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
Ashley Pineda
Kaplan University
HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention
December 3, 2014

Table of Contents
UNIT

THE

NATU RE

OF

STRESS

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

THE

PHYSIO LOGY

OF

STRESS

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

DEAL ING

WITH

STRESS:

COPING

STRATE GIES

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

REL AXATIO N

M ENTAL

TECHI QUES

IM AGE RY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing

1 :

BREATHI NG ,

M EDITATI ON,

UNIT

NUTRITI ON

AND

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

PHYSIC AL

EXERCISE

AND

ACTIV ITY

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

APPLYING

PREVE NTIO N

STRESS:

CRITICAL

TO

PROF ESSI ONAL

YOUR

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

INF ORM ATIO N

ISSUES

F OR

L IF E

M ANAGEM EN T

(This page intentionally left blank)

1
Unit

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:

Stress defined:

How men and women reactions to stress differ:

The experience of a perceived threat (real or imagined) to ones mental,

physical, or spiritual well-being, resulting from a series of physiological
responses and adaptations. (Seaward, 2008) Stress has been known to
cause illness and can even lead to chronic diseases.

Men and women react differently to stress in that most women are more
nurturing by nature and therefore will react in a way that is termed the
tend and befriend response, meaning they will turn to a friendly ear to
help cope with stress. Men usually face stress alone and will think
through situations looking for solutions to cope. (Seaward, 2008)

General Adaptation Syndrome defined:

General adaptation syndrome is the bodys way of trying to adapt to

stress. Psychological adaptations have been known to occur when an
individual is repeatedly exposed to stress. Some of the repercussions of
repeated exposure includes: enlargement of the adrenal cortex, constant
release of stress hormones, bleeding ulcerations of the stomach and
colon, etc.

Resources: Exercises:

2
Unit

My Health Philosophy:

My health philosophy was chosen because this is a philosophy that I live

by every day of my life. Part of my philosophy is that it is important to
balance the good with the bad, and this is something I think it is
important to teach to my daughter as a way to help her lead a happy and
healthy life.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Inventory: Are You Stressed?

This exercise asks many good questions that help to determine if you are
overly stressed or not. I completed this journal at the beginning of the
term and re-answered the questions again towards the end and
discovered that I am not as stressed now as I was 9 weeks ago.

(Seaward, 2011)

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Importance of memory improvement during stress:

Physiological effects of prolonged stress:

Some stress has been shown to enhance memory. Short term stress that
is mild to moderate is what is known as stimulation and is the optimal
amount of stress that is needed to keep individuals focused and alert.
Memory improvement during stress is important to help individuals
remove themselves from the stressor and to prevent them from
encountering the same or similar stressor in the future. (Sapolsky, 2004)

The stress response is a survival mechanism that was developed to

assist in life or death situations. It is meant to be a temporary response
that turns off all bodily functions that are not needed for survival in that
moment. Prolonging this response can lead to multiple types of diseases
and impair brain function, such as the ability to learn and memory.
(Shwarts, 2007)

The effects of excess stress on the human Hippocampus:

The hippocampus and the amygdala together form conscious memories

of emotional events. (Seaward, 2008) The hippocampus is incredibly
sensitive to the stress hormone cortisol, so increased exposure can lead
to shrinking or damage of brain cells, effect memory and learning
processes. In animals the negative effects appear to be irreversible.

Resources: Exercises:

The Environmental Disconnect:

I became interested in this exercise because of the name. Its purpose is

to show how in tuned you are to the environment around you, and after
completing the true or false quiz, I realized I dont know as much about
the environment as I thought.

Are You a Product of Your Culture?

