hi I'm LuAnn Helms a psychologist in Utah State University Counseling and Psychological Services welcome to the stress management and wellness workshop this workshop consists of six different parts the first part will be discussing stress and different ways to manage it parts two three and four we'll be practicing a wide variety of relaxation skills in part five I will share with you cognitive behavioral and emotional skills and then in part six we will develop a wellness plan together so what are some things that stress you out just test balancing school and family balancing school and family I was just going to say pretty much the same thing balancing school balancing work running out of money also dating and balancing schools rough stuff for me so balancing different demands maybe the dating and different relationships Oh giving presentations might be something to stress someone out so one of the things with stress management is knowing what your sources of stress are for you as an individual so not compared to other people know if you can own what your stresses are then you can be more prepared for them and you can know to practice skills to get your stress level down before those different events in your life so not thinking about well this shouldn't stress me out because it doesn't seem to stress them out focusing on this is my personal stressor and there are a variety of different sources

of stress and so you might look up here and notice a few different things that come to mind so in addition to school and some of the different demands there's different environmental stressors we also have interpersonal stressors physiological stressors and then one thing that some people don't think about is intra personal stressors

so interpersonal stressors are stressed between people and intrapersonal stressors are factors within us that create more stress so as you glance at this and don't have to say which ones can you maybe think of some of these things relate to some of these okay so and this is just a small list the nice thing about the interpersonal stressors is these are ways of thinking that are mostly learned and so you can unlearn them okay so in addition to knowing what your sources are you also want to know you know how do you know you're stressed how you know you're getting there so what are some of your symptoms of stress I get really snappy like was my roommate or with my friends like I don't have

very long fuse okay so being really short and snappy.

