1. Executive Summary
Stress is the condition or way of responding to any kind of demand in animal body [1]. Stress is a common problem that we all have to deal with in our daily lives, some more than others. It plays a critical role in lives. Generally, stress induces negative associations in human body such as heart disease, headaches, weakness, immune system, and sleepless nights. Stress is also associated with mental health problems. There is considerable evidence that cognitive performance changes when people are under stress []. In the short-term, acute stress can serve to enhance some types of mental functioning. However, chronic stress can produce deleterious cognitive changes including problems with thinking, memory, and behavior. These changes can influence our daily lives such as ability to work or complete everyday tasks (i.e. driving, cooking, studying, taking care of kids etc.). Stress can directly affect both body and mind which leads to decreased human performance. Therefore, it is very important to decrease the stress levels and enhance the performance levels. Evidence has accumulated that regular exercise helps reduce and manage stress levels. There is also a class of cognitive supplements that improve one or more aspects of mental function, that are used to decrease the levels of stress while improving cognitive function.
2. Stress and Human Performance
This report briefly describes the effects of stressors on human performance. This report also focuses
This analysis persists of key points, about The article “Stress and the brain by Janet Elder”. The author forged an excellent informative piece to educate the reader on the effects of stress on the brain. The author states that “Stress can be both good and bad. It is part of life, and your brain and body respond to it”. The author clarifies that, "Whether stress is harmful or helpful depends on the amount of stress, how severe it is, and how long it lasts".
Stress is very well known for just what it means: STRESS. Its effect on human beings from a local and a global standpoint is far greater than any of us imagine. Stress can overtake one’s body physically, mentally, emotionally, as well as behavioral aspects. This is not something to take lightly. This is actually very serious. If you notice, it’s not just older people that die this day and time with heart attacks, suicide, and things of this nature. People of all ages. Older people, younger people, and even really young people. Children, yes, I said children. Don’t automatically think that stress only affects older people that have lived a longer
Stress Is the body’s way of responding to the hectic lives most of us live, whether good or bad. The body releases chemicals into the bloodstream, which creates a rush of energy and strength If an individual is feeling stressed. This energy can prove useful if an individual is in physical danger. Because it enables a person’s survival instinct kicks in; it is often described as ‘fight or flight.’ In addition, stress can also have a negative effect on the body, for example: suffering from stress and leaving it unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
Stress can cause people to question their relationships, beliefs and spirituality, and everything that they hold dear. Friendships can become neglected in the belief that they might not have time for them. People can drop out of their usual social activities, again thinking that they do not have time or that they have stopped enjoying them. People can become withdrawn and uncommunicative, which affects their relationships with those whom they are close to.
Millions of Americans suffer from stress each year. In fact, three out of four people experience stress twice a month.1 Countless surveys have been completed trying to figure out what is effecting people’s daily lives, and one thing can be agreed upon; stress effects every person differently. It can cause mild to severe mental, physical, and behavioral problems and impact a person’s life more than they realize. Despite this, stress has effectively reinforced human survival because of its specific characteristics that cause alertness and enhance bodily functions. Overall, even though stress effects people very differently, it is highly detrimental if not treated once it begins.
Stress arises as a transaction between person and environment, it begins as an imbalance between demand, either physical or psychological, and response capability under conditions where failure to meet demands has important consequences, likely resulting in a loss. Stress can bring out our best performance or it can cause people to crumple under pressure. Therefore an important factor in how an individual responds and performs under stressful conditions is their perception or interpretation and appraisal of the situation and their own emotional response. There have been debates among experts as to whether an individual initially reacts to stress emotionally or cognitively, however it’s commonly understood that too little or too much stress can be harmful especially over longer periods. The right amount of stress is motivating, while too much can cause physical and psychological problems. Excessive chronic stress can result in disability effecting physical, emotional and mental wellness.
Stress as a useful adaptive response is a fairly new concept. In fact, a great emphasis on its detrimental effects has often disregarded the original purpose to evolution. Looking at the physiology of stress may shed some light on the problem of this protective response becoming so threatening in modern society, with more and more people getting stuck in dysregulation patterns, being these at psychological or somatic level.
