Zia Haider

Psy 1010

Stress Management Paper

Part One:

I chose to try meditation as one of my stress relieving exercise. Meditation has been
preformed all through out history as a religious and spritely practices, recently it has become
something everyone can do without tying it to religion. Meditation trains mind, body and reduces
stress. when meditation is practiced by individual their mind reaches a state of consciousness that
benefits the individual as a whole. I notice after meditating I find myself pay more attention,
focus more about being very calm. While I meditated, I dont take stressful situation that serious
anymore and even can find creative ways to resolve problems that I might be encountering.
Meditation doesnt have to take a long time. I meditated usually for less then 15 minutes at a
time, whenever I have the time to do it, but after word my mind feels refreshed physically and
emotionally.

My second stress reliever is fishing. Fishing to me is about having the time to myself
enjoying nature and tranquility. When I go fish I dont go for the fish but just a reason to go out
to a lake by myself and carefree. Going only is a significant aspect of it, when I go fishing with
someone I dont seem to get the same tranquil effect, many because of too much nose by
consistent talking and banter. But when I go out alone I seem to relieve stress so much more, by
taking in all of the view and sounds around me without any disturbance or distraction of live.

My third stress reliever is exercise. I look at exercise as a physical stress reducer, if your
body feels good your mind flows. Exercise increases your overall health and improves your
sense of well being, which can help you every day. Endorphins are the feel good chemicals in
your brain and its proven that with exercise it can stimulate the brain to produce more, which in
turn you feel happy. I have personal felt the effects of exercise on my brain where after a good
work out I feel some much better physical and mentally with a sense of accomplishment. I look
at exercise like meditation in motion. Exercise and meditation seem to be opposites but they do
have similar results and benefits relating to reducing stress.

Part Two:

I believe there should be two categories for stress management, like stress reducers and
stress preventers. Preventing stress is the first half of the equation and reducing is the second
half. I believe if you prevent the stress form developing it can benefit you so much more then
trying to reduce stress. Reading through the strategies the best ones that seem to best my
satiation was to organization my time, setting goals, and to stop procrastinating.

Something I really straggle with is procrastination and it has caused me so much stress in
my live. I procrastinate at school, job and about anything that requires time and tedious work.

Procrastination in a student life can be debilitating. Students procrastinate more than anyone else
because we put off anything or everything like tests or important assignments and can easily be
overwhelmed and result in trouble grades. To kick this bad habit, I have started using calendars,
daily reminders and try to plan ahead of time to study and get my work done on time. I have
been using this tools and tricks to help me but I seem to still slack off sometimes. I dont you can
kick a habit quickly, but as long as I addresses the problem as strive to make achievements and
gains, I am happy.

My dad once said to me If time is money, then you would treat and spend time wisely
just like you would with money. Like money you must invest time and save it, by that a mean
dont waist time on useless means, you dont gain time you just loss it. You must use your time
to achieve and make an impact on your or someone else life. Those were long forgotten and
they suddenly come back to me as I working on this project. I didnt take his words seriously at
that young age, but now as I am older I have so much regret and stress over lost time that I now
value his words with the weight of gold. I good strategy is to organize my time is by not easily
wasting it on useless activates that benefit me in anyway, like wealth, joy, growth and all around
better person. Another useful strategy is to budgeting your time where its spent on important
things first then spending on other needs and wants. Investing in time is very similar to investing
money in way the both accumulate over certain period and with a benefit or a reward in the end.
I started to better plan my day with a daily planner to keep a record of how I am spending my
time, which seems to have help clarify my schedule and reduce and prevent stress. I must always
keep track of my time, after all; time is the scarcest resource in business, school and my life.

Part Three:

If a persons basic state of mind is serene and calm, then it is possible for this inner
peace to overwhelm a painful physical experience. - The Dalai Lama. According to Buddhist
Monks who have been practicing Meditation for thousand years, a clear and peaceful state of
mind can be achieved through this practice. It focuses on an object, visualization, the breath,
movement or attention itself to increase awareness of the present moment and to reduce stress.
Thus, meditation should be prescribed as a complementary therapy for the prevention of many
stress-related conditions.

Since the early 1960s the practice of Meditation has called the attention of many
prominent scientists and as a result, studies of the physiological effects of meditation began. An
investigation carried out by the Professor of Medicine Herbert Benson at Harvard University,
arrived to the conclusion that mediation alters the chemistry of the brain increasing the
perception of positive emotions and balancing the mechanisms associated to stress. Besides,
researchers at Washington University found out that Meditation reduces the level of cortisol,
which is a stress hormone; subjects who meditated during eight weeks were compared to those
who did not, and the former performed better on stressful multitasking tests.

Statistics on Meditation in the west culture have shown it has improved lifestyles of
people suffering from stress-related conditions. According to the authors Roth and Creaser, a
group of inner-city residents suffering from chronic pain, anxiety, depression and hypertension
were trained in meditation. As a result, they experienced a 50% reduction in overall psychiatric
symptoms, a 70% decrease in anxiety, and a 44% reduction in medical symptoms. What is more,
an investigation carried out by Gregg Jacobs at Harvard Medical School arrived to the
conclusion that 75 % of long-term insomniacs who have been trained in meditation can fall
asleep within 20 minutes after going to bed.

To conclude, Meditation should be recommended for patients suffering from conditions

triggered by stress. In the recent years scientists and Doctors have shown interest in the effects
meditation practice has in people undergoing stressful situations; it should be noticed that many
prestigious Universities such as Harvard and Washington have invested their efforts in
researching, and undoubtedly, the results are conclusive: Meditation is a key tool to cope with
stress-related conditions. Then, through Meditation one can turn to the inner peace to calm down
the pain caused by stressful experiences.

Citations:
Corliss, C. (2014, January 08). Mindfulness meditation may ease anxiety, mental stress.
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HofmannSG,SawyerAT,WittAA,OhD.Theeffectofmindfulnessbasedtherapyon
anxietyanddepression:ametaanalyticreview.JConsultClinPsychol.2010;78(2):169183.
WoleverRQ,BobinetKJ,McCabeK,etal.Effectiveandviablemindbodystressreduction
intheworkplace:arandomizedcontrolledtrial.JOccupHealthPsychol.2012;17(2):246258.