Stress Management

2. Contents
• Introduction of Stress
• Reaction to Stress
• Type of Stressors
• Type of Stress
• Symptoms of Stress
• How to Manage the Stress

3. What is Stress?
• The term “Stress” was used for the first time by
Hans Selye, popularly known as ‘Father of Stress
Studies’.
• He has tried to explain the genesis of stress in
human body through ‘General Adaptation
Syndrome’ (GAS)
According to “Hans Selye” the GAS has three stages
1. Alarm
2. Resistance
3. Exhaustion

4. 1st phase begins: As soon as any stressor enters the body, its internal body
system automatically becomes alert and starts preparation to fight with the
stressor in order to get rid of it.
 The heart pumps blood with more pressure
 The glands in the brain secret higher level of hormones
 The breathing increases, pupils expand, muscles strengthen and sense
become more sensitive
2nd Phase begin: The body tries to resist the stress, if succeeds the body
become normal. And if fails it becomes tired and gives up the fight.
In 3rd phase of exhaustion, the body passes through physical and
psychological strain and may:
 Feel weakness
 Depression and head aches
 High or low blood pressure
 Abdominal or intestinal complication etc.

5. Reaction to stress
 The normal physical reaction to stress when you feel
threatened or upset, triggers your fight of flight
response.
 When you perceive a threat, your nervous system
responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones.
These hormones arouse the body for emergency
action.
Fight Flight Freeze

7. For many, especially untrained individuals, this can be a
subconscious automatic decision. For more trained individuals
this response can be controlled at a more conscious level.
Whether the decision is a conscious one or not, your brain will
do a quick calculation based on your past experience, your
skill level and conditioning and determine which option is best.
The most important part is often not which decision is made,
but the speed at which the final decision is reached.

9. Definition of Stress
• Stress is your mind and body’s response or
reaction to a real or imagined threat, event,
demand or change.
• Stress is a combination of thoughts and
worries that have positive or negative affect
on the body’s responses.

10. Stress is often termed as a twentieth century
syndrome, born out of men’s race towards
modern progress and its ensuing complexities.
Benjamin Franklin
Definition (Continued…)

11. Stress is not always harmful. A small degree of stress is
beneficial in many ways. However, when the stress crosses
the tolerable limit (i.e. optimum level), it becomes
problematic for a person.

12. your life partner

13. Eustress or Good Stress helps you stay
focused, energetic, and alert by helping you
rise to meet challenges;

14. DISTRESS OR UNHEALTHY STRESS

15. Distress or negative stress:
• Can damage your mental and physical health
• Relationships and quality of life
• Feels unpleasant
• Decreases Performance
DISTRESS OR UNHEALTHY STRESS

16. Stress Performance Connection

17. What are Stressors?
Stressors are the events or demands causing stress.

19. Work Place Stressors
• Chronic work overload
• Unfair treatment
• Impossible expectations of your boss
• Unsupportive or hostile coworkers
• Inadequate training
• Lack of recognition or rewards
• Your values conflict with boss or coworkers
• Unpleasant work environment
• Lack of clear direction about priorities

20. Common External Factors of Stress
• Major life changes
• Relationship difficulties
• Financial problems
• Children and family behavior
• Children education
• Noise
• Toxins/Pollution
• Lack of sleep
stressors that come from the outside to us

21. • Feelings of anger, fear and chronic worry
• Anticipation
• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
• Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
• All-or-nothing attitude
Common Internal Causes of Stress
Comes from inside us

26. Stress Management

27. It may seem that there is nothing you can do
about stress. The bills keep coming, there will
never be enough hours in the day and your
career and family responsibilities will always be
demanding.
However…
You have more control than you might think.
In fact, the simple realization that you’re in
control of your life is the foundation of stress
management.

28. Managing stress is all about taking charge: of
your thoughts, emotions, schedules, and the
way you deal with problems

30. Stress and Personality
• The stress bearing capacity differs from person to
person. A person having extravert personality or
positive personality or type B personality or
proactive personality is likely to have lessor
stress as compared to a person having introvert
personality or negative personality or type A
personality or reactive personality
• A rigid or egoistic nature is likely to have more
stress as compared to person of flexible or
humble nature

31. Identify the sources of stress in
your life
• Stress management starts with identifying
the sources of stress in your life. This isn’t
as easy as its sounds. Your true sources of
stress aren't always obvious.
• You may know that you are constantly
worried about your work deadlines. But it
may be your procrastination rather than the
actual job demand, that leads to deadline
stress.

