1. 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

2. 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?

3. 2 Stories to think about.
• When I was 16 • When I was 46

4. Same physiological response to
completely different perceptions.
Why?

5. Stress and Stressors Defined:
• 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/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. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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!”

16. 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.

17. So…Why don’t Zebras Get Ulcers?

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Sometimes Stress is not so good:

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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)

24. Who creates the conditions for the optimum
classroom? Where is the responsibility?
• Relaxed Alertness?
• Active Processing?
• Orchestrated Immersion?

25. 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.

26. Downshifting
• A model based on the
triune/triplex theory of
brain evolution that
attempts to explain
why we become
emotional or even
violent when we are
stressed.

28. Downshifting refers to our brain working
like a motor vehicle’s gears

29. What is the problem with the
downshifting model?

30. Does our brain only work one gear at a time?

31. What is the alternative model?
• Reflective • Reflexive
• Stressed
• Slow
• Quick (like a
• Thoughtful reflex)
• Usually not • Abrupt
stressed

32. Reflexive vs. Reflective which is which?

33. Why might this be a better model?
• Uses the entire brain.
• Looks at the differences between stressed
vs. not stressed
• Still indicates that our response system is
cued to our level of stress.
• But be careful when using this model, why?
• Reflexive and reflective are easily
confused. How will you tell them apart?

34. One of the biggest factors that
can create a reflexive response is
a lack of …

35. So why don’t some people seem stressed?
• Remember stress is the mind and body’s reaction
to a perceived threat or challenge.
• Past experiences and genetics may determine our
perception of threats & challenges and brain
chemistry.
• Relative health, age, social situation and fatigue
can change our perceptions of what is stressful.
• Some people manage their stress in healthy
ways.

36. So what’s a stressed person to do?
• Stress/Wellness
Management
– A lifestyle priority
– A plan that works for you.
• You have a variety of
options
• These options give you a
sense of control-There is
hope.

37. If there is a stress response, is
there a relaxation response?

38. The Relaxation Response-the
opposite of the stress response.
• Dr. Herbert Benson/ Harvard
Cardiologist founder of the
Benson/Henry institute for mind
and body.
• Western Medicine meets eastern
philosophy.
• 1975 he describes the relaxation
response
• Meditation elicits a strong
mind/body experience.
• Long term benefits

39. What does Meditation do?
• The relaxation response: Lowers
heart, respiration rate and B.P.
• Increases feel-good chemicals in the
brain
• Helps to cycle cortisol
• Brings on feelings of wellbeing
– After 4-5 weeks of regular meditation
the person’s response to chronic stress
is greatly suppressed.
– Acts like a alpha/beta blocking drug for
the heart.

40. How to do the Relaxation Response
• Do this first thing in the morning.
• Sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet environment
• Close your eyes and relax your body.
• Focus on a word/phrase/thought that keeps you in
the moment. Examples: calm, relax, smooth,
warm, peace.
• You may use a relaxation cd to aid you. There are
many types. We will explore several.
• Do this everyday for 15-20 minutes or two 10
minute sessions.

41. Meditation is a learned skill
• Many people practice it for years and still
have difficulty getting into the zone!
• Tapping into the Autonomic nervous
system, how?
• The breath is the porthole to the a.n.s.
• We can consciously control the breath
which is also an autonomic response.

42. What are the physiological responses that indicate
you are achieving desire results.
• How will you know if it is working? How could they
tell in the movie?
• Biofeedback (life information)
• Heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves, breathing rate,
body temperature, stress hormones, muscle tension,
and perceived emotional state. Consider what happens
to each of these in a stress response, so what would
take place in the relaxation response?
• We will use heart rate and temperature of extremeties.

43. Applications for meditation and biofeedback.
• What are the health benefits of the
meditation/relaxation response? Consider
the film.
• Stress and stress related health disorders
including: heart disease, pain management,
athletic and academic performance, ADHD,
depression/anxiety, sleep disorders,
digestion disorders, improved immune
function.

