KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in

Management and Prevention

Stress
Management and
Prevention
1

Program Resource
Guide

KA P L A N U N I V E R S I T Y

Stress Management and Prevention

Program Resource Guide

By
Christine W. Mow
Kaplan University
HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention
July 15, 2014

Table of Contents
UNIT

THE

NATU RE

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercise 1.2 My Health Philosophy
Tools: Journal Writing: Exercise 1.5
UNIT

THE

PHYSIO LOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises 2.2
Tools: Journal Writing: Journal Writing 3.1
UNIT

PSYCHOLOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing: Journal Writing
UNIT

PERSONAL ITY

TRAITS

AND

THE

HUM AN

SPIRITUAL ITY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises 7.8
Tools: Journal Writing 6.1
UNIT

DEAL ING

WITH

STRESS:

COPING

STRATE GIES

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises 8.1
Tools: Journal Writing 9.1
UNIT
AND

REL AXATIO N

M ENTAL

TECHI QUES

IM AGE RY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises 18.3
Tools: Journal Writing 18.1

1 :

BREATHI NG ,

M EDITATI ON,

UNIT

NUTRITI ON

AND

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises 27.1
Tools: Journal Writing 27.3
UNIT

PHYSIC AL

EXERCISE

AND

ACTIV ITY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises 28.1
Tools: Journal Writing 28.4
UNIT
AND

APPLYING

PREVE NTIO N

STRESS:

CRITICAL

TO

PROF ESSI ONAL

YOUR

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises 17.3
Tools: Journal Writing 17.5
ADDITI ONAL

INF ORM ATIO N

ISSUES

F OR

L IF E

M ANAGEM EN T

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1
Unit

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about The Nature of Stress: Stress is a normal
part of life. It is synonymous with change. Change can come from various
areas of our lives such as health, family, work, traffic, government, and too
much information. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Nature of Stress: Making a list of
stressors helps to manage them. A list is helpful to decide how the stressor is
affecting you, such as anger or sadness. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Nature of Stress: Stress causes
lifestyle diseases such as cardio disease and weakened immune system.
Stress can increase blood pressure and cortisol levels causing increased
weight. When under stress for a long period of time the immune system is
weakened allowing for infectious diseases to take hold easier. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 1.2: My Health Philosophy

This exercise allowed me to understand what I believe being healthy is.
Writing out my personal health philosophy helps me to better understand what
my goals are and how to achieve them.

Tools: Journal Writing:

2
Unit

Exercise 1.5: Personal Stress Inventory: Top Ten Stressors

Taking an inventory of the things in my life that cause stress helps to manage
my stress level effectively.

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about The Body as Battlefield:
Psychophysiology is the mind-body relationship. It views the whole person and
not just different systems. The nervous system, endocrine system, and the
immune system are all involved in the physiology of stress. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Body as Battlefield: Chronic stress
acts as an antagonist to the physiology of stress causing the systems to fall like
dominos. The system has to work together to stay healthy. Certain organs are
affected by chronic stress. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Body as Battlefield: Metabolic
syndrome/Syndrome X is a combination of high cholesterol, high blood sugar,
high blood pressure and obesity. It can be stress induced. (Sapolsky, 2004)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 2.2 Immediate, Intermediate, and Prolonged Stress Effects

This exercise helps to understand how the body reacts to stressful situations.

3
Unit

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 3.1 Physical Symptoms Questionnaire

This journal exercise ranks the physical symptoms of stress and is helpful to
understand what is causing the symptoms.

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Feast or Famine: Maslows hierarchy of
needs is an important factor in the mind-body relationship. Each level has to
be met to continue to the next level. The final level is self-transcendence is
and seldom reached by everyone. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Feast or Famine: Anger is as a source of
communication that can be territorial and a show of strength. It can increase
energy and has saved lives when needed. It is not the height of human
achievement. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Feast or Famine: Certain personalities
are more prone to stress than others. Type A people tend to experience more
anxiety than other personalities. (Sapolsky, 2004)

Resources: Exercises:

4
Unit

Exercises 5.4 Anger: The Fight Response

This exercise helped to identify one issue that causes me the most frustration.
It also helped to understand the different types of anger.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 4.1 The Psychology of Your Stress

This journal exercise helped to understand how stress and anger affects
emotions. It also helped to write out how the loss of a goal has made me feel.

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human

Spirituality
Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about One Planet Under Stress: Certain
personalities have the ability to handle stress better than others. Hardy
personalities and sensation seekers are able resist stress. Anyone can access
these personality traits. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about One Planet Under Stress: Self-esteem is
important to handling stress. Someone with low self-esteem attract stress
while high self-esteem is able to repel stress. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about One Planet Under Stress: The health
care world is recognizing the benefit of spirituality in stress management.

5
Unit

Religion and spirituality is not the same thing. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 7.8 Distractions of the Human Path

This exercise helped me understand what the common distractors in my life
are.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 6.1 Under the Gun: Stress and Personality

This journal helped to understand how to deal with a stressor.

