Understanding stress

Understanding stress

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Stress as a natural response to our environment
Characteristics of stress:
Stress can be expensive
How to deal with stress
Yoga for stress management

1. Stress as a natural response to our environment

With our busy schedules and work, we naturally become stressed to deal with our lives. Stress can have both positive and negative outcomes, but too much stress can damage our lives:

2. Characteristics of stress:

Stress has both positive and negative outcomes
• positive stress adds excitement, anticipation
• Negative stress can cause anxiety, irritability, depression, illness
• A variety of physical and mental symptoms

Chronic, repetitive, sustained stress
• Can lead to burn out, distress
• Increases sustained stress levels
• This graph shows repeated stress builds up over time

From: Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators, McEwen BS, New England Journal of Medicine, 338:171-179, 1998.

3. Stress can be expensive

• Money cost:
⁃ Lower productivity
⁃ Weaker immune system - illnesses
• Psychological cost
• Maladaptive behaviours - viscious cycle

4. How to deal with stress

There are many stress management techniques:
• Effective management of stressors - prioritizing, time management etc)
• More breaks, leisure activities, diversions
• Medication
• Yoga for stress management

5. Yoga for stress management

What can be achieved with yoga:
• Improve stress tolerance
• Reduce maladaptive behaviours from creating additional stress at workplace
• Cognitive techniques - Positive psychology
• Regular exercise
• Relaxation response and mind / body techniques

What you will be doing to reduce stress:
• Yoga postures - physical exercise
• Pranayam - breathing exercises
• Relaxation and meditation
• Cognitive and perception changes

Benefits of yoga for stress management
• Induction of relaxation response through
⁃ Meditation
⁃ Breath awareness
⁃ Posture
• Improving stress tolerance
⁃ Cognitive changes
⁃ Physical changes
⁃ Hormonal / neuroendocrine changes
• Improved self awareness, control, perception of competence

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