44. Let’s try our first experience with the relaxation
response.
• Progressive Muscle is one of the best ways to
initiate the relaxation response for beginners.
• It gives the participant something to focus on
and also provides the opportunity to contrast
the feelings of tension with real relaxation.
• Participate at the highest level you are capable
of doing. I will try to provide the best
environment for you to do this.

45. In your Journal: write Progressive Muscle Relaxation
• Record your initial biofeedback
information.
• After the session write a brief description of
how the relaxation technique is performed.
• Include a reaction to the technique and the
biofeedback results for after the session.

46. Autogenic Meditation:
Mindfulness
• This meditation focuses on the breath.
• It is the porthole to the autonomic nervous system.
Autogenic-Autonomic.
• This meditation keeps you focused on your breath
and opens you up to relaxing all of your muscles
through the breath. You visualize them as warm,
heavy, smooth, and loose.
• Let’s get some biofeedback and try it.

47. What does exercise do?
• Ever feel really good
after a good workout?
• Endorphin release
• Dopamine production
• Balances cortisol
• Energizes and grows
new body and mind

48. New research on exercise has shown many
additional benefits for the brain.
• Intelligence: exercise primes the brain to learn
easier and faster!
• Depression: exercise makes the brain produce
trophic factors that start neurogenesis and reduce
depression as significantly as anti-depressants.
• Anxiety: Changes perception – eliminates fear.
• ADD: exercise is as effective as many ADD drugs.

49. What type of exercise and how
often should I do it?
• In a perfect world you would exercise for a
minimum of one hour per day, six days a
week.
• 2 days of resistance (weight training) and 4
days of cardiovascular training (running,
swimming, active sport.)

50. Guided Imagery Meditation
• Daydreaming, a mental vacation.
• No ANTs! (they get you nowhere!)
• Automatic Negative Thoughts

51. Guided Imagery takes you to a
restful place.
• First relax and then become open to
suggestion, visualize in great detail and
multisensory experiences a beautiful, safe,
inviting, and restful environment.
• Achieve a mental state that is relaxed and at
peace.
• Let’s try it. 

52. Diet and stress

53. Diet and Stress
• We often hear the expression, “You are
what you eat.” Well what did you eat for
breakfast?
• Protein, it’s what’s for breakfast. Or rather,
it’s what should be for breakfast. Why?
• Protein is a diet pathway to alertness.
• What foods are high in protein?

54. How does protein help wake us
up in the morning?
• Protein contains significant amounts of an
amino acid (the building blocks of protein)
called tyrosine.
• Tyrosine is an important ingredient in the
neurotransmitter dopamine.
• Dopamine is associated with reward,
energy, alertness, and excitement.

55. Other foods can have brain impacts as well.
• Comfort food?
• What makes something comfort food?
• Foods that have a high content of the amino
acid trytophan get used by the body to
make a neurotransmitter called serotonin.
• Serotonin is associated with comfort, focus,
being calm and relaxed.

56. Thanksgiving is coming, So … does eating
turkey make you tired?

57. The Great Turkey Myth
• Turkey is high in the amino acid trytophan,
so many people have erroneously thought
that is why we get sleepy after eating
Thanksgiving dinner.
• Turkey is also high in tyrosine. When both
amino acids are present the tyrosine
producing the dopamine overrides the
tryptophan serotonin production and
alertness ensues.

58. So why do people get tired after
Thanksgiving dinner?
• Your ideas?
• Consider the carbs that they eat.
• Also as large quantities of food are
consumed blood flow is directed to the
digestive tract causing us to feel sluggish
and less awake.
• Consider the environment as well, home
with family and friends.

59. Brain Storm: Why do people take
drugs (including alcohol?)
• Escape.
• Because of Stress. (to help relax)
• To reduce pain both physical and emotional (to
feel better.)
• Curiosity.
• Recreation- excitement-energy.
• To be social/lose inhibitions/fit in.
• Addiction.

