Managing Stress and

Coping with Loss

Rebecca MendozaClaudia Chavarria

Andrea Morin Leslie Cobos

Melissa AguirreDaisy Tarrango

Section 1Stress and Your Health

What is Stress?• The body’s and mind’s

response to a demand.

What causes Stress?• Stress can be caused by

many factors called stressors

• A Stressor is any situation that puts a demand on the body or mind.

There Are Different Types of Stressors

• Environmental Stressor

• Biological Stressor

• Thinking Stressor

• Behavioral Stressor

• Life changing Stressor

Environmental Stressor

• Conditions or events in your physical environment that causes you stress• Loud Noises• Crowding• Natural Disasters

Biological Stressor

• Conditions that make it difficult for your body to take part in daily activities• Illness• injuries

Thinking Stressor

• Any type of mental challenge that can cause stress• Tests• Homework

Behavioral Stressor

• Unhealthy Behaviors• Lack of sleep• Drinking alcohol• Drugs• Smoking

Life Changing Stressor

• Any major life change. Whether it is positive or negative• Changing Schools• A death• Marriage

Physical Response to Stress• The way your body acts towards a situation• This prepares your body to response fast and in the right

way to the stressor• This is called a fight-or-flight response• Your body releases energy and strength for you to be able

to respond to the stressor• Your body releases epinephrine• also called adrenaline, and it is one of the hormones that

prepare the body for quick action.

Adrenaline• Triggers Following changes• Faster Breathing• Faster heartbeat • Muscles tense up• Pupils of your eyes get wider• Digestion slows down• Blood Sugar increases

Emotional and behavioral Response to Stress

Positive• Eustress• energizes and helps

reach goals• Help you motivate you

to do better• Feel Alert and lively

Negative• Distress• make you sick or keeps

you from reaching goals• You will have distress• Keep away from

reaching goals

How do you get Positive Stress?• Be optimistic• Concentrate on

what you can control

• Have confidence in yourself

• SMILE!!!

The general adaptation syndromeModel that describes relationship between stress and disease

Alarm Stage• Have Mind and Body Alert• Body energy goes to responding demands• May have some headaches, lack of sleep, or

anxiety

Resistance Stage• If you keep experiencing stress your body becomes

resistant to disease and injury than normal.

Exhaustion Stage• Your body will not take stressors any more• You get more exhausted than usual• Heart and other organs may suffer and may not be

able to fight diseases

Learning to manage stress

helps you have a healthier life!

Section 2Dealing With Stress

Stress• Now

• Later

Exercise Daily• Will help you stay

physically and mentally healthy• It relieves tension

• Tension• physical effect of stress marked by straining muscles

• Health problems such as tension, headaches, and heart disease can result from long term stress

Get enough Sleep• 9 hours of sleep

would be very healthy

• Not getting sleep can lead to exhaustion• Can cause illness• You can be less alerted and less capable of dealing with a stressor.

Eat Properly• Eating healthy gives

you vitamins, minerals and energy.• You need this for everyday demands• It helps your immune system to function properly• This helps defend you

from stress related to illness

Learn to Relax• Breathing exercises• Deep Breathing• Fill lungs with air

instead of taking shallow breaths

• Brings more oxygen to body

• Helps muscles and organs function more effectively

• Keeps brain alerted and focused

• Heart rate slows down • Blood pressure drops

Learn to Relax• Tension-Releasing exercise• Start by tensing your muscles

such as the shoulders• People have different ways to

release tension• Listening to music• Playing guitar• Reading a book

Build Resiliency• Resiliency• The ability to recover

from illness, hardship, and other stressors

• Resiliency people• Continue to be positive

when life gets tough• Accomplish difficult

tasks• People ask “How did

they do that?”• Get their strengths from

their asset

Resiliency people• Resilient people will

ask for help• Family • Friends• Teachers• School counselors• Neighbors• Community leaders• Religious leaders

Change your AttitudeA)Use Positive Self-Talk

1)Say or think positive to yourselfB) Be confident about yourself

1)The better you feel about yourself, the more positive your perception of the situation will be

(a)The more positive your perception, the more positive your response and consequences will be.

C) Don’t worry about things out of your control1)Accept the things you can’t change2)Make the best out of the situation3)Put your energy in things you can control

According to Robert Cooper from ICE(Interactive Customer Evaluation)For Instant Calm…

• Step one• Uninterrupted breathing

• Step two• Positive face• Smile

• Step three• Balance posture• Chest high• Head up• Neck long• Chin in• Pelvis and hips level• Back comfortably straight• Abdomen free of tension

• Step four• Wave of relaxation• Scan unnecessary

tension in body• Imagine standing

waterfall• Step 5• Mental control• Acknowledge reality• Break patterns of • negative thinking• wishing a situation

weren’t happening• Think• "What's happening is

real and I'm finding the best possible solution right now."

