...How Stress Affects Our Health November 25, 2015 How Stress Affects Our Health In life there is not one human being who has not felt the anxiety or heart pounding feeling of being stressed. I believe this is a silent disease that slowly takes over one’s life one way or another. According to Kiev (1974), from a medical standpoint stress is just a nervous tension because life is being lived too quickly; therefore, the energy is being wasted. Stress can wear an individual out and cause heath issues once entering adulthood. Feeling stressed is so common in everyday life that it has become a way of life. When individuals are under stress they tend to panic, not realizing the toll it is taking on their body and mind. Stress starts to affect the body by prolonging the levels of fat, causing the immune system to diminish and leaving the body weak and vulnerable to infections (Reinhold, 1996). There are several types of stresses that can affect you and cause cognitive issues, emotional issues, mental issues, and physical issues. A type of stress that many come across several times in their life is short-term stress. Probably the most common type of stress that there is. This type of stress that last for a small amount of time, hens the name short-term stress. An example of short-term stress is when there is a deadline on an assignment in school or work. It is something that once you have completed and turned in on the deadline all stress is completely gone. Chronic life stress...
Words: 1393 - Pages: 6
...The example of stress I would like to give is care giver stress. Care Giver Stress Homeostasis – the tendancy of biological systems to maintain relatively constant conditions in the internal environment while continuously interacting with and adjusting to changes originating within or outside the system. (medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homeostasis.) The composition of the internal environment is maintained within narrow limits, and this fairly constant state is called homeostasis. Literally, this term means 'unchanging', but in practice it describes a dynamic, ever-changing situation kept within narrow limits. When this balance is threatened or lost, there is a serious risk to the well-being of the individual. There are many factors in the internal environment which must be maintained within narrowlimits and some of these are listed in Box 1.1.Homeostasis is maintained by control systems which detect and respond to changes in the internal environment. A control system (Fig. 1.3) has three basic components: detector, control centre and effector. The control centre determines the limits within which the variablefactor should be maintained. It receives an input from thedetector or sensor, and integrates the incoming information. When the incoming signal indicatesthat an adjustment is needed the control centre responds and its outpu to the effector is changed. This is a dynamic process that maintains homeostasis. (Ross and Wilson) page 5Adrenaline and noradrenaline ...
Words: 474 - Pages: 2
...Running head: OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AFFECTS MENTAL HEALTH How occupational stress affects mental health Dayana Fornaris Florida National College April 15, 2011 Abstract This research paper gives us a brief idea about how occupational stress affects mental health. It describes how occupational stress has become a serious health issue, not just in terms of an individual’s mental and physical well being, but also for employers as well who had begin to feel the financial consequences of work stress. Occupational stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities of the worker. However, occupational stress can be an extremely difficult construct to define. There are certain factors that contribute to work stress like for example working long hours beyond your control; Finding it hard to say no to a task for fear of losing future work, frustration and feeling undervalued at work. This can lead to stress and tension. How occupational stress affects mental health Stress has been defined in a number of ways and the range of stress management techniques is even wider still. Essentially what most people understand by 'stress' is a physiological or psychological response to external stressors that goes beyond what is accepted as normal. Maybe 'strain' would have been a better word. Limited external stresses produce a response, a 'strain’, which...
Words: 1303 - Pages: 6
...detect and handle your stress level My self-assessment tells me about my level of stress that I will have a high risk of becoming ill in the near future. I’m not surprised about my stress level but is surprised about becoming ill in the near future. Not sure if this is something I would want to know what’s in my near future. This kind of information can be stressful itself in knowing what you may be facing due to my stress level. However, it is useful to know about this so that I can take action now to prevent any illness pertaining to my health. Seeing friends and old classmates losing their life to unaware illness is a wake-up call for me. Stress can cause sever health problems and some cases, can cause death. I have no choice but to take this advice regarding my concerns over stress-related illnesses that may occur. Currently, my stress has been causing me significant unhappiness. After reviewing the article discovered by the American Psychological Association how stress affects the body. This article emphasize the musculoskeletal system and how the muscles tense up due to your stress level. Explaining how chronic stress can cause the muscles in your body to be a constant state of guardedness. And dealing with chronic stress seems to also cause many types of headaches including tension in your shoulders and the neck. I never knew millions of people suffers from this type of stress-related pain that affects the body. Not knowingly how it can also affect your breathing especially...
