STRESS MANAGEMENT PLAN

Stress Management Plan



Stress Management Plan

Introduction

Stress is a part of day to day living. It is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize. The stress you experience is not necessarily harmful. Mild forms of stress can act as a motivator and energizer. However, if your stress level is too high, medical and social problems can result.

Fortunately, stress management is largely a learnable skill. Most people can learn how to take the heat in their lives. Many stresses can be changed, eliminated, or minimized. There are many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and help us avoid the problems of long term stress.

Stress is essentially reflected by the rate of all the wear and tear caused by life. Although we cannot avoid stress as long as we live, we can learn a great deal about how to keep its' damaging side-effects, distress, to a minimum.

Stress

Dr. Hans Selye, the father of stress theory, defined stress as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it." The "demand" can be a threat, a challenge or any kind of change which requires the body to adapt. The response is automatic, immediate. Stress can be good (called "eustress") when it helps us perform better, or it can be bad ("distress") when it causes upset or makes us sick.

According to latest health reports, Stress is said to be one of the largest killers of man today. Stress is now becoming more accepted as being crucially related to our total health - physical, mental and emotional. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the majority of all physician visits are prompted by stress-related symptoms that are known to cause or worsen medical conditions.

Stress is our response to specific stimuli called "Stress inducers". Or they are the events that generally produce stress. They may be temporary or chronic, leading to negative health consequences or outcomes changing a person's life. Although life itself is dependent upon certain forms of stress, it is only when stress is handled poorly by the body or mind that it becomes a health hazard. Stress that is expressed or experienced negatively can be linked to many physical complaints, from headaches and hypertension to symptoms affecting a person's mental state. Anxiety, depression and feelings of anger, fear, helplessness or hopelessness, and other emotions are often linked to stress.

Signs and symptoms of stress

To get a handle on stress, you first need to learn how to recognize it in yourself. Stress affects the mind, body, and behaviour in many ways— all directly tied to the physiological changes of the fight-or-flight response. The specific signs and symptoms of stress vary widely from person to person.

There are several signs and symptoms that you may notice when you are experiencing stress. These signs and symptoms fall into four categories: Feelings, Thoughts, Behaviour, and ...