Section 3Coping with Loss

Effects of loss• Causes for effects of loss are…

• death of family members

• divorce• death of pet• breakups• moving away from

home

Loss can cause…• stress• physical and

emotional changes due to stress

• Developing tension • blood pressure• Stress leads to

stress related illness

Grieving• expressing deep sadness from a loss

• It may help you heal from pain of loss• You may feel agitated or angry, guilty• Grieving happens unexpectedly because of memories

or reminders from the loss• After time of this period of grieve you may start feeling

more positive• Journey to recovery called grieving process

The Grieving ProcessDenial

• refusing that the loss happened and eying it

Anger

• having anger rushes and blaming yourself and other people for the loss , anger management

Bargaining

• telling that you would change for the return of the thing or person lost

Depression

• sadness is a natural emotion but leads to not wanting to do anything

Acceptance

• you accept and start living and a accepting that there was a loss and it has to go away

Funerals, wakes, and memorial services• Wake • A ceremony that is for family and friends to see the

deceased person before the funeral and know that there was a loss

• Funeral• ceremony were the deceased person is buried or

cremated• Memorial Service• a service to remember the deceased person wish can be

weeks, months, or even years after the death

Help For Dealing with LossFor Yourself

• Rest, relax and stick to routines

• Share memories• Don’t blame yourself

or others

For Others• Show your support• Tell person that you’re

with them• Tell and make them

understand about the loss

Section 4Preventing Suicide

Facts about suicide• Suicide is when someone intentionally takes their

own life• People usually attempt or commit suicide because

they feel hopeless or feel emotional pain• Suicide is not the answer

Ways to prevent suicide• They usually think about suicide it is usually for

only a short period of time• After failing to committing suicide they usually

feel grateful to be alive • Attempting suicide is a warning or asking for help

in an indirect way• Drugs and alcohol cause suicidal thoughts

because judgment is impaired• Suicide should always be taken seriously and an

adult should be informed

Teens and Suicide• Suicide is preventable and you are the best

person to protect yourself from it• What you can do• Stop and think about the consequences • Talk to someone you trust for their support• Suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem

Warning words• I wish I were dead• I want to go to sleep and never wake up• I won’t be a problem for you much longer• I won’t have to put up with this much longer• I can’t take it anymore• This pain will be over soon• Nothing matters

Statistics

Stress and Your HealthAccording to the Workplace stress article…• 69% of employees say that work is a major cause

of stress and 41% say that they feel stressed during their work day.

• 51% say that the reason of stress during their weekend is that they were not productive during their work.

• Health care expenditures for employees with high levels of stress were 46%

Stress and Your HealthAccording to www.apapracticecentral.org • 45% of parents don’t realize the stress their child

is in.• 47% of adults report that they cant sleep at night.• 45% get angry or irritated• 40% lack of interest• 34% get headaches • 32% emotional • 27% upset stomach

Stress and Your Health• In 2010 76% of stress caused by money• 70% caused by work• 65% economy• 58% family responsibilities • 55% relationships• 52% personal health• 52% housing costs• 49% job stability• 47% health problems affecting the family• 30% personal safety

Extra Information

Suicide• Each year, more than 34,000 suicides occur in the United

States.• For Americans, suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death.• More people survive suicide attempts than actually die.

Youth Suicide• For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is

the third leading cause of death.• It results in approximately 4400 lives lost each year. • The top three methods used in suicides of young

people include firearm (46%), suffocation (37%), and poisoning (8%).

• Of the reported suicides in the 10 to 24 age group, 84% of the deaths were males and 16% were females.

Get Help• If you or someone you know is having thoughts of

suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255

• El Paso Suicide Survivors Support Group• Location: EL Paso MHMR Intake & Crisis Emergency

Services Unit on1600 Montana Ave. EL Paso, TX 79902 • Phone: 915-887-3410

Cited Sources• American Psychological Association. (2007). Stress in America 2007. Retrieved from • www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/2007-stress.doc • American Psychological Association. (2009). Stress in America 2009. Retrieved from • http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress-exec-summary.pdf • Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. • (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/• Cooper, R (2012, July 23). Instant Calm. Retrieved from • http://www.cancerwellnesscenter.org/instant_calm.html • Hammarley, J (2012, June 1). Four Ways to Deal with Stress. Retrieved from • http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/StressManagement/

FourWaystoDealWithStress/Four-Ways-to-Deal-with-Stress_UCM_307996_Article.jsp • Knowlton, S (2011, December 20). The Positive Effects of Stress. Retrieved from • http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/15537/1/The-Positive-Effects-of-Stress.html • Public relations staff (2009, November 23) APA Stress Survey: Children are more stressed

than • parents realize. Retrieved from

http://www.apapracticecentral.org/update/2009/11-23/stress-survey.aspx