60. What if every time someone took drugs or
alcohol it felt like this?

61. Based on the reasons we listed and their
real effects on the mind and body, drugs
must offer us something. In other
words…
• they work! If they didn’t …
• they do in fact create at least a
temporary change in how we feel
and act.

62. So… how do neurotransmitters relate to the
way drugs and alcohol work on our brains?
• They work one of 3 possible ways:
• #1 The drug can chemically resemble and
work like the actual neurotransmitter.
• #2 The drug can stimulate neurons to release
their neurotransmitters.
• #3 The drug can prevent the reuptake of
neurotransmitters by the signaling neuron.

63. Example: Ecstasy
• Ecstasy aka: xtc, mdma. This is a common drug
used at raves.
• It works by blocking the reuptake of the
neurotransmitter, serotonin. This increases its
amount in the synapse.
• The individual may then experience increased
energy, euphoria, and the suppression of certain
inhibitions in relating to other people.
• In other words… “They get high.”

64. So… if drugs and alcohol work like
the actual neurotransmitters or work
with the brain, why then can they be a
bad choice for us?
• Brain storm: your ideas?

65. • As you indicated drugs and alcohol can be:
• illegal, addictive, change perception to the point of
intoxication causing people to make poor decisions, their
benefit is usually temporary and masks real issues we need
to address, many have serious side effects both physical
and emotional. It should be noted that drugs also can
cause serious imbalance in neurotransmitter levels in the
brain.

66. When the brain chemistry becomes out of
balance this can lead to mental/emotional disease
and other brain disorders. These changes can
become long lasting.

67. It is important to note that some drugs can
actually provide benefits to certain
individuals.
• Prescription drugs: they are controlled, monitored
and legal.
• Many carry with them side effects. Despite side
effects, the benefits can outweigh the detriments of
the drug.
• Examples include: antidepressants (SSRI), muscle
relaxers, pain killers, and medical marijuana.

68. If drugs and alcohol work
by imitating, or increasing
neurotransmitter levels;
what does that tell us about
the brain?

69. So our brain
can feel good on its own!
• Our brain has the potential to reward itself.
• This is how we are often motivated to do
things that require effort and enjoy the
satisfaction that comes with it.
• Many people already take advantage of this
on some level.
• You can and already do too!

70. What is it called when we do
something without the use of
drugs/alcohol that makes us
feel good, happy, relaxed,
excited, or content?

71. Natural Highs

72. Natural Highs …
• are created by your own brain chemistry without
the use of drugs or alcohol.
• work by the release of neurotransmitters under
authentic experiences.
• are free of harmful physical and mental side
effects.
• can create positive addictions that benefit the
overall well being of the individual.
• are legal in all 50 states. 

73. Examples

74. Doing exciting things can release adrenaline and dopamine
creating a controlled rush of energy and euphoria.)

75. Because we are complex social organisms we have evolved a brain
that allows us to reward ourselves for doing things for others.
When we help others our brain releases endorphins, and the
neurotransmitter dopamine, these neurotransmitters hit a
reward button in our brain.

76. Meditation releases stress by reducing/balancing stress
hormones and releasing serotonin
throughout the brain.
• Regular daily meditation can create tremendous
feelings of well being, peace and tranquility that
carry over into the rest of your day.

77. Regular strenuous exercise creates a complex natural
high, releasing many neurotransmitters. This elevates
energy, mood, endurance, and tremendous mind and
body benefits.

78. College Study
• In a controlled study, college students who exercised
regularly decreased their binge drinking by 30%.
• Those who meditated decreased their binge drinking by
30%.
• Those who both meditated and exercised regularly
decreased their binge drinking by 60%.
• Why?

79. Hobbies/avocations let us escape
the everyday stressors
• They keep us in the moment.
• They can be very rewarding.
• They can be exhilarating.
• Release dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline.
• Provide us with something to anticipate.

