Principles of Stress Management

1. STRESS MANAGEMENT & ANGER
MANAGEMENT
Dr Tirthala Naga Sai Kumar

2. Stress Management
• Objectives:
• Definition for Stress, Causes for Stress, Stress
Management Definition, Stress Reducing
Techniques
• Anger management definition, Methods for
reducing anger

3. Stress
• Mental tension caused by burdensome
circumstances such as exams, deadlines,
surgical operations at hospital etc.
• Places of stress: at office, at school, at
college, at house, at hospital, at bus station,
railway station, Police Station etc.
• People who cause stress: Boss, People with
suspicious nature, Police etc

4. Effects of stress
• Affects our mental state and physical health
• Suppresses functioning of our immune,
digestive and reproductive systems
• Severe fatigue, high BP, Headache, cognitive
difficulties, irritability, muscle weakness, loss
of emotional control

5. Is stress bad?
• Not all stress is bad!
• Stress is actually a survival response, when
your mind thinks you are in a danger
• Our sympathetic nervous system kicks in, and
makes our heart rate increase, and gives a
burst of energy hormone ADRENALINE
• Now you are ready to deal with any kind of
situation. This is FIGHT OR FLIGHT response

6. Two types of stress
• Temporary stress and is in comfort zone of
the body system
• Constant stress or repeating stress and is in
outside the comfort zone. Here the stress
management is tremendously important for
our health, quality of life and relationships

7. Stress Management
• Stress management is a wide
spectrum of techniques and psycho
therapies aimed at controlling a
person’s level of stress, especially
chronic stress, usually for the
purpose of improving every day
functioning.
• The ways to deal with stress

8. Stress management
• Stress management consists of
• Making changes to your life
• Preventing stress by practicing self care and
relaxation
• Managing your response to the stressful
situations
• Reduces BP, heart diseases, digestive
problems
• Improves mental and physical health

9. Stress Hormones
• Adrenaline : Fight or Flight Hormone,
responsible for immediate reaction to threat
observed. Released by adrenal glands
• Norepinephrine: released from adrenal
glands & brain. Primary role is AROUSAL,
awareness, focused and attentive
• Makes you alert for 48 hours, then returns to
normal resting state

10. • Cortisol: Steroid Hormone
• Stress Hormone, released from Adrenal
glands.
• Optimal amounts of cortisol can be life saving
• Helps in maintaining fluid balance and BP
• Regulates some body functions not crucial at
that stressful moment, like immunity,
digestion, growth, reproductive systems
• If you don’t try to reduce anxiety, your body
continuously releases cortisol

12. Side effects of cortisol
• Suppress immune system
• High BP
• Sugar
• Obesity
• Produce acne
• Decrease libido

13. Cortisol

26. Ex Prez of USA Mr Obama says
• “Cortisol is Public Health Enemy Number One”
• “The ripple effect of a fearful and stressed out
society increases cortisol levels across the
board of Americans of all ages”
• This creates a public health crisis and a huge
drain on economy

27. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
• Each person, stressor, situation will vary.
• So identify stressor and coping strategy
correctly
• 4As:
• Avoid unnecessary stress ( say NO when
needed/ Avoid Bad Company, rogues)
• Alter the situation ( Express your feelings,
needs, manage time efficiently)

28. • Adapt to the stressor (Adjust or Change your
attitude and behavior , look at the big
picture, reframe your problems with a more
positive perspective, set self standards for
yourself
• Accept the things you cannot change. Don’t
try to control the uncontrollable. Accept
challenges as opportunities . Learn to forgive

29. Techniques of Stress management
1.Take a break from the
stressor
2.Exercise /Yoga
3.Smile and Laugh
4.Get Social Support
5.Meditate

31. Meditation
• Spine upright
• Spine relaxed
• Shoulders relaxed
• Hands and palms relaxed.
• Back of your neck relaxed
• Face relaxed

33. Breathing Meditation
• Stage 1: Take a few deep breaths
• 1 inhale, 1 exhale, count 1
• Continue for 5 minutes
• Stage 2: Count only inhales ( not exhales)
• Stage 3: Stop Counting . Allow your breath to
come naturally. Pay attention to senation of
breathing. Focus on the transition from
inhale to exhale and back again

34. • Step 4: Focus on how you are feeling as you
breathe ( feel breath at lips, throat, lungs
etc)
• (Source; Wild Mind, 2007)

36. 5 simple life styles to reduce
cortisol
1. Regular physical activity: kick boxing,
punching bag to deal with fight response by
letting out our aggression without hurting
anyone and reduce cortisol.
Aerobic activities like walking, jogging,
swimming, biking, (8 walking), to burn up
cortisol. These will increase self confidence
and which reduces fear and cortisol.

37. 2. Mindfulness and Loving- Kindness-
meditation (LKM) : Take 10 deep breaths and
cool down your brain
3. Social Connectivity: isolation increases
cortisol level
4. Tend – and – befriend response is the exact
opposite of fight or flight. Tend and befried
response increases oxytocin and reduces
cortisol.

38. • 4. Laughter and Levity: Having fun and
laughing reduces cortisol levels. Laughing
clubs etc.
• 5. music: Listening to music you love reduces
cortisol. Good music improves your mood and
reduce stress.

39. Anger management
• Anger management is the process of learning
to recognize signs that you're
becoming angry, and taking action to calm
down and deal with the situation in a
productive way.

45. Technique
1. Sit in a comfortable position as in
meditation
2. Close your eyes, take deep breaths.
3. Feel love, compassion, forgiveness for
yourself . (Take a shower bath in love,
compassion and forgiveness)
4. Now extend your love, compassion and
forgiveness to your best friend
5. Now extend it to your neutral friend
6. Now extend it to the one whom you dislike

46. • 7. Now slowly extend that circle ( you, your
best friend, neutral friend and disliked one)
to more friends, neutrals and disliked people.
• 8. Expand the circle of love, compassion and
forgiveness to all in the universe.
• 9.Take deep breaths again and slowly open
your eyes