32. Unhealthy ways of coping with
stress
These coping strategies may temporarily reduce stress,
but they cause more damage in the long run:
• Smoking
• Overeating or under eating
• Withdrawing with family, friends and activities
• Using pills to relax
• Sleeping to much
• Procrastination
• Taking out your stress on others (lashing out, angry
outbursts, physical violence)

33. Learning healthier ways to
manage stress
• If your methods of coping with stress aren’t
contributing to your greater emotional and
physical health, it’s time to find healthier
ones.
• There are many healthy ways to manage and
cope with stress, but they all require change.
You can either change the situation or change
your reaction.

34. Learning healthier ways to manage
stress Continued…
• Since everyone has a unique response to
stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution to
managing it. No single method works for
everyone or in every situation.
• Experiment with different techniques and
strategies.
• Focus on what makes you feel calm and in
control.

35. Stress management strategies

36. Dealing with Stressful Situations
The Four A’s about stressor
Change the situation:
 Avoid the stressor
 Alter the stressor
Change your reaction:
 Adapt to the stressor
 Accept the stressor

37. Stress management strategy 1:
Avoid unnecessary stressor
 Learn how to say “no”
Know your limits and stick to them. Whether in your personal or
professional life, refuse to accept added responsibilities when
you’re close to reaching these limits.
 Avoid people who stress you out
If someone consistently causes stress in your life and you can’t
turn the relationship around, limit the amount of time you spend
with that person.
 Avoid controversial topics
If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off. If traffic
makes you tense, take a longer but quieter route.
 Take control of your environment
If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your
conversation list.

38. Stress management strategy 2:
Alter the situation
 Express your feelings instead of bottling them up
If something or someone is bothering you, communicate your
concerns in an open and respectful way.
 Be willing to compromise
When you ask someone to change their behaviour, be willing to do
the same.
 Be more assertive
Don’t take a backseat in your own life. Deal with problems head
on, doing your best to anticipate and prevent them.
 Manage your time better
Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When you’re
stretched too thin and running behind, it’s hard to stay calm and
focused.

39. Stress management strategy 3:
Adapt to the stressor
 Reframe problems
Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective. Rather than
fuming about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, read
your favourite book, or enjoy some alone time.
 Look at the big picture
Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A
year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and
energy elsewhere.
 Adjust your standards
Perfectionism is a major source of avoidable stress. Set reasonable standards for
yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
 Focus on the positive
When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you
appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple
strategy can help you keep things in perspective.

40. Stress management strategy 4:
Accept the things you can’t change
 Don’t try to control the uncontrollable
Many things in life are beyond our control— particularly the
behaviour of other people. Rather than stressing out over them,
focus on the things you can control.
 Share your feelings
Talk to a trusted friend or speak to a counsellor. Expressing what
you’re going through can be very cathartic, even if there’s nothing
you can do to alter the stressful situation.
 Learn to forgive
Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people
make mistakes. Let go of anger and resentments. Free yourself
from negative thoughts by forgiving and moving on.

41. Stress management strategy 5:
Make time for relaxation
• Set aside relaxation time
• Connect with others
• Do something you enjoy every day
• Keep your sense of humour

42. Stress Management Strategy 6:
Adopt a Healthy Lifestyle
• Exercise regularly
• Eat a healthy diet
• Reduce caffeine and sugar
• Avoid cigarettes, and drugs
• Get enough sleep

43. Best Way to Overcome Stress is Interaction
with Quran

44. Best Way to Overcome Stress

46. Thanks
Q & A

47. Negative Self-Talk
• Basically, negative self-talk is any inner
dialogue you have with yourself that may be
limiting your ability to believe in yourself and
your own abilities.
• Examples: Why are they treating me like that,
maybe they don't enjoy my company. The way
i behaved today made me seem so stupid.

48. All or nothing attitude
• All-or-nothing thinking is a cognitive
distortion. All-or-nothing thinking refers to
thinking in extremes. You are either a success
or a failure.
• For example, if someone is thinking that
losing their job means their life is over, that
person will be at higher risk for feeling an
unhealthy negative emotion like depression or
anxiety.