NOURISH YOUR SOUL, STRESS AND SPIRITUALITY
STRESS & SPIRITUALITY
Exercise 18: write 1-3 words that define stress for you.
Stress is commonly defined as a state of mental and emotional strain caused by very demanding and/or pressuring adverse circumstances.
Synonyms of stress are: tension, pressure, strain, nervous tension, worry, anxiety and nervousness.
In practical terms, stress is a very subjective phenomena with physical & psychological manifestations: ulcers, shrinkage of lymphoid tissue, enlargement of adrenal glands, rheumatoid arthritis, strokes & heart attacks.
It is subjective simply because one stressful situation could be non-stressful to another person; individual differences & selective perception; what we perceive & how
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Stress becomes a dominating issue affecting all aspects of life & making you want to talk about it all the time and giving yourselves excuses to be angry, irritated and lag behind.
Stress also negatively affects your judgment of situations hence your next steps, leading to more stress & the cycle doesn’t end. You become trapped!
Exercise 20: IPEC - Take 2 fingers & jab them into your ribs really hard. Start to have a conversation with someone, read something or engage in an activity. Where is your attention? It is probably not the discussion, book or activity.
This is exactly what happens when you are stressed; you are distracted & your focus is shattered, which limits your ability to think & function properly.
The psychologist Hans Seyle, describes the reaction as General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) which has 3 stages:-
1. The Alarm Reaction: This is known as fight or flight reaction in response to presented danger.
It is a natural survival reaction where the body becomes alarmed and ready to either fight to protect itself or to flight (run away) to save
The individual reacted with a fight or flight reaction and over estimated the danger they were in (2008).
Stress may affect people in different ways. The body is what we call our temple and if we do not take care of it, who will? It can cause you to fall into depression which leads to either eating a lot which will make you gain weight. Some people can turn into the dependency of alcohol or drugs. I can become with my stress due to my late submissions in school very sad the point I will probablky end
The fight or flight response was discovered by Walter Cannon. He was an American psychologist, professor, and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. According to the article, Walter Cannon’s Fight or Flight Response, it states that “in 1915, he coined the term fight or flight… The flight-or-flight response (also called the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response [in PTSD], hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival” (Walter). Walter Cannon discovered what your body does when under high amounts of stress.
People deal with stressful situations differently. However, there is an obvious fear when someone suddenly encounters a frightening situation. The acute stress response is a sudden reaction of the body prompted by a psychological disturbance over a short period. Most psychologists refer to the condition as the fight-or-flight response. When a person experiences a sudden physical or mental scare, the response is very fast. A person might decide to fight back the terrifying element or to run away, which signifies the flight aspect of the response (Lee, 2004). By 1920, few people understand this concept until Walter Cannon tried to establish the reason why an adrenaline rush occurs when an individual encounters a distressing situation.
In particular, the body responds with the "battle or flight reaction" activated by the sudden arrival of the cortisol and adrenaline hormones. These hormones keep the body and psyche wound, ready and prepared for response to the danger. This response served as a helpful, defensive reaction when confronted with primitive dangers, for example, a saber tooth tiger.
Stress is a big factor in everyday life. It influences how we approach life and events. Stress is why people run tight schedules and diet regularly. The power stress has is a negative effect over our brain and our body. Many people do not understand how to cope with stress. Therefore, people suffer from physical illness due to stress. Learning is not taking place when someone undergoes stress.
Stress is brought onto a person almost a couple of times in their life mostly by environmental factors. When you're constantly
numerous ranging from what is stress, psychological effects, leading to short and long term effects,
Events such as rush-hour traffic, aggravating housemates, long lines at a store. Of the three stressors that were mentioned, daily hassles are the one stressor that everyone faces more often. The general adaptation syndrome (GAS) is broken down to three different phases. Alarm reaction, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, heart rates accelerates. In phase two, resistance is set into motion.
Stress affects your health without you even realizing it. Constant headaches or trouble sleeping would be something stress causes often. This can get bad enough which leads to serious health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Stress effects your body with things like muscle
The alarm stage is involuntary and the changes are controlled by the hormonal and nervous system. Once you are exposed to an event that is threatening or dangerous, the body immediately prepares for difficulty. The hormones and nerves trigger the “fight or flight” response. Your
For instance, stress can cause infertility, a weakened immune system, heart attack, and much more. The effects of stress on the body are truly serious and can change a person’s life forever. Similarly, chronic stress can affect
When faced with a life threatening position, human responses can be put to the ultimate test. These responses protect humans from threatening attacks, possible natural disasters, or mobilize the body during other periods of threatening times. Additionally, this sense is triggered when adrenaline, cortisol, endorphins, and many other natural chemicals are released into the body. Which can help to protect, and defend during what might occur next. “When presented with an immediate stressor, the body releases adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. Good Therapy said that, “The heart rate elevates and blood is directed away from the organs and toward the arms and legs to enable fighting or fleeing”(Good.)
So what is stress? Stress is a normal physical response that happens when you feel threatened or upset. When you feel that you are in danger whether it is real or imaged. Your body has a response when stress occurs and it is a way of actually protecting you. Many times, stress helps people stay more focussed and energetic.
One of the most difficult aspects of stress is simply the definition. Taylor (1999) defines stress as “a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are directed either toward altering the stressful