This exercise is an eye opener to how our culture impacts behavior. After
answering the 34 questions listed in the exercise I realized just how
much my behavior has changed throughout my life due to the increased
amount of technology and information available to me now.
(Seaward, 2011)

Tools: Journal Writing:

List the title (s)of Journal Writing (s)selected to include in the resource
guide <insert your text>

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

3
Unit

Information to Remember:

The building blocks of psychological stressors:

Subtleties of predictability:

The building blocks for psychological stressors include: outlets for

frustration, meaning when faced with a stressor having an outlet can
help decrease the feeling of stress; social support, which helps reduce
the impact of a stressor by giving a shoulder to cry on when needed; and
lastly predictability, which makes stressors less stressful by allowing
time to adjust to the idea of a stressor, and knowing when exactly it will
occur rather than constantly waiting in anticipation. (Sapolsky, 2004)

Subtleties of predictability are a vague foreshadowing of possible future

stressors. Although there is a basic warning of the events that are going
to occur the amount of stress remains the same. Some of the
components of the subtleties of predictability include: how predictable
the stressor is in the absence of a warning and how far in advance the
warning is given. (Sapolsky, 2004)

Subtleties of control:

Subtleties of control are defined as cognitive control factors in vascular

stress responsescontrol over stress, locus of control, and response to
stress. (Sapolsky, 2004) This means that when an individual feels they
are in control of a situation, regardless of if they really are, they feel less
stressed.

Resources: Exercises:

4
Unit

Anger Recognition Checklist:

This exercise helps to examine what causes anger. It lists the different
things that surface when feeling angry and also discusses the amount of
episodes of anger experienced each day.

Tools: Journal Writing:

The Psychology of Your Stress:

This journal provided a way to see how defensive mechanisms are used
to protect an individuals ego. It was also a way to look at all of the
stressors I have been facing recently, from anger-based to fear-based
stressors, each has had an impact on both my mood and behavior in
some way.
(Seaward, 2011)

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human

Spirituality
Information to Remember:

Stress Prone Personalities:

Stress Resistant Personalities

Stress prone personalities are people who are fueled by stress. Type A
personalites are impatient, multi-task, and have many different things on
their mind at a time; codependent personalities are people who depend
on others and their opinions in order to be self-validated; Enablers are
people who encourages negative behaviors in others, either by ignoring
there is a problem, or by helping contribute to it. (Seaward, 2008)

Stress resistant personalities include: the sensation seeker, Type R,

which are people who are more likely to enjoy extreme activities; Hardy
personalities are people who show traits of being committed to
themselves, work, and family giving them a sense of belonging; Survivor
personalities are people who accept others, they are optimistic, and can
solve problems creatively. (Seaward, 2008)

What is self-esteem?

Self-esteem is the sense of underpinning self-values, self-acceptance,

and self-love; thought to be a powerful buffer against perceived threats.
(Seaward, 2008) Self-esteem plays a huge role in how individuals
respond to and deal with stress.

Resources: Exercises:

Your Meaningful Purpose in Life:

During this exercise I was able to really stop and think about what has
been most meaningful to me in the past, what is meaningful in the
present, and what I believe will be meaningful in life in the future. This
exercise helped me to prioritize the important things in life and set aside
the things that do not matter as much.

Distractions of the Human Path:

This was a great exercise that let me sit down and look at what has been
distracting me the most recently. These were all things that contributed
to stress and by looking into each distraction I was able to figure out
how to deal with them individually and reduce my stress.
(Seaward, 2011)

Tools: Journal Writing:

Unit

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:

Factors in Successful Aging:

Vulnerability to Learned Helplessness:

Aging is defined as the progressive loss of the ability to deal with

stress. (Sapolsky, 2004) Factors for successful aging include being
handled properly as a child, which aids in less secretion of
glucocorticoids later in life, which prevents degeneration of the
hippocampus in the brain. Another factor is the feeling of being needed
and respected.

