 Stress is defined as mental or

physical strain, pressure, tension,

worry or anxiety.
It’s because of the
same reason why
this zebra is loosing
its stripes, STRESS!
 Work
 Relationships
 Major life changes
 Death of a loved one
 Illness
 Emotional
 Physical
 Mental
 Behavioral
Who does stress affect?
 YOU
 Family, Friends, and others around you
 Attitudes
 Thoughts and Feelings
 Habits
 Responsibilities
 Life
 Physical and Emotional Stress

• Stress can change you physically and emotionally. Stress

develops your emotional intelligence and creative capabilities.

• Without learning how to recognize the effects of stress and

how to deal with them, stress could hit you hard and
unexpectedly.

• Stress affects the body and the mind, building up pressure,

until one or both, fall apart.

• Knowing how to balance the right amount of stress in your

life can change your life tremendously.

http://www.kalavati.org/how-does-stress-affect-health.html
 Behavioral Symptoms of stress

Symptoms of stress can also affect your relationships. People around you are often an
easy target to blame or yell at. You might be short tempered or irritable, which causes
you to take it out on yourself and others.

• Overeating or under eating

• Over sleeping or insomnia
• Isolation from people and activities
• Being irresponsible
•Increase of alcohol, gambling, sex, shopping and drugs
• Biting nails
• Grinding your teeth
• Short temper
How does stress affect your emotional health?

People find them selves,

Not enjoying life

Not sleeping at night
Suffering from mood swings
Depression
Memory lapses
Flashbacks or past situations
How does stress affect your health?

Disrupted sleep
Loss of energy and motivation
Lack of interest and ability for pleasure
Lastly serious emotional and physical illness
The best way to break the cycle is to balance your body's sleep patterns and natural
ability to manage the production of chemicals and hormones.
You do this through the way you think, the food you eat, exercise, meditation,
relaxation, fun, rest and sleep etc.
 1.How does stress affect your health Physically?!

Health related problems include:

•Light-headedness
•Headaches
•Dry mouth and throat
•Difficulty in swallowing
•Difficulty in speaking
•Feeling cold
•Feeling hot and sweaty
•Colds, flu and other infections including allergy disorders.
•High blood pressure
•Heart problems
•Cold sores
•Fast paced heart
•Fatigue
•Muscle pain
•Nausea and vomiting
•Insomnia
•Weak immune system

All of these symptoms can turn into heart conditions, cancers and other serious illnesses.
 2. The Mental Symptoms of Stress

• Loss of objectivity
• Negative thought
• Insecurity and self doubt
• Forgetfulness
• Unfocused thoughts
• Indecisiveness
• Confusion

Your thoughts and beliefs are the greatest help to your ability or inability to cope. Being
negative and telling yourself that you can or cannot do something will only cause your
brain to think that way then it will start to act in that behavior.
 3. Stress Threshold!

Your threshold is where your pain tolerance reaches the maximum level of being able to
bear something for so long. Every now and then you will experience a push to your
threshold. But take comfort in the fact that it will make you stronger and help you handle
stress.
Everyone has a different threshold. If you experienced childhood traumas or
hardships, your threshold may be low. Whereas, not having experience in hardship will
cause you high threshold but as time goes by it will go lower.

1. Meditation is the best technique to raise your threshold.

2. Changing the way you think changes what you perceive as stressful.

As your threshold rises, so will your ability to handle challenges.

 4. Your Capabilities

Your capabilities and efficiency determines what you can handle. New situations may
leave you high tolerance to stress if your management skills are not developed. As you
experience new situations and opportunities you will soon be able to cope with stress in
a better way. Change is what helps you grow your tolerance levels for stress and many
other things.
 5. Habits and behavior!
Your behavior is passed down from your parents, older siblings, TV, teachers and
peers. Your automatic response to stress is not always YOU reacting. You are a product
of your habits.
How you deal with stress has been handed down to you. You can change a habit. Habits
are key to managing stress.
This exercise will help you increase your awareness about stress.

1. List four positive and four negative events that caused change in your life.
2. Take each event one at a time. Close your eyes and remember everything you can
about how you responded. Answer the following questions for each event:
2a. What were your feelings?
2b. What were your thoughts?
2c. How did you behave? What habits started or increased?
2d. Did you get sick? How?
3. Now that you have completed the four questions for all eight events, go through your
answers and:
3a. Circle any feeling, thought, action or illness that shows up more than three times.

3b. Underline any feeling thought, action or illness that is unusual for you.

4. Complete the following paragraph:

When I am under stress, I often think__(THOUGHTS)__which creates feelings in me of
__(FEELINGS)__I tend to act out by __(BEHAVIORS)__and I it shows up in my body
__(SYMPTOMS)___