MANAGING STRESSCrime Scene Investigation/Law Enforcement

WHAT CAUSES STRESS?

Imagine that it is early in the morning and you are fast asleep. Suddenly, your alarm clock sounds. You sit up quickly, open your eyes, and jump out of bed. As you react to the ringing alarm, you experience stress.

Stress is a reaction of your body and mind to threatening or challenging events in your life.

You experience stress when situations, events, or people make demands on your body and mind.

These demands are often a part of your daily routine.

WHAT CAUSES STRESS?

Many different situations, events, and people can cause stress. The causes of stress are called stressors. Examples of STRESSORS:

Your alarm clock Upcoming Tests Athletic games Arguments with friends Arguments with Parents Trouble at school

WHAT CAUSES STRESS?

What are some other causes of stress? Talk with your tablemates and come up with a list we can discuss.

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe decided to study whether or not stress contributes to illness. They surveyed more than 5,000 medical patients and asked them to say whether they had experience any of a series of 43 life events in the previous two years.

Each event, called a Life Change Unit (LCU), had a different "weight" for stress. The more events the patient added up, the higher the score. The higher the score, and the larger the weight of each event, the more likely the patient was to become ill.

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES Look at the “Ranking of Stressors by High

School Students”. Most of these stressors are major life changes,

especially changes that affect one’s family or school life. These changes are stressful because they threaten the person’s sense of security or self-esteem. Each change is measured in “life-change units” and given a score. The number of life-change units you accumulate during a year is one way to measure the amount of stress you experience.

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

As you look over the stressors listed in the chart in front of you, notice that the list includes some positive changes as well as negative ones. While being accepted to the college of your choice is indeed as positive event, it can be just as stressful as a negative event. It is important to realize that change, both positive and negative, is in itself, stressful.

How many of you went to District or State competition last year??? Nationals???? Was that stressful???

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

Look through the list of stressors. On a separate sheet of paper, add up the points value for any stressors in your life for THE LAST YEAR. We will discuss the significance of your score here in a little while. You will not have to share anything with the class (if you don’t want too), but you should know the significance of your LCU score and how it affects your health and well being.

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

Is there anything that is NOT on that list that you think should be there?? Lets’ talk about them. They may not be on your list, but do have a LCU assigned to them.

EVERYDAY PROBLEMS

Some of the most common stressors are not listed on the list I gave you. These common stressors are sometime called “hassles”, -minor, but frequent, everyday events that cause you stress. Hassles include misplacing or losing something, being concerned about how you look, forgetting an important item, and having too many things to do at once. While such problems seem minor, they contribute greatly to your overall feeling of stress. This is because hassles occur day in and day out. Can you remember a day in the last month that was free of hassles……??? Probably not.

PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS Conditions in your immediate surroundings affect

your level of stress each day. Consider your bus ride to school each day – is it pleasant? Is the bus crowded? Is it hot/cold? Your level of stress might be quite high by the time you arrive at school.

A major stressor that occurs all around you but is often overlooked is noise. Living in high traffic areas Extreme weather conditions like snow, drought,

excessive heat Living in unsafe, crowded or polluted areas Earthquakes Fires Other major catastrophes

SHARPEN YOU SKILLS

Coping with Change Select three life events from the list with

your partner. List three things that a person could do to make each event less stressful.

SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS

Herbert Walker, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at New Your University Medical School in New York City, believes that people can learn to deal with stress by writing about their problems. Walker recommends getting in the habit of recording something each day in a “stress diary”. He suggests that individuals record stressful incidents, tell how they handled them, and explain other, better ways in which they might have handled the problem.

OTHER STRESSORS

Another major source of stress for teenagers is worrying about the future. Graduation Jobs Military College Living arrangementsFor teenagers, all of these decisions as you

approach then end of High School can be VERY stressful.

OTHER STRESSORS

Conflict – disagreements with family members, friends, and others - is another source of stress for teens. Some teens experience more conflict than they did when they were young or disagree over different issues. These conflicts can be very stressful. Another source of stress is special events - dates, team tryouts, job interviews, and more. Think about special events that you have experienced over the past few months. Where those events stressful for you?

