Essay on Stress: The Silent Disease

Kelly McGonigal discusses the importance of viewing stress as positive, as opposed to negative, by detailing three specific studies and findings about stress. In the first study, it was discovered that people with a significant amount of stress had a higher mortality rate; however, this was only statistically significant if the subject viewed stress as harmful. If the overly-stressed subject didn’t view stress as harmful, they were actually at the lowest risk of dying, even compared to those with a minimal amount. Therefore, it is important to change a person’s perspective of stress. In particular, McGonigal emphasizes that stress is important for a person’s body: it energizes and prepares them to meet whatever challenge they are facing. Furthermore, it helps the blood vessels remain relaxed, thereby allowing the heart to remain healthy.

Everyone experiences stress in a different way: some shut down while others cry or become frustrated. Moreover, although a instinctual necessity, too much stress can definitely cause problems for one’s physical or psychological well-being. When I get too stressed, for example, my immune system drops which causes me to get sick sometimes even three times in a month. Other times, I just have to take breaks from my responsibilities to prevent myself from breaking down or becoming so exhausted that I cannot finish the task at

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).

Stress is a quantity that every human is afforded. It is how the body and mind interact in response to a stressor. Each stressor whether in the form of a major life experiences, traumatic events, work, school, and even exercise can be stressful. Stress of any amount makes an impact on a persons’ health and behaviors. Therefore, it is important to take notice of how you manage stressful events in your life however great or small an effect. Though everyone experiences stress in one way or another, no two people cope with stress in the same manner. Some individuals are more effective and recover from demanding situations quicker than others do. Consequently, the quality of health is contingent upon the type of stress and duration of

Stress and anxiety in the average college student. Selye (1936) defined stress as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change” (The American Institute of Stress, 2017). Stress can lead to feelings of anxiety. Anxiety is a normal part of life, but can be considered a type of worry or fear that can inhibit everyday life. College students show higher stress/anxiety than average individuals. Major sources of stress are from new responsibilities, campus living, money issues, and classwork (Ross, Niebling, & Heckert, 1999). There have been a number of studies circled around how stress can affect college students. Females and males show differences in anxiety/stress in college. (Misra and McKean (2000)) found that females

Life is full of deadlines, expectations, and events, whether in great magnitude or not, these things in life cause stress. Human bodies are made to experience stress and react to it. However, there’s a difference between a healthy amount of stress, aka Acute stress; used in “fight or flight” situations, and unhealthy stress, aka Chronic stress- Having so much stress that if not dealt with, leads to various health problems. In a survey done by the American Psychological Association in 2011, more than half (53%) of the population of adults in the United States said that they have had personal health problems due to high stress. Chronic Stress is no simple

Stress, America’s silent killers. Stress affects people of all ages, ethnicities and genders. Due to its complex nature the concept of stress is constantly being studied. Extensive research has discovered that stress can cause both psychological, and physiological issues. I’m writing on the concept of stress because it is something I have been able to identify with as a transitioning college student. It is also something I know many people can identify with but don’t necessarily know how to deal with.

Stress contributes towards depress feelings that affects people physically and mentally. Some of the negative effects that stress has on a person’s life can attribute and trigger disorders, such as bipolar, development of long-term illnesses. It also results to “depression, physical illness, lowered immune system, aggravation of already diagnosed, conditions, fatigue, chronic anger and hostility, risk of hypertension and anxiety and more” (Butcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2010).

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as “An excess of demand made upon the adaptive capabilities of the mind and body”.(Joseph 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are some things that put certain demands on us. The effects of stress should not be limited to unpleasant emotional states. Many studies have concluded that the effects on our physical health from stress can be extremely detrimental. These adverse physical effects include heart disease and formations of cancer. There are also some societal issues that psychological stress can hamper.

At one time or another, most people experience stress. The term stress has been used to describe a variety of negative feelings and reactions that accompany threatening or challenging situations. However, not all stress reactions are negative. A certain amount of stress is actually necessary for survival. For example, birth is one of the most stressful experiences of life. The high level of hormones released during birth, which are also involved in the stress response, are believed to prepare the newborn infant for adaptation to the challenges of life outside the womb. These biological responses to stress make the newborn more alert promoting the bonding process and, by extension, the child's physical survival.

Stress’s definition according to college text book Psychology in my life, stress is; a group of behavioral, mental and physical processes occurring when events match or exceed the organism’s ability to respond in a healthy way. When we think about stress it comes across as something that’s only negative, but stress in moderation can be good. This type of stress is known as being acute stress, it’s good and bad stress. When frequently experiencing acute stress for long periods at a time it’s becomes a little more sever stress know as episodic. Although episodic stress isn’t the most serve kind of stress, chronic stress is the more deadly types of stress. Theorist found that we experience things out of our control, the body’s natural response is to stress using perception and interpretation to experience an emotion. There are classifications for different types of personalities because people experience stress differently than others. Although many thing stress us out there are plenty of ways to cope with stress in a healthy way before it’s too late.

Stress is one of the number one causes that contribute to people’s health problems. According to Weber.edu, “in Healthy People 2000, a report from the U.S.

      Stress is an ongoing dilemma that occurs in each and everyone’s life. It is a factor that is undoubtedly a part of daily living. Due to the trivial problems that occur in people’s daily lives massive amounts of stress can arise. People perceive and manage stress in many different ways. The causes and effects of stress are numerous and one’s ability to manage stress is vital in maintaining healthy living.

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

When I think about our emotions and how they can play a role on our body and mind, I begin to realize that all of it correlates with one another. In the article Introduction to Stress and Stress Management, mentions how the brain is the first line of defense when a person encounters a stressor and what the body does to cope with the stressor is by releasing chemicals and hormones into the bloodstream (pg. 15). Neurotransmitters of serotonin and norepinephrine are both related to our mood, and their flow causes changes in our mood. We have also learned that there are two types of stressor, eustress and distress. 50 to 90 percent of illness are tied to stress reactivity (pg. 18). Which means if we could learn how to handle our stressors