Words: 917 - Pages: 4
...Psychology Stress And Health Stress and Health Psychology Andrew Arnold March 25, 2010 Ever wonder about how stress affects our bodies and our health? This word stress is thrown around by the media so much it’s losing its meaning but have you ever wondered how they define stress? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stress as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. Our text book defines stress as the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging. Stress-causing events are called stressors, they can come from external sources or from within us and can scale from relatively mild to quite serious. There are things, events, and conflicts that cause people to “stress-out.” These are called stressors. Stressors can be anything from something small, like being stuck in traffic during rush hour or something big like an earthquake or hurricane. Stressors can also be imaginary, such as financial stress such as, where the next mortgage payment will come from. There are two kinds of stressors, one is distress which is the bad stress and eustress which is the good stress that motivates us as people to do well. There are certain environmental factors that can affect our stress levels and sometimes we cannot control the outcome of these events, these are basic ups and downs of life. An example...
Words: 454 - Pages: 2
...The Impact of Stress on Jobs and the Workplace Prepared for: Mr. Glenn Pace Webster University Truman Education Center ------------------------------------------------- Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri ------------------------------------------------- Prepared By: Mrs. Betty Downing 5 March 2012 Introduction: There is an overwhelming concern in today’s society about stress on the job and in the workplace and how that will carry over to a person’s home life. Stress has taken an immense toll on the physical and emotional health of individuals, as well as the bottom lines of organizations (Greenhaus, Callanan, Godshalk, 2010). Stress can be the number one problem for working individuals, many of whom are trying to juggle everything at one time such as home, caring for children or aging family members, and work. The human brain has an inherit response for perceived attacks, harm or threats to ourselves that is known as the “fight or flight” response. With constant stress situations at work an individual will make a decision to either fight or flee the environment. There is no getting around it stress is going to be in the workplace but the issue is determining if the stressor is a positive or negative factor for employees is the matter to be dealt with. Afterwards people need to learn how to manage the stress therefore maximizing their job performance while also being able to preserve both their mental and physical health. What organizations need to start...
Words: 2204 - Pages: 9
...defines stress as an applied force or systems of forces which tend to strain an individual body in such a way that the particular individual experiences the feeling of ‘not being in control’. From the psychology point of view, stress can also be considered as a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs an individual’s physical or mental equilibrium (Psychology Today, 2014). Given that numerous stressful events are capable of triggering different responses in human beings, it is fair to say that stress is an event that is omnipresent in every part of life; and hence is worth exploring. Significant investigations and debates into the issues of stress, its determinants and who are generally susceptible to stress have been rife in recent decades (Langan-fox and Cooper, 2011). The general consensus is that frequent exposure to traumatic events is the vital stressor for stress and everyone is susceptible to traumatic events and stress (Langan-fox and Cooper, 2011). Externalisation of stressful behaviours as a result of being exposed to traumatic events such as severe neglect, abuse and repeated violence is clinically termed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2013). It has been maintained that PTSD creates psychological and physical imbalances in sufferers; and affects their physical and mental well-being negatively (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2013). From this standpoint, it can be argued that PSTD equally has the potential to affect the well-beings...