Think of some think coming up here at the CTC that could be stressful?? What are they??

POSITIVE STRESS AND NEGATIVE STRESS Stress is POSITIVE when it promotes growth and

accomplishment. Positive stress is sometimes called eustress. Negative stress, on the other hand, is called distress.

Think about something you have accomplished lately – You may remember the feelings you experienced before and during the event. Do you think you performed better as a result of the stress?

Competitions ACT Test ASVAB Test TSA in your SKILLS Area Eagle Scout What are some other accomplishments??

POSITIVE STRESS AND NEGATIVE STRESS Research has shown that, at moderate

levels, stress can actually improve your ability to concentrate and perform at your best. Beyond that level, however, stress begins to take a negative toll on performance.

List ten stressful experiences you have faced since school started. Next to each one, note whether it was a positive or negative experience for you.

Stages of Stress

HOW STRESS AFFECTS THE BODY

STAGES OF STRESS

As soon as you perceive something to be a stressor, your body springs into action. Your body’s response is automatic – like your heartbeat, it is not under your control. All stressors – from serious ones like life threatening situation, to moderate ones like an upcoming test – trigger the same stress response in your body, although at different levels of intensity.

STAGES OF STRESS

The body’s response to stress occurs in three stages -

The alarm stage The resistance stage The exhaustion stage

ALARM STAGE

Scenario: You are on a peaceful walk through a forest in Colorado. Just as you are enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest, a huge grizzly bear appears in front of you. How do you react?

You determine that the bear is a threat, and that you do not have the resources to handle the situation.

ALARM STAGE

When your walk in the forest began, your mind and body were in a state of balance. Your mind was at ease All of your body’s systems were functioning

normally

This normal, balanced state is called homeostasis.

When you saw the bear, homeostasis was disturbed and you entered the first stage of stress, the alarm stage.

ALARM STAGE

In the alarm stage, your body releases a substance known as adrenaline into your bloodstream. Adrenaline causes many immediate changes in your body: You get a immediate burst of energy

Your heart beats faster, increasing blood flow to vital organs and muscles

Your breathing quickens to provide oxygen for your body’s activities

Your muscles tighten, making you ready to run or fight Less blood flows to your skin and digestive system, leaving

more for vital organs and muscles Your pupils widen, allowing more light in

You feel a lump in your throat as your throat muscles contract to help open the airways to your lungs and make breathing easier

ALARM STAGE

As your body responds to the stressor, your mind also reacts. During the alarm stage, you become more aware of things going on around you.

These changes only take a few seconds, but once they have taken place, you are ready to react.

You have two choices: Stand and Fight Run

ALARM STAGE

This immediate reaction of the body to stress is called the fight or flight response, because the changes prepare you to either “fight” the stressor or “take flight” and escape.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Scientists believe that the fight or flight response was essential for primitive people who had to survive wild animals and other dangers. Today, the same reaction occurs with any serious stressor. When faced with a challenge, such as a difficult test or competition, your body reacts with the same physical changes, to different degrees. These changes make it possible for you to chose between fight or flight.

ALARM STAGE

RESISTANCE STAGE

What do you do if it is not possible to fight or take flight? In such cases, if the stressor continues or doesn’t kill you, you enter into the resistance stage of the stress response. During this stage, the body tries to recover from the alarm of the first stage. Because the stressor still remains, the body cannot restore homeostasis. Instead, the body continues to function at a higher-than-normal level. The body uses a lot of energy in the resistance stage. As a result, you may become tired, irritable, and less able to handle any additional stress.

CATASTROPHES

EXHAUSTION STAGE If the stressor still continues,

you may enter the exhaustion stage, the third stage of the stress response. In the exhaustion stage, the body is worn down and no longer has enough energy to fight of the stressor. As your body’s balance remains disturbed, you become more susceptible to illness. Your ability to make judgments and to interact with others is impaired. In extreme cases, the exhaustion stage can lead to unhealthy behavior, serious illness, or even death.

EXHAUSTION STAGE

The exhaustion stage does not occur with each stress response. If it did, your body would wear out. Exhaustion occurs only if a stressor continues for a long time – usually weeks, months, or even years. People often enter the exhaustion stage when they experience stress that is beyond their control – such as divorce, a death, or another serious family problem.