okay I start feeling overwhelmed with

little things as well so things that

normally don't stress me out so

stressing me out

okay so kind of things on your plate

kind of caused you more stress than they

do normally yeah okay build up and I

have a tendency to miss those little

things entirely just I don't remember to

do them because I'm focused on the big

things that I got to get done okay so

some things you forget about all right I

know I'm stressed when I started

participating in avoidant behavior like

playing video games or watching movies

or sleeping in just I can tell that I'm

avoiding important things that I need to

do because I'm stressed out about it

yeah so there are kind of a lot of

different behavioral symptoms that

people have shared for me I often get

headaches when I'm stressed out um I get

like pain in my neck or in my back

that's right can I carry attention I

think so some back pain other physical

symptoms I might cry easier things will

just get to me more emotionally yeah so

knowing how our maybe body and our

behavior and our emotions tell us that

we're stressed out so kind of knowing

that we're getting there so if this is

the list could be like 10 times longer

than this but here are some common

things are there any that you kind of go

oh yeah that's me - Oh what might be a

few that you're like oh okay

I get really accident-prone like I'll

stub my toe or hit my knee on something

and just be really absent-minded I think

when I'm stressed out or I've a lot to

do yeah so we might be thinking about

all the stuff we have to do and not pay

attention and walk into things or

problems sleeping okay

so sleep difficulties I progressed in a

quite a bit hey yeah I think that hey if

I don't do it now I'm okay now but it

just builds up the stress yeah so with a

lot of the behavioral stuff anything

with some of the physical things yeah I

think that sure like the trouble

concentrating one is I'll think about a

million things at once or I what I won't

be able to hold my attention as much as

I normally would okay yeah I eat eating

yeah yeah

so stomach issues are sometimes common

when we have stress problems sometimes

people eat more and sometimes people

don't feel hungry at all

yeah so part of our symptoms are related

to the fight-or-flight response and I

won't go into a lot of details but

basically our body is wired to protect

it from danger so it's a protective

mechanism that if I'm out on a hike and

I see a mountain lion the

fight-or-flight response gets triggered

and my body prepares to fight or flee

the situation and so the blood goes to

major muscle groups and out of our

extremities and that's why when people

are stressed sometimes their hands and

feet are cold

so our breathing gets really shallow and

our pupils dilate all these different

chemicals are being released it for

Paris to fight or flee the muscles get

tense and when that happens

digestion slows because who cares about

digesting your food if you're about to

get it attacked by a lion no so that's

why sometimes people have stomach

problems probably why I get headaches is

because you get muscle tension hey and

another thing that happens is our immune

system is suppressed because who cares

about fighting off our germs if I'm

about to get attacked by a lion and so

sometimes people are stressed and then

they get sick so

it also has a challenge with our memory

if I'm about to get attacked by a lion

who cares if I can recall the names of

the presidents though so one thing is

just knowing that that's a natural

response to protect us from danger

fortunately we're hardly ever in

physical danger occasionally things

happen where we are but the

fight-or-flight response actually gets

triggered over and over again throughout

our day in our society even though we're

not about to get attacked by lions so is

that like when I'm going in to take a

test and my mind just completely goes

blank

is that like yeah what's happen if I've

studied a lot yeah so it makes it hard

to recall the information that you want

to recall so that's a good example - the

test isn't going to kill you so it might

feel like that and maybe you're having

thoughts like I can't do this thoughts

that I'm in jeopardy and so a lot of

times we're not actually being attacked

by the lion but our thoughts are

triggering the fight-or-flight response

and then there's things outside of us

that are trying to trigger it like the

news tries to trigger it you know it

says things like something in your house

can kill you find out 11:00 what it is

you know so outside of us we're always

getting these messages to watch out and

the challenge with that is we need to

work on the fight-or-flight is

constantly being triggered with our

thoughts and with external stimulus we

have to work on triggering the

relaxation response because people

aren't walking around telling us relax

so we have to tell ourselves and we have

to work on triggering that relaxation

response and calming that down a little

bit because the chronic fight-or-flight

can really wear us out can I ask you

something real quick

so is it I mean it sounds like it's kind

of the same thing that happens when you

get up to perform if you get performance

anxiety yeah you get early nervous it's

the same thing yeah okay so say because

I like it so oh yeah so if I'm up here

and I'm getting nervous and I'm thinking

I can't do this or what if I make a

mistake then that flight or flight is

going to get triggered a little bit and

the challenge with it too is that it

wears us out and a lot of times when it

comes to stress management people think

well I don't have time for stress

management.