When exposed to repeated bouts of failure people can eventually begin

to express learned helplessness, which is when they eventually want to
give up on themselves when they obviously have no control over
situations. People who have a more internalized locus of control are
more resistant to learned helplessness. (Seaward, 2008)

Coping with Psychological Stress:

Stress responses can change over time by repeating certain activities

can change the way you react to stressful situations. By repeating
stressful activities the psychological response to stress is established
and can eventually be habituated away. (Sapolsky, 2004)

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Resources: Exercises:

List the title (s) of Exercise (s) selected to include in the resource guide
<insert your text>

Tools: Journal Writing:

The Time Crunch Questionnaire:

This journal was a way of determining the whether or not I had good
time management skills. At the time the questionnaire was complete I
showed fair time management skills. This would be a great
questionnaire to fill out again to determine if anything has changed as
far as re-prioritizing activities and managing my time more wisely.

Value Assessment and Clarification

Making a list of my core values and seeing what makes up these values
was interesting. During this journal I was able to figure out what my
instrumental core values were compared to my supporting core values,
and was also able to see what kind of things I possessed that
represented these values, as well as understand which values were in
conflict with one another and resolve those conflicts.
(Seaward, 2011)

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Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing,

6
Unit

Meditation, and Mental Imagery

Information to Remember:

Diaphragmatic Breathing as a relaxation technique:

Inclusive and Exclusive Meditation:

Diaphragmatic breathing is natural breathing that is deep and controlled

and involves using the lower abdomen rather than the chest. It helps to
decrease the sympathetic response and induces feelings of relaxation.

Exclusive meditation involves concentrating and focusing on one object

and excluding all other thoughts from the mind, which increases selfawareness and promotes relaxation. Inclusive meditation is when all
thoughts are invited into awareness without emotional evaluation,
judgment, or analysis. (Seaward, 2008)

Mental Imagery:

Mental imagery is a technique used to induce feelings of relaxation. It is

a spontaneous flow of thoughts originating from the unconscious
mind. (Seaward, 2008) Visualization is sometimes used with mental
imagery, but does not necessarily have the same relaxation effect.

Resources: Exercises:

Bridging the Hemispheres of Thought:

12

This was an excellent exercise that helped me to understand what my

dominant thinking style is. It explained the differences between left

7
Unit

brain and right brain thinking, and how people can possess qualities of
both left and right brain thinking, but one is usually more dominant due
to being raised in certain cultures.

Three Short Guided Visualizations:

This exercise was interesting because it involved having someone else

read short stories while I sat and tried to imagine what was being said. I
found it to be difficult to imagine what I was being told to visualize and
instead saw other images in my mind. Although I was not able to
visualize the story I did feel incredibly relaxed afterwards.
(Seaward, 2011)

Tools: Journal Writing:

List the title (s)of Journal Writing (s)selected to include in the resource
guide <insert your text>

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:

How Stress Affects Eating Habits:

13

Foods that trigger the stress response:

Some people use food as a relaxation technique, so constant stress can

lead to overeating. Stress also causes irregular eating habits, such as
eating too little which can lead to nutrition deficiencies.

Certain foods are known to elevate or trigger the stress response. Some
of the foods listed include caffeine, processed sugar and flour, salt, and
when used beyond moderation alcohol.

Stress Domino Factors:

There are 4 stress domino factors, the first being that stress depletes
nutrients; the second is that when stressed, the American lifestyle does
not promote healthy eating habits; the third is that certain foods
increase sympathetic drive or other physiological responses that keeps
stress elevated; and the fourth is that processed foods produce toxins in
the body.

Resources: Exercises:

Stress-Related Eating Behaviors:

This exercise allowed me to see how stress affects my eating habits and
how the foods I eat contribute to my stress levels. After completing the
exercise I was able to see that my current diet is not conducive to
reducing stress levels and I should change some of my eating habits.

