1 A Christian Perspective on Stress

or how to survive the seemingly millions of stressors that Westmont College students face!
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3 Stress Response
Increased breathing
Increased heart rate
Muscle tension
Headache
Sweating
4 Getting Personal
5 FFL Survey, 2004
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7 Results of 542 Westmont College Students
(anonymous questionnaire)
School work: too much work, too little time, choosing a major, papers, nals, end of semester
Relationships: male/female relationships, maintaining long distance relationships, lack of dates, roommates,
family and people back home, feeling lonely, dealing with people holding di!erent perspectives, grieving friends
who have died, friends who are in trouble
Christianity: consistency, crisis of belief, determining personal beliefs, di"culty in feeling close to God, feeling
inferior to people who seem to have a better relationship with God.
Financial: tuition and other bills
Future: worries about careers, choices regarding future plans
Physical concerns: weight gain, worries about physical appearance, illness
8 Stressors unique to college students
Transitions produce stress...
Accumulation of small stressors are greatest concern
Psychological stressors are biggest concerns for most of us. Why?
9 Helpful denition of stress
Stress has been dened as the imbalance between demand and response capability. Examples?
Positive stress is called eustress
Negative stress is called distress
Negative stress is called distress
10 General Adaptation Syndrome
Stage 1-alarm: ght or ight
Stage 2-resistance: ghting for homeostasis
Stage 3-exhaustion: body needs time to recover
11 Is there a connection between stress and illness?
E!ect of stress on the immune system?
Ever notice the increase of symptoms of colds and u during exams?
Can you die of a broken heart?
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13 Three suggested approaches for dealing with stress in our lives
Change your circumstance
Change your perspective (cognitive restructuring)
Employ coping strategies
14 Change your circumstance?
Very powerful stress-reducing strategy
Locus of control: internal vs. external
Examples?
Does not always work depending on the circumstances
15 Change your perspective!
This strategy can always work
Friends and counselors can help us see a stressor in a di!erent light
Power of prayer/Scripture
5 year test!
Perspective can change your bodys physical response
16 Perspective, cont.
17 Scripture, cont.
18
Fit for LIfe Survey, Sp. 2004
19 Employ Coping Strategies
Fit for LIfe Survey, Sp. 2004
19 Employ Coping Strategies
Role of exercise
Time management
Mental imagery/self-talk
Gratitude journal
Counseling
Deep breathing
Relaxation
Any others that work for you?
20 Time management
Lists really do work
Combat procrastination by completing assignments/studying one day ahead. This will completely change your
college experience...
Reward yourself for good time management!
21 Images
http://www.atomicmeme.com/_imgs/learninghub/stressbiol/body_ght_ight2.png
http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/34400000/Angry-Birds-Friends-angry-birds-34464195-322-157.jpg
http://www.stress-management-for-peak-performance.com/images/general_adaptation_syndrome.gif
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/broken-heart-syndrome-0.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZitkSSYbGPU/TDdBEMsp2SI/AAAAAAAAAm8/m1QQJEB70Zg/s1600/broken-
heart-940.jpg
http://thereandbackagainalaska.les.wordpress.com/2011/01/stress.jpg
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/images/20090818-bb-bananasplit.jpg
http://www.iaft.ph/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/stress-cartoon.jpg