Words: 6456 - Pages: 26
...Conclusion chart What the reference says | How it relates to my research question | Reference: “Women working in Male-Dominated Jobs Experience Higher Levels of Stress and Health Problems” By, Kristin Magaldi | ~ This reference relates by giving an example of a situation which occurs in most places. Showing why women stress and under what circumstance, leading to how they feel and turn out in the future. | Evidence: Women working among men are mainly subjected to more challenges. If these stress levels continue, researchers found that women will experience dysregulation in their stress response and creating future diseases and increased risk of mortality. | | Reference: “Chronic Stress Puts Your Health at Risk” by, Mayo clinic staff | ~ This reference not only says why a person stresses, but also what is happening inside them physically. After seeing that a person stresses for a long period of time, it tells us the potential health risk which most probably occur | Evidence: Inside the human body, stress increases adrenaline which increases your heart rate, elevates blood pressure, and boosts energy supplies. Cortisol increases sugar in your brain and increases the availability of substance that repair tissue. | | Reference: “Facts on Stress” by, National Institute of Mental Health” | ~ This shows the different types of stress and how severe it can get when activated for a long period of time. ~ It also shows examples of how this person gets stressed, over which...
Words: 371 - Pages: 2
...November 2015 The Effects That Stress Has On Health Stress is a word that constantly gets tossed around with different meanings and connotations. Many people do not realize what a significant effect that it can have on people and their families. Merriam-Webster defines stress as a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. The denotation of stress can also be stated as something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety. In a medical or biological context, stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension (medicinenet.com). It does not just interfere with your daily life; it causes many health problems. Stress can be as acute or as minute as the patient allows it to be but despite the assumptions, stress is a terrible disease that can affect the health of many including altered brain function, internal organ issues, and mental instability. There are many different causes of stress depending on the type of person the patient may be. Money, the economy, work, relationships, and responsibilities are all recorded factors known to cause stress. Stress can be caused by a deadline you have to meet at work or even the concern of pleasing your spouses or relatives. Workplace stress can affect your ability to apply and keep jobs or appease your boss. According to a survey from the American Psychological Association, more than one third of American workers experience chronic work stress (helpguide.org). School can...
Words: 940 - Pages: 4
...This assignment is based upon stress, the bio-psychosocial approach on how stress can affect health, well-being and the maintenance of homeostasis. There are many definitions of stress but the majority of definitions put emphasis on the relationship between the individual and the environment. This is called the bio-psychosocial approach. When treating patients the Practitioner should take a more holistic approach when determining the type of treatment that is required, this would include taking into account the patients lifestyle, environment and social support. The World Health Organisation states that ‘Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. (WHO 1948). Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain. However, there are many types of stress and not all types of stress are harmful or negative. One theory is that stress is the result of a persons appraisal process. The assessment of whether personal resources are sufficient to meet the demands of the environment. Stress has been identified as being the individuals ability to adapt to the environment (Lazarus and Folkman 1984; Lazarus and Launer 1978; Pervin 1989). There are two types of stress response which Lazarus (1966) made a distinction between, these are psychological and physiological stress. Lazarus stated that physiological stress is a response to a physical damage already incurred...
Words: 3289 - Pages: 14
...Problems of Stress and Burnout for Employees and Employers Introduction Work-related stress and burnout turn into a more widespread problem in the American workforce. Both employees and employers face problems when dealing with this issue. Our book defines burnout as a special type of job stress; a state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion combined with doubts about your competence and the value of your work (Dressler, 2011). Stress is much more then just a specific situation though. Stress basically is a responsive reaction of an individual to a particular situation. This is why stress is usually difficult to cope with because every person reacts differently to a certain situation. Overwork, job insecurity, and other numerous factors have a negative effect on a person. Distress is produced, and an employee physiologically and psychologically deviates in her or his experiences in comparison to healthy functioning (Sandon, 2006). Stress and burnout are some unnecessary pressures at work can not only be detrimental to the well being of an employee but also affect the company in negative way. Causes of Stress and Burnout in the Workplace While mild stress can be beneficial to a person, providing stimulus and challenge. Stress becomes health threatening only when individuals feel unable to cope with demands expected from them. There is a clear difference between stress and burnout. Stress causes lots of anxiety and stirs up many emotions, while those suffering from...
