Essay on Family Health History

Through my attempt to investigate my family health history, I discovered that among all the physical and mental/emotional disorders that run in my family, anxiety happens to one of the most common one. Beginning from grandparents, both of my grandparents from my mother’s side, suffer from Anemia and anxiety. On the other hand, my grandfather from my father’s side, also suffered from anemia and my grandmother currently suffers from rheumatism and anxiety. Furthermore, my mother currently suffers from type II diabetes, anxiety, and depression, while my father has suffered from bronchitis three years ago for a brief period of time. In addition, my aunt did suffer from anxiety and depression, which led her to taking her life two years ago through overdose of prescription drugs and intensified my mother’s depression even further. From my father’s side, my uncle

As WebMD states, stress is the human body’s normal response to changes that may require a response or adjustment. The human body responds to these adjustments with emotional, mental, and physical responses. Despite varying levels of stress, this is a natural part of human life. Anything that an individual may respond to may cause stress in the human body. Stress may occur from tour body,

When I make really good soup, they have seconds and no leftovers” (J. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013). No one in the family has food allergies, diet restrictions or any physical disabilities that interfere with daily food intake. Alcohol consumption is not very popular for this family. Occasional drinks are consumed “maybe five times a year, we just don’t enjoy the taste of alcohol” (S. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013). This family member did not experience obvious weight gain or weight loss they were concerned about. All members are very conscientious about physical appearance and do keep healthy active lifestyles and ingest healthy meals. When discussing the function of the bowel and bladder issues, S. Lee says, “We are very regular. My wife and I take Metamucil regularly to keep our bowels active. We suffered several constipations many years back, had to use enemas to eliminate. That was very painful and embarrassing. Metamucil was recommend by our doctor and we never miss taking it. Your mom suffered hemorrhoids for many years until she had them removed. We have no problem going once a day or more sometime” (S. Lee, personal communication, May 9, 2013).

The family stated that the only member that requires more attention than others is the teenage son. The son states he does well in school and does not get in trouble a lot at home. The son has numerous friends in the neighborhood that he plays with. The mother has the roles of wife and mother, she does not work out of the home. The father has roles of husband, father, and soldier.

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand; it can be caused by both good and bad experiences.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

Health - complications from a current illness, aging, diagnosis of a new disease, relationships - Problems between members of your family or household, personal beliefs - religious or political beliefs, emotional problems - Mental health disorders like depression, unable to express emotions, life changes – job loss, death of a loved one, moving house, sending children to university, divorce, getting married and money – financial difficulty like debt, providing for your family.

Stress is a very common everyday thing. People have stress so much that most of the time they don’t even know how much it’s affecting them. Stress can really affect your body, mind, and behavior. It is a normal response to situations that make you feel upset or threatened in a way. Stress is the body’s way of change. The change can either be good or bad.

capabilities, resulting in biopsychological charges that may make him/her of risk for disease. Effects may vary from one person to another. (Niabi; H. et. al., 2013)

Stress could be defined as a normal physiological response by the body to situations or stimuli which the brain perceives as dangerous or threatening to the body. The body is a complex system and over time developed a way of responding that was designed to keep us safe. Our subconscious mind is alert for anything that might threaten our well being and when the brain perceives a threat a physiological response occurs that prepares us

Stress is something everyone goes through no matter what age, gender or race you are. Stress is the experience of a perceived threat to one’s mental, physical or spiritual well-being, resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations. When people think of stress they think it’s a bad thing which isn’t true, some stress is just your body’s reaction to certain situations. At times it may seem like stress is taking over your body leaving you physically, emotionally and mentally hurt but what you can do is learn how to manage your stress to have a healthier and happy lifestyle. Stress management is learning to deal with your stress and take charge. There are three types of stresses which are eustress, distress and neustress.

Gordon’s functional health patterns is a method developed by Marjorie Gordon in 1987 proposed functional health patterns as a guide establishing a comprehensive nursing data base(Kriegler & Harton, 1992). Gordon’s11 functional health patterns are; health perception/ health management, nutrition, pattern of elimination, activity/ excerise, cognitive, sleep/ rest, self perception/ self concept, roles/ relationships, sexuality, coping/ stress and values/ beliefs. By using these categories it’s possible to create a systematic and standardized approach to data collection and enables the nurse to determine the following

Hans Selye (1982) points out that few people define the concept of stress in the same way or even bother to attempt a clear-cut definition. According to Selye, an important aspect of stress is that a wide variety of dissimilar situations are capable of producing the stress response such as fatigue, effort, pain, fear, and even success. This has led to several definitions of stress, each of which highlights different aspects of stress. One of the most comprehensive models of stress is the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress (Bernard & Krupat, 1994). According to the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress, stress involves three components: an external component, an internal component, and the interaction between the external and internal components.

    Stress today can be described as "that which disturbs a person's mental and physical well-being" (Morrison 1).  Common symptoms of stress include chronic fatigue, changes in appetite, drug and/or alcohol abuse,  difficulty sleeping, body aches, and changes in emotions (Cooper 1-2).  And although stress is something that is inevitable, it can be controlled.  Just about everything we do today creates stress, both good and bad.  In the face paced and technological world we live in, stress management is key to survival as well as sanity.

Stress is also linked low fertility in one’s reproductive organs, and can cause problems during pregnancy or one’s menstrual cycle (www.everydayhealth.com). This happens when one is overwhelmed with the stress he or she is going through in their lives. No one person is the same, meaning stressors as well as stress levels differ for each individual. This is why it is hard for scientists to reach the core because it is a subjective sensation related with a variety of symptoms that differ for each of us. Because of this, stress is not always a synonym for distress. Situations like a steep roller coaster ride that cause fear and anxiety for some can prove highly pleasurable for others (www.stress.org). Each person also responds to stress differently. There are numerous physical as well as emotional responses to stress. Stress can cause an ocean of different emotions that are often times unpredictable. It can have wide ranging effects on people’s emotions, mood and behavior (www.stress.org). Stress has said to have been America’s number one leading health problem. It has been shown that stress levels have escalated in children, teenagers, college students and the elderly for reasons that of which have lead to: increased crime, violence, and other threats to personal safety; pernicious peer pressures that lead to substance abuse and other unhealthy life style habits; social isolation and loneliness; the erosion of family and religious