As someone who is currently managing work as well as being a full time college student, I am no stranger to stress. In fact this semester has been my worst semester yet. I am currently taking 7 classes to graduate on time, and the workload is very stressful as I feel I have no free time for myself. Stress defined is “the mental and physical response and adaptation by our bodies to the real or perceived changes and challenges in our lives”(50). This whole chapter goes into how stress affects your body positively and negatively. An interesting factor of stress that I didn’t know about was eustress which is “positive stress, presents the opportunity for personal growth and satisfaction and can actually improve health”(50). This was a surprise to me because who would’ve thought that stress could be positive.
Stress can be managed well through means of exercise. I know that for me if I am having an extremely stressful day and I decide to go to the gym I will release a lot of my stress through lifting. Which can be a very helpful tool when getting stressed. Stress is no joke and we have to look out for it. We should always be trying to adapt to the stress of our everyday lives because chronic stress “may not feel as intense, it can linger indefinitely and wreak silent havoc on your body’s systems”(51). The dangerous side of stress is the long term effects of being in a stressful environment day in and out. Stress is more prevalent in our current generation as we are labeled the “stress generation”. This is due to the tremendous stress we put on ourselves around getting a job, finishing school, etc.
I can relate very well to the chapter talking about stress relating to poor sleeping habits. If there is a stressful situation in my life I can’t get it out of my head when I am trying to go to sleep. I toss and turn without getting quality sleep. This not only affects me the next day but, long term if I am constantly having these poor sleeping habits it will negatively affect my body functions. As discussed above we are known as the stress generation due to the rapid growth of technology and how we use it. When we are stressing about something we tend to do what I listed above and if we can’t sleep we turned to our phones which in turn cause for longer periods without sleep. Good habit to get into would be an hour before bed turn off and put down all electronics to get the most quality sleep in a night.
As I discussed in my last blog, I started mediation which I believe has helped my stress levels. I have been meditating 15-20mins in the morning or at night which has really released a lot of built up stress throughout the day. Something that I believe I need to include in my everyday environment is time management. So i plan on getting a journal and adjusting it weekly with time management to control my work and school so they do not conflict one another.
Thanks to everyone who read my blog have a great weekend. Also thought I would throw in a picture of my dogs because they are great ways to deter stress.