Stress can have life changing affects to some people will others barely notice it in their day to day life. Stress can be brought on by multiple things such as a paper or test due, or even a situation you were in before. Everybody deals with stress one way or another, big or small you have to find a way to overcome the stress. There are also many different kinds of stress that range from acute stress to chronic stress. I will explain more in depth about the different types later in the paper. There are also different levels of stress that can be determined by medical professional. Depending of what is stressing you out or making you fill stressed, there are methods to lower your stress levels and maintain a good lifestyle. Stress can cause you to act unlike yourself and make you do things you would normally not do. Many decisions must be made under stress. Choosing the correct answers on an exam or doing the right thing in an emergency are prominent examples. These examples also indicate that many decision situations are stress eliciting in and of themselves. Thus, if stress alters decision-making abilities, then difficult decision situations are prone to stress-induced changes. (Kälvemark, Höglund, Hansson, Westerholm, & Arnetz, 2004). It is almost like stress never ends, go to bed and wake up and have new things and decisions to worry about every day. How you overcome your
Psychological and physical well-being and the overall quality of life are under a constant threat of stress and thus, psychological and medical sciences have long been concerned with studying stress response. Cox (1979) claimed that because of the poor understanding and defining it, the concept of stress tends to be rather elusive. The term, “stress”, commonly describes any physchological or physical alteration that deranges the organism’s homeostasis (or balance). This essay reviews some of the biological factors involved in stress and it has been organized in the following way. The paper begins by briefly introducing the concept of stress. It will then go on to discus and describe the automatic response (fight or flight reaction),
Living a long, healthy and stressful free life is something we all wish to do. Unfortunately stress is part of life. I do not recall having met a person that has not had to deal with some sort of stress in their life. According to author Barbara R. Bjorklund “Stress is a set of physical, cognitive, and emotional responses that humans (and other organisms) display in reaction to demands from the environment.” (Bjorklund, 2011, pg.304) There are many different phases to know when it comes to dealing of stress for example what causes stress, the types of stress, the effects and managing of stress and it is crucial to be aware of all these aspects, as it is something that is dealt with at some point in life.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! That is your alarm clock that has been going off for an hour and you have over slept. You get ready in less than 5 minutes and you storm out the house. You enter your vehicle and your car will not start. Suddenly, you receive a phone call, and your mother has--- well you do not know what happened to her because your phone dies due to forgetting to pay your phone bill. Heart is racing, palms are sweating, the room feels like it its getting smaller and smaller by the second and its spinning, it is getting harder to breathe and your body begins to tremble. What is this feeling attack every inch of your body? It is stress. Everyday people are overwhelmed and bombarded with the stresses of just living. Most of the time, people
Stress, in one form or another, is a universal affliction. It does not discriminate based on age, race, income or culture. While not everyone experiences the same type or intensity, no one is immune from stress or its consequences.
The effects of stress can be detrimental to the body and mind. The main effect discussed in this report will be the forming of habits as coping mechanisms. Common habits include unhealthy diets and smoking cigarettes.
In every aspects of life people have to face problems which leads us to stress. Everybody wants to live a happy life but it gets ruined by stress. School life stress, work stress make our normal life critical. Thinking too much wastes our time, mostly it takes away our happiness and made us busy without doing anything. Although we can’t control this thinking process totally, we can atleast try to lower the stress by spending more times with family or friends, sharing everything with parents, and counselling.
Often, when we think of stress, we automatically think of the bad kind. In all reality, stress isn’t always a bad thing; it is just the body’s response to changes that create some demands in our lives. There are many different positive stressors that are short-term and motivate us as we work to improve our performance in our day-to-day lives. It is important to note that these positive stressors have the potential to cause some distress at a certain point. There is a peak at which stress switches from eustress to distress. Eustress or “good stress” increases performance up to the peak. Once the peak is reached, distress or “bad stress” kicks in and performance declines. When that certain amount of stress is reached and the tipping point occurs, we may need to use various stress management strategies to help us get back on the right track and alleviate some of this distress we are feeling.