80. Case Study: Drum Corps
International.

81. Consider the complex natural
high of competitive drum corps
• Competition
• Performance
• Travel
• Friends
• Music
• High Challenge
• Sacrifice

82. Other Natural Highs: Brain storm
• Travel
• Listening to music.
• Attending shows/concerts/movies.
• Performing music, plays.
• Writing & Reading
• Getting a massage
• Pets
• Being outdoors
• Falling in Love
• Celebrations/parties
• Performing/attending sporting
events.
• Dancing
• Creating art.
• And many more.

83. Side Effects Associated
with Stress Reduction & Wellness
management
• Health!
• Happiness!
• Friendships/Love!
• A Feeling of Radiant
well-being!
• Success!
• Memories that can last
a lifetime!

84. So why don’t people just use natural highs
instead of drugs and alcohol?
• Good Question! What do you think?
• Natural highs require some effort,
knowledge and commitment.
– Find something you want and like to
do.
– Work at it, practice it, learn about it.
– And you will be able to …

85. Enjoy your brain and exploit its potential to
bring you peace of mind, happiness, and
physical well being for a lifetime.

86. Journal write:
• What are you presently doing for your
natural highs?
• Comment on the things that bring you
happiness, excitement, joy, relaxation,
comfort.
• Include a discussion about your level of
exercise.
• Extra Credit Opportunity: see moodle!

87. Psychoneuroimmunology
• Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the study of the
interaction between psychological processes and
the nervous and immune systems of the human
body. PNI takes an interdisciplinary approach,
incorporating psychology, neuroscience,
immunology, physiology, pharmacology,
molecular biology, psychiatry,
behavioral medicine, infectious diseases,
endocrinology, and rheumatology.

88. The main interests of PNI are the interactions between the
nervous and immune systems and the relationships between
mental processes and health.
• The tenets of Psychoneuroimmunology
are based on the fact that the immune
system is comprised of lymphocytes
(white blood cells.) These cells include
both T cells which attack foreign
invaders and B cells that mark foreign
with antibodies that then allow them to
be identified and destroyed by T cells
have membranes sensitive to cortisol.

89. Cortisol and Lymphocytes (white
blood cells)
• The cortisol actually compromises the
lymphocyte cells’ ability to fight infectious
diseases and tumors. In some cases it
actually kills the white blood cells. In other
cases it binds with the cell membrane and
reduces its impact on pathogens (disease
causing agents) suppressing their ability to
fight infections.

90. Stress and Cancer
• Studies in both animals and humans have noted a reduction
by as much as 50 percent in levels of immune-system cells
called natural killer cells following exposure to various
forms of stress. Natural killer cells (NK cells) typically
function within the immune system to identify viruses and
cancer cells. In one study of breast cancer patients, the
level of emotional stress caused by the initial cancer
diagnosis was directly related to NK cell activity. From
animal studies, we know that cortisol not only suppresses
the number and activity of NK cells, but also promotes the
synthesis of new blood vessels in tumors and accelerates
the growth of tumors.

92. Modern medicine meets
eastern philosophies.
• So… combining traditional medicine
along with stress management
techniques such as discussed with
regards to diet, exercise, meditation,
sleep/rest the immune function can be
improved by lowering and balancing
cortisol levels.

93. Brain studies in its Historical
Perspective
• Article: Reinvention of the
Self about Elizabeth
Gould.
• The history of cognitive
science.
• The scientific method.
• The content derived from
research.
• The implications of the
findings of research.

94. The Reinvention of the Self:The
Story of Neurogenesis.
• Paradigm shift in cognitive
science.
• Early brain studies courses
neurogenesis wasn’t really
considered.
• While we knew that neurons
could change there was no
evidence that new neurons
could form during a
primates adult life.
• Elizabeth Gould’s research
changes all of thatwith
marmosets.