Reducing and Managing Stress - Essay Example

Customer’s Name Customer tutor’s Name Customer’s Grade/course 8th September 2010 Reducing and Managing Stress Abstract Literature has largely attempted to present issues on how increased stress can adversely affect the general human health. This paper considers stress in different dimensions as recognized in the life of an old aboriginal woman on the verge of divorce in an admixture of mental and physical abuse and how it can be reduced using manageable means. In aspect, noting increased stress in a victim’s life and its management requires that we also understand numerous stimulators related to it and these include psychological, physiological and sociological factors. Introduction The life each one of us lives in society is an ongoing process of orientation and reorganization caused by the many ups and downs, and from where as an experiment between the mind and the body with respect to our responses to these stimuli, life finds its definition. However, some encounters are skin deep and which have tended to create certain acceptable or unacceptable trends called abnormal behaviour in the whole of our lifestyle by causing an increased imbalance between the mind and the body connection. This imbalanced life caused by stress also offers a victim a timeless graph for relationships, work, fun, meeting challenges and the general relaxation expected of a balanced life. That is to say, in the process of this unstable equilibrium, one is either compelled to act constructively or do so destructively for the sake of self to an extent where increased stress leads to both beneficial and detrimental influences on the operations of the human body system (Donatelle 2010). For the old aboriginal woman, whose sources of stress have summed up to yield an increased stress identified as one large force emanating from both mental abuse and physical abuse respectively thereby affecting her general performance everywhere, she deserves these stress busters namely: psychological, physiological, physical and sociological suppressants. These factors are not only intended to improve her general health and household burnout but also meant to enhance her performance both at the two workplaces and in her studies at the campus. In furtherance of this, the busters will also guarantee her ample time for renewing her dilapidated relationships both with the children and perhaps the estranged husband. In simple terms, these busters in addition to changing her situation will also enable her to change her reaction; life is about reducing stress and managing stress for both the mind and body to acquire some atmosphere of equilibrium. Reducing stress alone without any management mechanisms tailor-made to control it thereafter is also in itself a form of stress (Seaward, 2005). Item One: Psychological factors Stress is the mother of all imbalances in the human body system that no man can mistakably deny on account of normalcy. It is the natural motivator which makes life become real and involves us in decision-making processes towards a constructive ideal or even the destructive ordeals. There is the good part of stress and the bad part of it as well and either spurring us to take action or make decisions in relation to self. However, when this is prolonged within the human body system without any mechanism to suppress the catalyst, then stress automatically affects the general health. According to Seaward (2005), the key principle is how to manage stress even as it is reduced; it is about knowing how to balance between the bad stress and the good stress in order to inculcate in our system a sense of harmony. As a catalyst, then, stress is the substance which defines the connection between the mind and the body without which our life lacks a stimulant and direction. Since each one of us has an intrinsic way of responding to stress, then with regard to psychological factors, stress encompasses the mind’s reaction to changes that results in the physical and emotional adjustment to cope with the very changes, also referred to as response. Stress includes those very situations or thoughts in the mind that make the victim to feel angry, anxious, sense of nervousness, frustrated and either loss of appetite or lust for food (Seaward 2005). In other words, a single reaction caused by an increased stress is likely to engineer those very many thoughts in the mind that have tremendous effects on our feelings. The nerve center of these responses is in the mind since it is connected to the brain where the interpretation of impulses occurs more than the brain’s connection with the body. If one can become a master of his own thoughts, then he can also manage his feelings and emotions but not vice versa. In trying to understand a person’s process of health behaviour change, it is holistically advisable to take note of the abnormalities caused by psychological effects first more than the physical or social effects. Both the physical and social effects manifest in a victim’s life whenever the catalyst makes the best of one’s thoughts. For this reason, it is imperative for stress reduction to begin at the mind where all co-ordinations of the body system are interpreted for its management to be effective and efficient (Donatelle 2010). Handling Psychological factors prevalent in the old Aboriginal woman In the case of the aboriginal woman, the psychological factors evident in her life are quite enormous but still manageable. These factors include thoughts of: one, marriage problems that have led to single parenting; second, a deviant son involved in both substance abuse and drinking; third, financial obligations for which she has to worry out past bills after their divorce; fourth, working with homeless people and finally poor time management. According to Seaward (2005), the mitigation strategies must therefore be holistic in nature in order to deal with each part appropriately. The adoption of antidepressants that the old woman has been taking for the past one year as a stopgap measure against stress is not be the best option at this point or even in other subsequent parts. This is only one way of avoiding the stressor and thereby making the situation appear better from the outside From a psychological standpoint, the primary objective here is to accept these happenings as real and part of her life (Seaward, 2005). Following their divorce, the woman must accept the full responsibility of taking care of the children including paying bills of the past broken marriage. Secondly, she must accept the son’s drug abuse character as well as his drinking habit which he might have assumed when in the absence of the father; he was perhaps made to become one by the mother or the busy schedule of the mother. Thirdly, the woman must begin to accept that working day and night with people of the same problem, the homeless, is stress all the more. Finally and very important, the aboriginal woman must accept that by taking classes with her busy work schedule notwithstanding her family chores is mind-boggling. As a psychological recipe then, she must accept the fact that the source of her stress is partly situational and partly her reactions. Moreover, the woman must accept the things she cannot change, for example, she cannot change her status to a college girl by virtue of her enrolment in a course or even make the son to become the father