2. Sunset is an angel weeping I never knew what you all wanted
Holding out a bloody sword So I gave you everything
No matter how I squint I cannot All that I could pillage
Make out what it's pointing toward All the spells that I could sing
Sometimes you feel like you live too long It's as if the thing were written
Days drip slowly on the page In the constitution of the age
You catch yourself Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage Pacing the Cage Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide
I've proven who I am so many times you
The magnetic strip's worn thin You can't see what's round the bend
And each time I was someone else Sometimes the road leads through
And every one was taken in dark places
Powers chatter in high places Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage Today these eyes scan bleached-out
Set me to pacing the cage land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
3. Stress and Wellness Management
I saw a woman in the aisle of a grocery store pushing a cart,
which held a screaming toddler. In a very calm, quiet voice
she was saying, “Don’t scream, Jessica. Don’t yell Jessica.
Be calm.” I had to admire the way she handled the stress of
that moment. I went over to her and told her how
wonderfully I thought she dealt with her baby. She replied, .
…“I am Jessica.”
-Rabbi Bernard Cohen
4. How would you define stress?
• Your ideas
• Share with your partner
• Whip around
• What do you notice about our class
definitions?
• Did anyone indicate that stress is a good
thing?
5. Stress and Wellness Management
• Stress: The mind and body’s response to a
perceived threat or challenge or, any change that
takes place to the autonomic nervous system.
– Note that stress is not a thing rather it is a reaction to a
perception of something (this is called a stressor)
• Stressor: The event or perception that causes the
mind/body to elicit a stress response.
6. 1915 Harvard Scientist describes
the stress response
• Walter Cannon experimenting on rats
notices some consistent behaviors of them
when they are being injected.
• Terms this the stress response aka:
fight/fright/flight.
• This was part of the G.A.S. or general
adaptation syndrome (which is the body’s
response to stress.)
7. Stress Response/Fast Response
• When a threat is perceived the
fight/flight response takes
place.
• Energy is instantly mobilized
and several hormones
released. Their common name
is adrenaline.
• Blood pressure, breathing rate
and heart rate go up, digestion
and other bodily functions are
suppressed to allow all
available energy to save your
life.
8. Stress Response/Slow response
• After the adrenaline is released a second
hormone is manufactured in the body called
cortisol.
• Cortisol’s job is to release additional stores
of energy that replace the energy used up to
fight or run away.
• Cortisol has several drawbacks if distress is
chronic and constant (more on this later.)
9. Distress
• Most people think of stress as something bad.
Consider our class definition of stress.
• Negative stress or distress can initiate the stress
response sometimes called the “flight/fight
response.
• Mobilizes the body to fight for its life. It’s a self-
preservation adaptation. This actually can be a
good thing!
10. Not all Stress is Bad
• It can save your life!
• Stress can be motivational!
• Eustress: From the word
Euphoria
• Pleasant and Curative Stress
• Comes from elation and
perceived events that are
exciting
• Can give us the “Rush”
• Competitive edge
11. Age related stressors
• Consider the things throughout a persons
life that might be stressful
• Today’s song considers just that.
12. What is stressing this guy out?
• Age related stressors.
• In your group brain storm as many age related
stressors as you can and list them on the white
board.
• Groups: Birth to preschool, elementary school,
middle school, (high school age,) young adult 19-
30, 30-45, middle age 46-early 60’s,
retirement/elderly.
• Include both distressors and eustressors.
• Choose a person to present the list to the class.
13. Teen Stressors
• Parents expectations
• Driving and all that goes with it.
• Peers relationships, friends, enemies.
• Time management. Finding time for yourself.
• School, homework, responsibilities, tests, projects, grades,
relationships with teachers and classmates.
• College application process!!!!
• Sexuality, dating
• Graduation
• Big events, concerts, parties, prom, homecoming.
• Identity, self awareness, spirituality, appearance, fitting in.
• Peer influences including drugs/alcohol, smoking, eating healthy
• Performances: Sports, music, drama, art.
• Money, car, job interview and job requirements.
• Sleep.
14. Most of today’s stressors
are not life threatening, yet their
cumulative effect can be.
• Consider the typical things that “stress” you
out today.
• Examples?
• Not all people perceive all of these as stressful.
• How many of the stressors we listed are
actually benefited by the stress response?
– Many of these stressors are classified as chronic
psychological stress.
15. General Adaptation Syndrome
(stress response) broken down:
• Fast Response outline:
• Stress is perceived
• Brain quickly signals sympathetic nervous system. to turn
on and a nerve signals the adrenal glands (on the top of the
kidneys) to release adrenaline. This happens in seconds.)
• Adrenaline is composed of two major hormones,
epinephrine (body) and norepinephrine (brain.)
• These hormones are dumped into a major vein that leads
directly back to the heart.
16. Fast Response continued:
• Once adrenaline enters the blood stream a whole
series of physiological effects take place.
• Blood pressure, heart, and breathing rate go up,
along with increased muscle tension.
• Blood flow is redirected to major muscle groups.
• We become hyper-vigilent
• More red blood cells produced and clotting factors
in blood .
• We become physically ready “for anything!”
17. Slow response:
• This takes several minutes (3-5)
• Hypothalamus releases a hormone (CRF) to
stimulate the pituitary gland to release the
hormone ACTH.
• ACTH travels to the adrenal glands and
begins the production of cortisol.
• Cortisol signals liver to release stores of fat
and sugar to replenish cells that have used
up their energy reserves.
19. Why don’t Zebras Get Ulcers?
• Their stress is not chronic it is acute.
• They don’t worry about their job
responsibilities, blind dates, ozone
depletion, global warming, taxes or living
on a fixed income.
• Their stress response does what it evolved
to do.
• Hormones cycle quickly and return to base
level.
20. Stress response is great for Acute Stress
(instantaneous life threatening stress or eustress events )
• It is a primitive response that has evolved
over millions of years.
• This is a beautiful thing as it works to
virtually save our lives and add spice to life.
• Consider how often it happens in modern
society/consider our age related stressors.
22. Chronic Societal Stress
(Sustained, constant threats)
• This is the dis-stress that can cause dis-ease.
• War, grief, financial, workload, relationships,
etc.
• This is the stress associated with emotional
outbursts, frustration, fatigue and illness. This
stress can also lead people to self-medicate
with drugs and alcohol.
23. Most of today’s stress we face is
chronic rather than acute.
• Chronic stress creates a host of problems
including constantly elevated cortisol levels which
result in:
• Suppressed immune function
• Suppressed digestion (ulcers)
• Shuts down growth and repair of cells
– Especially in the brain!
• Over time can cause weight gain
• Clinical anxiety and depression
24. Stress in the Classroom
• Some stress is good.
• Keeps you motivated, excited, and alert.
• 3 conditions for optimal learning in a classroom:
• Relaxed Alertness (low threat but high challenge.)
• Active Processing (student involvement in the
subject/concepts)
• Orchestrated Immersion (students taking it to the
next level)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgPG83Jjbhc
25. Who creates the conditions for the optimum
classroom? Where is the responsibility?
• Relaxed Alertness?
• Active Processing?
• Orchestrated Immersion?
26. Let’s try it.
• Response cards to actively process the fast
and slow response.
• F will be for ?
• S will be for ?
• Flipping them back and forth will indicate ?
38. Downshifting:
• A model to explain emotional and
sometimes violent behavior associated with
the stress response.
• Consider the emotional outburst that take
place in family and friend relationships.
Almost all are associated with stress and
fear of the situation.
