Effects of stress on our health

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Effects of stress on our health
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Any living being

• Must be able to change
• Must preserve its integrity

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Our key words

• Stressor
• Stress situation
• Stress reaction

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The two lines of stress reaction

• Specific reaction
• General response

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General response is always the same

• Our heart beats faster
• our blood pressure goes up
• we breathe deeper
• muscles, heart and brain get more blood

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Specific reactions have two basical types

• fight
• flight

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Phases of general response

• Alarm phase
• Phase of reaction /fight or flight/
• Phase of exhaustion

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Nature of stressor

• Physical
• Physiological
• Psychological
• Social

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Stress may lead to trouble through

• Exhaustion
• Inadequate responses
• Regression in the alarm phase
• Wrong decisions

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Those who always fight can be described by

• Commitment
• Control
• Challenge

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Those who always fight

• have the chance six times higher to die because
  of heart-disease

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Those who always flight are prone to have

• gastric ulcer
• diarrhoea
• colitis

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Chronic stress may lead to

• Alcoholism
• Aggression
• Mysticism
• Suicide

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Stress tolerance depends on

• Personality
• Earlier stress situations
• Age
• Sex

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Our basic principles I.

• Too much stress or impaired stress tolerance
  leads to exhaustion

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Our basic principles II.

• Inadequate responses may lead to health problems

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Somatic symptoms

• Headache
• gastric disorders
• abdominal pain
• diarrhoea
• chestpain
• dizziness

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Psychological symptoms

• depression
• anxiety
• nervousness

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Stress is the hotbed of

• alcoholism
• drug abuse
• smoking
• obesity /fatness/

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What can we do?

• Try to avoid unnecessary stress!
• Relax!
• Build up a healthy personality!
• Meet an expert if necessary!