I don't have time to take care of myself

or I don't have time to maybe take a

ten-minute break so but the thing to

remember is if you don't take time for

stress management it'll cost you more

time in the long run so if you don't

take time and you go go go and then you

crash because you've gotten sick because

you haven't take time for stress

management and you've worn out your

immune system now has anyone ever been

sick for finals so that's what issue you

know sometimes two people will be

anxious and they'll study and study and

in four hours they're all anxious trying

to study well if they would have took a

half an hour for some stress management

and then studied for two hours they

might have retained more information and

so it makes this not think so straight

and then another huge issue is sometimes

when we're stressed out we have a short

fuse and we behave in ways that we

regret we say things we wish we didn't

we do things that we wish we didn't and

that takes a lot of time to feel guilty

about that to think about that to try to

repair it so that does take a lot of

time in our life and so if we take more

time just for taking good care of

ourselves and keeping our stress at a

manageable level we will save time in

the long run but you have to really be

invested into doing this and with the

fight-or-flight I mean it's meant to

protect ourselves so having some stress

can be a helpful thing it's just having

too much too often that we have to

manage we don't want to not have stress

we don't want to not have anxiety

sometimes but we do want to have it at a

level that we can manage so one of the

skills is we want to be able to rate our

stress level so using the sources of

stress and symptoms of stress knowing

where you're at at any given moment on a

scale of 1 to 10 so 10 being your most

stressed out and 1 being very calm so

right now in this moment since I'm

presenting and that's one of my sources

stress I'd say I'm about a seven that's

pretty high for me so if you don't mind

maybe giving yourself a number in this

moment between one and ten six six like

a four okay a five probably about a

three okay so knowing that there's

variability and not comparing yourself

to other people checking with yourself

and reading that now most of the time

people think you know I was just going

along and the stressor happened whatever

that is let's say a test and boom my

stress went up but really what typically

happens is maybe I had a really cruddy

breakfast and I didn't get a good

night's sleep and my roommate said

something I wish they didn't and I

thought about the test and I thought I'm

going to blow it and then the test

happens and you don't have very far to

go so the skill of knowing where you're

at at any given moment and then having

techniques to just bring it down a notch

or two and having a variety so there

isn't one thing that you use that that

takes you from a nine to a two just

keeping your fuse as long as possible so

you're less likely to get to an eight

nine or ten and a nine or ten for some

people that's a panic attack or maybe

you're you're can't believe the words

that are coming out of your mouth

because you're so stressed out or maybe

you freeze you can't think straight so

knowing where you're at at any given

moment so what are some of the things

that you do to decrease your stress

level to bring it down a notch or two I

like to play a piano take a break to go

play your piano that's something that I

love or just listen to music yeah I have

a list on my ipod it's like a relaxation

list that I'll use that's a great idea

so using music we can have playlists to

help us feel confident or relaxed an

empowerment list so making a playlist of

different songs that will trigger the

mood that you want more of and then play

music too is a great activity other ways

that people I'll go on a run

and just exercise and try and get out

and just let it go away

huh so running why we running be helpful

when it comes to the fight-or-flight

response

wouldn't it like get rid of it

physically if you're having a physical

reaction to it then you could do

something physical maybe to to try to

get rid of it or help it yeah so what

are the reasons that exercise is so

helpful for anxiety and stress is

fight-or-flight prepares us to do

something physical and when we exercise

we're actually taking that system to

fruition so in addition to all the great

benefits of exercise in helping to build

confidence in helping to manage anxiety

and depression it's good for our body

and fight-or-flight is kind of wearing

out our body doing some exercise helps

us to bring that to fruition having some

physical activity and it doesn't you

know maybe you can't go for a long run

and right before presentation maybe

doing a few push-ups or some squats or

something to get that energy out

sometimes is really helpful other things

that people do

I think another thing that a lot of

people do is just talk to someone talk

to a friend that's something you can do

maybe like right before presentation or

something you can call a friend and be

like hey a little nervous let's just

talk for a little bit yeah I do that

sometimes yeah so having a good support

system is really important I'm having

maybe a variety of people to talk to and

knowing in your support system that you

might have different people for

different things like my friend Jack

might be a great person for me to vent

to but my friend maybe Jill might be

good for a different perspective so and

knowing or this other friend might be

great for just going to a movie or

having fun with and taking a break from

the things that are stressing me out and

so trying to have a support system where

you do have a variety people to turn to

and and don't expect people to be really

what they're not so if I have a friend

that you know every time I call wants to

cheer me up by telling jokes and I

really need a shoulder to cry on maybe

that's not the best person to call and

so kind of figuring out what I need when

it comes to support systems so in

support systems and maintenance of them

are pretty challenging at times but

working on having healthy relationships

and healthy communication with my

support system yeah other things like to

sleep okay times if I'm really feeling

stressed I go to bed I wake up feeling a

lot better I don't know if that's good

or bad

yeah yeah so I'm not thinking about it

good or bad but maybe observing it a

little bit as far as does this help me

is it effective and it may be that

you're not getting enough sleep and you

actually do need more sleep and so it

would be effective or if you're just

avoiding because sometimes if we avoid

too much we don't work through those

feelings and we end up causing more

stress so in some situations it could be

a good technique and in other situations

may be not so helpful yeah yeah like

I'll watch a movie or TV show or

something with

friends and sometimes I feel like not as

stressed afterwards but other times I

feel more stressed later on so I don't

know kind of thing saying if that's yeah

or not paying attention yeah I mean

movies are often like music to that they

could trigger a different mood and so

you deciding what kind of mood you want

to trigger now so when it comes to

stress management a great technique is

humor and so if there is a movie that

makes you laugh or cheers you up and

gives you a break in that way but if

you're already feeling really down maybe

you don't want to watch Old Yeller and

stay there or something so paying

attention to that how those movies make

you feel and you might even have as part

of your toolbox of stress management

things certain movies that you pull out

every once in a while that maybe make

you feel relaxed or empowered or hopeful

any other things that people do I've got

something else when it's my workload

that's stressing me out and I feel like

I have too much on my plate writing it

down writing down what I need to do

either making a to-do list or getting it

on my calendar helps me feel like I've

gotten something done and then it helps

me organize it so that I could tackle it

because if it if I just have it all

piled up then sometimes it just feels

too overwhelming to actually start it

but I know that once I start it I can

definitely do it so as long as I just

you know write it down figure out what I

need to do first then that helps me feel

just a little bit less stress yeah so

writing a list prioritizing crossing

things off and being able to kind of

chunk it down because sometimes we feel

overwhelmed when we're thinking about

all of it and if we can chunk it down

and say okay what's first what piece can

I do and taking care of it one piece at

a time so so there is a wide variety of

things that we can do in thinking about

maybe time in nature does anyone use

meditation or yoga or know people to do

some toe in the counseling center we

have animals because petting pets and

being around pets or watching children

play there's a variety of things that

sometimes can be helpful so we've talked

about knowing what your sources and

symptoms

our being able to rate your stress level

and then figuring out for yourself what

are variety of things to bring it down a

notch or two so what I would encourage

you to do is to make a list kind of spy

on yourself and observe the things that

kind of bring it down and then figure

out how you sprinkle more of that into

your life and in parts two three and

four we'll practice some relaxation

skills thank you