Words: 1246 - Pages: 5
...Stress, Mental Health and Spirituality There is no specific definition for mental health, but it is like physical health, not just the absence of illness but also the presence of many positive characteristics, from our text book “your health today” (40). Scientists believe that metal health can somehow affect our thinking, feeling and acting, and it is important to our life because it lasts from our childhood to our adulthood. There are emotional, psychological, cognitive, interpersonal, or spiritual aspects of an individual’s whole life. Therefore, it is a common problem for every shingle person, and everyone has to face it because we have our own issues that probably bring us stress. As I can find, there are at least eleven kinds of characteristics of mentally healthy people. The first one, they have really high self-esteem, which I understand it as they are arrogant. Those people feel good about everything about themselves. The second one, they are realistic and practical. They accept failure in themselves and others. The third one, they are altruist; they are willing to help others. The fourth one, they have sense of control over things, and they can easily deal with problems. The fifth one, they demonstrate social skills in their relationships with others. They think people are reliable and they believe they can trust and rely on them. The sixth one, they are not afraid of fear, love or anger; they are good at trying to control unreasonable thoughts and levels of...
Words: 864 - Pages: 4
...and Health Problem Axia College/ Ps In this essay I will explain how the multi-factorial model of psychology affects a person’s psychological state and health, since they usually go hand and hand. The multi-factorial model is used by psychologists to examine how biological factors, environmental factors, sociocultural factors, personality factors, behavioral responses, and various stressors are connected to health. Biological factors include genetics, gender, age, ethnicity, medical history, and a person's family history of diseases or illnesses. Biological factors are pivotal to understanding the multi-factorial model because it aids researchers in identifying the diseases and other ailments that are a part of someone's family history. For example, if illnesses such as Alzheimer's and heart disease have been a part of an individual's family for many years that person may be predisposed to these illnesses, which increases their likelihood of getting these illnesses more than other people who do not have the family history of Alzheimer's and heart disease. Another part of the multi-factorial is environmental factors, including natural disasters, pollution, and water quality. Pollution is an environmental issue that can cause to illnesses. Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas found in cigarette smoke, auto fumes, and smog, decreases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood (Nevid and Rathus, 2005). Carbon monoxide affects people's...
Words: 1539 - Pages: 7
...Mental health is a person’s condition with regard to their emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Basically meaning that it affects how we think, feel, and act. For example, it helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood to adolescence through adulthood. In relation, emotional intelligence is a concept developed by Daniel Goleman, and it means the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, and overcome challenges. This ability is important to being mentally healthy because uncontrolled emotions and stress impacts your mental health, making you vulnerable to anxiety and depression. If you are unable to understand, be comfortable with, and manage your emotions, you’ll be at risk of being unable to form strong relationships, which can leave you feeling lonely and isolated. Mental disorder is a pattern of behavior in an individual that is associated with distress or disability in an important area of functioning or with significantly increased risk of suffering, death, pain, or disability. One of the common cause of mental disorders are by complex interactions of biological factors, such as neurotransmitter levels. Neurotransmitters are the vehicle by which messages travel from one nerve cell to another in the brain. They affect mood, memory, and our ability to concentrate...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...Health in the World Is Complex Introduction In this assignment on health care in regards to the health care system in the United States is quite complex any everybody would understand that. If I was a health care administrative professional, several factors influence the industry. Health care is said to be, “the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions.” The U.S health care system has evolved so much over the last few decades and more changes are geared towards the health care system. Our health care system is not perfect but there some forces that have affected the development on the health care system in the U.S. The U.S health care system can be looked at two ways when it comes to the development of its affect on the U.S as being flawed and useful. When you think of the U.S health care system, you think of the impact as well as the forces that have affected the development of the health care system in the United States. Assessing Regulations While assessing and viewing the video I was quite surprised that U.S. influences claims and facts assessed in the video are interesting. The first slide in the video presentation states that sixty billion of U.S. pharma patent revenue was set to expire in 2012. Also the video outlined that 75% are specialty medications and then there was decline starting in 1996 all the way down to the year...
Words: 1828 - Pages: 8