The Rainbow Diet:

This was an exercise that educated me on how certain colored foods

helped certain parts of the body. I was able to do a bit of research on the
different colored foods and what nutrients they contain that help each
chakra.
(Seaward, 2011)

Tools: Journal Writing:

List the title (s)of Journal Writing (s)selected to include in the resource
guide <insert your text>

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Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

8
Unit

Information to Remember:

Flushing Stress Hormones:

Physical Exercise to Manage and Prevent Stress:

Stress hormones are a part of the fight or flight response. When an

individual is physically active stress hormones are used for their
intended purposes, this is important in helping the body to detox and
improve bodily functions as well as mood. (Seaward, 2008)

Exercise boosts endorphins, which is the bodys natural pain reliever.

Exercising also boosts self-esteem, the sense of self-reliance and
efficiency, and decreases anxiety and depression. (Seaward, 2008)

What is the Mind/Body Connection?

Keeping the mind in balance, homeostasis, during exercise helps

individuals to focus on feeling better rather than thinking about the pain
or stress of the exercise. It can also help lower heart rate, blood
pressure, and tension making it easier to reduce the feeling of being
stressed. (Seaward, 2008)

Resources: Exercises:

List the title (s) of Exercise (s) selected to include in the resource guide
<insert your text>

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Tools: Journal Writing:

9
Unit

Physical Exercise:

This journal actually acted as a reminder of the types of physical

activities I should be doing each day. It is important to get some sort of
physical activities in, no matter how stressed, and this journal allowed
me to really think about the type of activities I enjoy most and what
those activities can do for me both mentally and physically.

My Body, My Physique:

This was my favorite journal exercise because it made me really think

about how I view my body and made me realize exactly how much I
compare myself to others. By writing it all down and being forced to
acknowledge how I judge myself, I have been able to stop focusing on
my looks and become more focused on my health.

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for

Management and Prevention to your
Professional Life
Information to Remember:

Information Seeking Promotes and Reduces Stress:

16

Hobbies Reduce Stress:

Information can be both overwhelming and useful. Fearing the unknown

is stressful for people so it is best to seek information and answers to
alleviate that stress. However, too much information can be even more
stressful than none at all if people are seeking the wrong type of
information or going straight to the worst scenario possible.

Hobbies are an escape from the stresses in life that can help in real
situations by helping people to feel more in control and also help with
problem solving on a small scale. It is a great way to do something you
love rather than working non-stop.

Forgiveness as an Effective Coping Skill:

Forgiveness is an "internal healing process where self-esteem is restored

through devictimization" (Seaward, 2009). While it does not end the stressor, it
does alleviate the stress response and acts as an outlet for frustration and
anger, which contribute to stress.

Resources: Exercises:

List the title (s) of Exercise (s) selected to include in the resource guide
<insert your text>

Tools: Journal Writing:

List the title (s)of Journal Writing (s)selected to include in the resource
guide <insert your text>

Additional Information
Boitnott, K.(2014). A More Laid-Back Life: Six practices for managing the rising stress levels in
educators lives. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4efa0a31-c16a-442fbfc7-46a6ce290790%40sessionmgr4002&vid=3&hid=4102
Harvard Medical School(20060. Relaxation techniques: Breath control helps quell errant stresss
response. Retrieved from http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1006a.shtml

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Sapolsky, R. (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related
Diseases, and Coping:3rd Edition. New York, NY: Holt Publishing (Secondary Source)
Seaward, B. L. (2008). MANAGING STRESS 6E VITALBOOKS, 6th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf
version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781449665159 (Primary Source)
Seaward, B. L. (2011). The Art of Peace and Relaxation Workbook, 7th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf
version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781284048476/id/ch02lev1sec3
(Primary Source)
Shwarts, M.(2007). Robert Sapolsky discusses physiological effects of stress. Retrieved from
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/march7/sapolskysr-030707.html (Secondary Source)

These sources were chosen as additional information because each contains great
information explaining the nature of stress, the effects stress has on the body, and relaxation
techniques that can help reduce stress. These sources have been used to help in research both
for this course and for personal use to learn about the topic of stress.

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