without encouraging a greater opposition referred to as stress (Seaward, 2005). Perhaps, suggestions have been made elsewhere that seclusion also helps the mind to regain its transformational power to help one think and approve of the facts through meditation, but this is more of spiritual than soulical upon which the mind derives its stock of meaning. It is spiritual in the sense that the mind is first made blank and which means that there is completely no connection with the body but rather there is a connection with a supramundane powers and which is more stressful if one does not understand the nature of such realms. Item Two: Physiological factors All stress reduction strategies in the last three decades have undergone experimentation with the physical body and proved worthy. The mind/body balance is a concept of a balance sheet in which each implies the other and thereby cancels out to exude a zero resultant force. That is, as the mind is taken to thinking, the body assumes the end result of the thoughts through action and without which are only wishful thoughts and thus more stressful (Seaward, 2005). In a reaction process, a catalyst only enhances the process but is itself not used up in the process in a similar manner stress is. However, when the end product is sucked back into the reaction chamber before collection, then it is more disastrous to the whole process and so is the stress when thoughts are not transformed into a physical action by the body. The aboriginal woman has been under a physical abuse that has not only affected her mental capacity to think about eating food or having enough sleep but has also seen her concentrate largely on her menial jobs as substitutes for the physical exercise. This in actuality is an unhealthy lifestyle and another contributor of stress. Again, according to Seaward (2005), by taking anti-depressants for the past one year, this has also added up to cause a crash in mood and energy in the old woman’s system thereby resulting in a pent-up feeling of frustration and demoralizing her from taking a rigorous exercise or so to boost her mind/body connection. Handling Physiological strains in the old woman’s life In the case of the old woman, we have noted five areas in her daily routines which have adversely contributed to the overall stress in her life. There is the poor dieting largely caused by under-eating; second, there is the accumulated tension or strains caused by lack of exercise; third, the prolonged consumption of the sugar-coated anti-depressants has increased the sugar level in her system and usurped the energy meant to stir her up to a physical action or exercise; fourth, by working day and night, the woman does not get enough time to sleep and finally by working with already stressed homeless people in the shelters, this also tends to make the future bleaker by masking her own problems for the sake of handling others’ problems (Seaward 2005). In this regard and notwithstanding the bridled mind, a good health behavior necessary to suppress the increased stress in the old woman would include a physical exercise of at least thrice per week; both qualitative and quantitative eating habit; reducing the sugar content in her diet and this include abandoning the anti-depressants and getting enough sleep. Finally but an unavoidable case for the old woman who has to clear the bills from the past marriage through earning from her job of dealing with already depressed homeless persons, there is the issue of avoiding those who add up to the already increased stress (Donatelle 2010). Item Three: Sociological Factor Sociology is the study of human behaviour in relation to his or her environment. In a person’s surrounding are people of different calibers for which no man can mistakenly try to control the uncontrollable. There are those who upset us; those who make us happy and those empathize with us in a social set-up but still they are not ourselves. This is because we are a concept of thought pattern and the reaction to those thoughts which amount to our behaviour as traits seen in public. In other words, trying to be what we are not is all deceit and more stressful (Seaward, 2005). Society should gain points from the meaning we create and not from the deigned feelings we fabricate. In the case of the old woman, she is presenting herself to the public as a desperate person living in the horizons of wishes. Her anxiety to understand her obvious situation is a signal that she is not ready to grab the opportunity for a turnaround but rather she is only interested in controlling the uncontrollable. Moreover, by seeing the son both as a substance abuser and an alcoholic is focusing life on the negative. Perhaps, the son is also stressed because of what the mother has to undergo in order to meet the basic needs including paying the past bills. Alternatively, the son could be on drugs because of being babysitter for his two year old sister whom the mother has been leaving behind as she works day and night. Even though a good idea as a whole, at the age of thirty eight still taking a bachelor’s degree may mean she is a poor planner or in search for identity among the learned people in society and therefore inconsequential(Seaward 2005). Handling sociological setbacks in the old woman We have discovered that the way we relate with others is a bulwark of hope in society if founded on good virtues. A good health behaviour implies good public relation that neither imposes nor opposes but instead is one that is adaptive to stressful situations through a reflective change of expectations and attitudes (Seaward, 2005). For the case of the old woman, she has to see the positive side of her problems if hoping to fit in the society’s shoes; she needs also to reframe her problems from a more positive viewpoint; she has to adjust her standard by refraining from the class ideology if she hopes to regain her self-esteem. In addition to these, she has to learn to forgive her estranged husband who might have abused her on the basis of poor family planning, a born son of twenty years old and followed by a daughter of two years old eighteen years later. This manifests poor time management that has rid her of fun and relaxation thereby giving the son a chance to seek for other alternatives of entertainment elsewhere and probably a poor homemaker who cannot share her feelings with members of her household and which all sum up to a poor behavior (Donatelle 2010). Conclusion For the old aboriginal woman to redeem herself completely and to live in harmony with one another in a holistic way, other measures must be put in place now that we have both prescribed the necessary mechanisms and as well identified them. She has to develop a positive focus on motivational behaviour change; use both the social support and community support systems to help coordinate the very impulses aimed at reducing and managing the stress. Finally the woman has to learn both the time management techniques by planning ahead and problem handling styles at a personal level, and preferably at the household level. References Donatelle, R. (2010). Health: The Basics Green Edition (9th ed). San Francisco: Benjamin Cunnings. Print. Seaward, B. (2005). Achieving the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection: A Stress Management Workbook. Ontario: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Print. Read More