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Under Stress: What Now? Cognitive
restructuring is important when dealing with negative interpretation. It is
used to turn a negative thought into a positive or neutral one. Using
meditation, taking responsibility, fine-tuning expectations, speaking positively
to yourself, and finding the positive aspect of any situation. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Under Stress: What Now? Stages of
Change model shows that people can fall back on a behavior that is less than

desired. It is important to learn assertiveness while modifying behavior.

(Seaward, 2009)

6
Unit

Key learning point from the unit about Under Stress: What Now? Humor is a
vital aspect in stress management. Good humor is related to good humor.
Being able to laugh can promote better stress management. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 8.1 Reframing: Seeing a bigger, clearer perspective

Reframing a difficult situation helps to take make a better perspective.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 9.1 Value assessment and clarification

This journal exercise was useful in writing down and clarifying values.

Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing,

Meditation, and Mental Imagery
Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Ageless Wisdom of Meditation:
Diaphragmatic breathing is one of the easiest ways to relax. With practice
breathing can be reduced to as few as three to four breathes in a relaxed state.
Diaphragmatic breathing can be done anywhere, any time. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Ageless Wisdom of Meditation:
Mediation is useful stress reduction. It has been shown to reduce chronic

7
Unit

pain. Research has shown that meditation is also helpful in reducing heart
rate, blood pressure, and breathing. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Ageless Wisdom of Meditation: By using
mental imagery a person can reduce their stress level. It is also useful chronic
pain reduction. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 18.3 Bridging the Hemispheres of Thought

This exercise helps to identify which hemisphere is most dominate and how to
balances your thinking skills.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 18.1 Too much information

This journal exercise helped to evaluate how much information is given and
received.

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Sight, Sound and Body Work: Nutrition
is an important aspect of stress management. It is necessary to include the six

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food nutrients, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water in

your diet. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Sight, Sound and Body Work: Foods
need to be nutrient dense to provide quality energy, vitamins and minerals.
Soil depletion has led to a reduction of essential vitamins and minerals. Even
someone that has plenty of food to eat can be malnourished. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Sight, Sound and Body Work: Food is
involved in mental, emotional and spiritual health as well as physical body.
Eating a wide variety of food is helpful in balancing the seven primary chakras.
Eating disorders are not physiological but emotional. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 27.1 Stress-related eating behaviors

This exercise evaluated eating habits but it is very limited.
consider healthy snacks as an important part of diet.

It does not

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 27.3 The Rainbow Diet

This diet makes since but it is hard to find foods to fit all the colors.

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Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

8
Unit

Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about The Wellness Mandala: Physical
exercise is a form of stress that can enhance the body. It falls into two classes,
anaerobic and aerobic. It is the fight-or-flight response. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Wellness Mandala: The body
adapts to exercise either negatively or positively. Stress hormones are used
properly through exercise to help detox the body. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about The Wellness Mandala: FITT is
frequency, intensity, time and type and should be used when designing an
exercise plan. Exercise lowers blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, and
muscle tension. Many have described feeling a high when they exercise
frequently. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 28.1 Physical Exercise

This exercise was good for evaluating my physical exercise level. It is good for
designing a fitness plan.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 28.4 My Bodys Rhythms

This exercise evaluated how well I know my bodys rhythm. It showed that I
am in tune with the regular routine I keep.

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Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for

9
Unit

Management and Prevention to your

Professional Life
Information to Remember:

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Professional Life: There are various methods to cope with stress.
Coping techniques need to show the cause of stress, understand the
information about the stress, and process the information, change attitude to
get to a peaceful resolution. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Professional Life: Support groups are helpful in dealing with stress.
Being able to talk to others going through similar situations can help reduce
stress. (Seaward, 2009)

Key learning point from the unit about Applying Stress: Critical Management
to Your Professional Life: Prayer and forgiveness are an important coping
technique. Prayer allows for the person to talk to God and relieve stress
through the prayer. Forgiveness allows the forgiver to let go of the anger, hurt
or resentment they feel and are able to move on. (Seaward, 2009)

Resources: Exercises:

Exercise 17.3 The Healing Power of Prayer

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This exercise is good for helping focus a prayer and eliminate distractions.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Exercise 17.5: Sweet Forgiveness

This journal discusses forgiveness. Forgiveness is a process, an act of
unconditional love. This journal has the user write down those they need to
forgive and why they need to forgive them.

Additional Information
Cheng, B., & McCarthy, J. M. (2013). Managing work, family, and school roles: Disengagement
strategies can help and hinder. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 18(3), 241251. doi:10.1037/a0032507
This article is a primary source. It is about how separating the various aspects of life to decrease
stress levels.
Goleman, D. (2006). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Dell.
This is a primary source book. Emotional intelligence is a vital part of human well-being.
Kiecolt-Glaser, J., Christian, L., Preston, H., Houts, C., Malarkey, W., Emery, C., & Glaser, R.
(2010). Stress, inflammation, and yoga practice. Psychosomatic Medicine vol 72, 113121.
This is a primary source. This study evaluated the affect that yoga has on stress and other
health issues.
Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, StressRelated Diseases, and Coping 3rd Ed. New York: Holt Publishing.

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This is a primary source. This book discusses how animals response to stress is different from
humans response to stress.
Seaward, B. L. (2009). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being 6
ed. Ontario: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
This is a primary source. This is the text book for the course that provided most of the
information.

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