Discuss PTSD

RECOGNIZING SIGNS OF STRESS

How can you keep stress under control and prevent the resistance stage or the exhaustion stage form occurring?

The first, most important step in controlling stress, is recognizing when you are under stress.

RECOGNIZING SIGNS OF STRESS

Look at the early warning signs of stress. As you look over the list, think about how you act and feel when under stress. From the list, select those reactions that apply to you. List them on a sheet of paper and title it “My Warning Signs of Stress”. Add to your list any other reactions you have. The next time you experience some of your warning signs, you will know that you are under stress.

RECOGNIZING SIGNS OF STRESS

Recognizing when you are under stress will soon become automatic. You may begin to notice patterns – perhaps you always show signs of stress when you haven’t had enough sleep, for example. You may be able to cut down on such avoidable stressors. By recognizing these signs early, you may also be able to prevent some of the more serious effects of stress.

STRESS AND INJURIES

When you are under a lot of stress, it can interfere with your ability to focus and think clearly. Unfortunately, when people are distracted and preoccupied with other things, they are more likely to injure themselves and others.

Car accidents Bike accidents Job related accidents

STRESS AND ILLNESS

By itself, stress does not usually cause serious illness. Most people experience stress from time to time, but regain homeostasis quickly. Severe or prolonged stress, how-ever, can affect your health. It can lower your resistance to illness, and it can make some diseases harder to control.

PSYCHOSOMATIC ILLNESSES

You may have heard the term psychosomatic illnesses to describe stress related illnesses. Psycho means “of the mind” and somatic means “of the body”. Psychosomatic illnesses are physical disorders that result from stress or other emotional causes.

These illnesses are evidence of the ways in which the mind affects the body.

Some people think that psychosomatic illnesses are imagined, or that they are “all in your mind”. This is not true. Psychosomatic illnesses are real physical disorders that are either brought on or made worse by stress.

Survival oriented behavior holes

LOWERED RESISTANCE

The immune system protects the body from disease through a complicated process involving a number of specialized body cells. When you speak of fighting off the flu or a cold, the immune system does the fighting. When your immune system functions well you hare able to resist some illnesses to which you have been exposed.

Scientific research has shown that prolonged stress can prevent the immune system from functioning well. If your immune system is not working well, you may have some minor illnesses, such as colds and flu, more often. For people with diseases such as cancer, a weakened immune system may worsen their condition.

Some researchers feel that a major stressful or traumatic event can lower disease resistance for a year or more.

ULCERS

An ulcer is an open sore in the lining of the stomach or other part of the digestive tract. For some people, stress increases the amount of acid in the stomach, which worsens the ulcer and can prevent it from healing.

ASTHMA

People with asthma, a disorder o fht respiratory system that makes breating difficult, may react to stress with an asthmatic attack. Durnign an asthmatic attack, the person coughs, wheezes, and gasps for air. Although these symptoms usually can be controlled with medication, people with asthmaneed to recognize their bodies’ reactions to stressors so that they can manage serious asthma attacks.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART DISEASEAs you already read, stress increases the blood flow in the body. Long periods of stress, then can lead to high blood pressure. Because high blood pressure has no obvious symptoms and often goes undetected, it is sometimes referred to as “the silent killer”. If it is not controlled, high blood pressure can lead to heart disease and stroke.

Stress also contributes to heart disease in other ways. Because the heart must work harder when under stress, prolonged stress can damage the heart muscles. Over time, this can increase a person’s risk of heart attacks.

Personalities

MANAGING STRESS

MANAGING STRESS

Although stress is a part of life, it does not have to control your life. You can do many things to keep stress under control.

Managing stress helps to restore balance in your life – it prevents the stressors from taking control and making you ill.

In a sense, everything that you do to maintain your health is a way to manage stress. Eating well, exercising regularly, expressing your feelings, and saying no to alcohol and other drugs – these are all ways in which a healthy person manages stress. But, you can do more.

MANAGING STRESS

Confront the problem Time Management

Poor time management is one of the biggest contributors to stress.

Physical Activity Relaxation Mental Rehearsal