. If I keep pushing it away, it’ll keep adding up until a huge mass of stress just hits me all at once. This is where it’s a good idea to try out other ways to reduce the stress levels.

Other things I can try to do is read a book I’ve been trying to finish, go on a nice walk in the sun, sit down with friends and chat with them or do an activity, and do some meditation. The ones I’d most likely try would be reading a book and talking among friends. At home I have a stack of five books I’ve been trying to get through for years, I just haven’t had the time to. If I need to lower my stress I’ll try to read a book for an hour or two to see if that helps. I’d also like to talk to my friends because they can also be dealing with this stress and want to talk to others about it. If I would incorporate these two methods to my de-stress list, then most stress that occurs during a week would disappear and I can focus on my classwork.

Chapter 11: Stress

--Original published at Tyler's Ideas

Stress is a very prominent emotion felt in almost all college students. Being a freshman, I can absolutely attest to that. Due to the fact that I can in undecided and I also currently play two sports I feel my stress levels may be higher compared to others with less responsibility. With the stress of having to perform every day in my sport, having to find the correct path for me to take and ultimately decide on a major, as well as take on the increased amounts of work compared to high school, I have encountered much more stress than I ever have before. Currently, I know my stress management activities are not great at all. Currently, when I am stressed, I will most like put off whatever is causing the stress and do my best not to think about it. This means I will sleep, or go get food, or simply just play on my phone for hours before I feel that I just need to get the stressful thing out of the way. As I am sure you can imagine this helps nothing and ends up causing more stress than I began with.

There are many different things I think I can do to properly manage my stress. The biggest thing would most likely plan out my school work and work ahead. Procrastinating and doing my best to not think about all the assignments and studying I have to do only adds to my stress. I think if I make a schedule and follow it properly, I can relieve some of the stress. I am sure there are many other strategies to help me deal with stress, maybe I should look some up sometime.