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Stress in a person's life
This paper considers the problem of stress in human life, what is its impact on the development of the individual, how it affects the biological systems of the human body and the psyche as a whole. The reason for our conflict in relation to the world around is explained, as well as why there are many events and circumstances in our life that provoke us to a stressful reaction. But whether this provocation will develop further is answered by iissiidiology, which offers a new look at this problem.
Introduction
Previously, few people thought about the fact that he was constantly in a state of stress. Let's say, to a person who lived a hundred or even two hundred years ago, our every minute, even already imperceptible and brought to automatism, actions would seem very even eventful. And this is primarily due to the fact that we operate with large amounts of information. Because in connection with the "technological breakthrough" that humanity has made, the pace of our life recent times increased greatly. For the first time, the term "stress" was introduced into physiology and psychology by Walter Cannon in his classic works on the universal human reaction "fight or flight".
Famed stress researcher Canadian physiologist Hans Selye in 1936 he published his first work on the general adaptation syndrome, but for a long time he avoided using the term "stress", since it was used in many ways to refer to "nervous-psychic" tension (the "fight or flight" syndrome). It was only in 1946 that Selye began to systematically use the term "stress" to define, designate the general adaptive stress.
Nowadays, the topic of stress is becoming increasingly popular. It manifests itself both in scientific discussions and in journalistic materials, despite the fact that in science there is still no single point of view in explaining the causes and mechanism of stress. So K. Cooper, F. Dave, M. O "Dryscoll in the monograph "Organizational stress" note that there are significant differences in understanding the true meaning of "stress", which are reflected in a huge number of approaches to its definition.
Psychologists, when choosing a definition of the category of stress, conflict, frustration or crisis, proceed mainly from intuitive or stylistic considerations. All this leads to a lot of terminological confusion. American scientists T. Holmes and R. Reich, based on many years of research, compiled a list of the most frequent changes in life that cause stress. From their findings, they realized that usually there are many questions to which a person who is under stress finds ambiguous answers, for example: what is stress in his life, does it always lead to negative consequences?
In this work, we will consider the concept of stress from a different angle, from the position of new knowledge - iissiidiology. Stress is a tensor (tension, dissonance), a qualitative difference in the interpretation of the same information.
1. The concept of stress in psychology
The word "stress" came to us from the English language and in translation means "pressure, pressure, tension." Selye was the first to define stress. Following this definition of stress, multiple changes in the human body and personality are characteristic.
Hans Selye, in the last period of his scientific activity, divided stress into two components:
- eustress; the concept has two meanings: "stress caused by positive emotions" and "mild stress that mobilizes the body." It has a positive effect on a person, mobilizes him, improves attention, reactions, mental activity, increases the adaptive capabilities of the body;
- distress- a negative type of stress that the body is unable to cope with; it undermines human health and can lead to serious illnesses; the immune system suffers from stress; under stress, people are more likely to become victims of infections, since the production of immune cells drops markedly during moments of physical or mental stress.
For many people, the word "stress", just like the words "success", "failure" and "happiness", has different meaning, so it is very difficult to define it, although it has become part of our everyday speech. Most often, stress is simply a synonym for distress - grief, unhappiness, malaise, exhaustion, need; or effort, fatigue, pain, fear, the need to concentrate, public humiliation, loss of blood; or even an unexpected huge success leading to the breaking of everything way of life. Understanding these processes can involve both a negative assessment and a positive one. Any of these phenomena, their signs and symptoms, can cause stress, but none of them can be singled out and said: “This is stress,” because this term is multifunctional.
Stress is sometimes necessary for us to adapt to certain conditions. environment, and our attitude to this disturbing event depends on many factors. And what matters is not whether the situation we are faced with is pleasant or unpleasant, but only the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. Under favorable conditions, stress can transform into a harmonious state of a person, in which he feels that there are problems and he is able to solve them. No weakness or depression. And in case of unfavorable - in a state of neuro-emotional tension, then a person's mood worsens, self-esteem drops and a stressful state arises.
We can say that stress is one of the constituent parts development of each person. The more positive information structured our ideas about ourselves or about something, the more energy(potential) it has, the more information is creative and does not create opportunities for the manifestation of tensority [I] in the form negative thoughts, choices, decisions that act destructively on our body, then the energy is spent on balancing the tensors and remains in our minds as a life experience. For a repeated situation, due to the experience gained, it has already become possible to find many positive motivations. Therefore, the tensor will be used to a lesser extent as destruction and perceived by us as creative, that is, motivating for effort and life achievements.
The stimulating, creative, formative influence of stress is very important in the complex processes of work and learning.
[I] Tensor is a conventional concept. In some conditions of manifestation, the tensor will cause dissonance, inconsistency (tension, misunderstanding, resistance) of the informational relationships of one thing in relation to something else, while in other conditions it manifests itself as the compatibility of these relationships.
2. A variety of stresses and their impact on human development
Psychologists have carried out a broad classification of the varieties of stress - not only ideas have changed, but also individual terms that reflect the concept of stress.
In the scientific and popular literature of the last two decades, which separated us from Selye's developments, one can find such categories of stress as physical, nervous, oxidative, osmotic, somatic, thermal, adrenaline, traumatic or post-traumatic, financial, juvenile, industrial stress, social stress, pain stress. It is interesting to note that each of the above terms reflects a very special event, almost completely different in its essence from the event described by any other term, but in general their impact can be divided into physiological and psychological. Physiological stress is characterized by a strain of biochemical functions, and psychological stress is characterized by a violation of the harmony of the individual, its imbalance.
Psychological stress, consisting of informational and emotional components, occurs during information overload, when a person, having set a goal for himself, does not keep up with the pace that the life situation has created for him. Physiological stress is characterized by the direct action of a certain stimulus stimulus for a biological organism. Psychological stress is more related to internal states. Here it is necessary to analyze the significance of the situation itself and consider the characteristics of the individual.
Often there is a joint interaction of these types of stress on a person. The connection between physical and mental disorders is often either not recognized or realized only too late. We may feel some discomfort without realizing that our conditions are stressful. More fully aware of stress interfere defense mechanisms personality and our unwillingness to leave comfortable states in order to feel again stressful discomfort.
For human development, emotional stressful stimuli are very relevant - those that may not pose an objective danger to the body, but are perceived by the psyche as dangerous. This can be especially clearly assessed in the example of children, for whom such a stressful stimulus can even be loud voice or scold. This includes psychological aggression, painful emotional experiences, - in a word, everything that has a traumatic effect on the psyche.
Questions arise: why some people, experiencing difficult life situations and mental influences negative character, quickly adapt to the surrounding reality, while others, even with minor troubles, fall into a state of stress with subsequent complication of circumstances and the further development of any symptoms of body diseases. Does religiosity, nationality, geographic latitude, the color of skin or hair, the manner of holding a fork at the table play a role in this? Are different people equally prone to stress - say, a 22-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman?
I propose to consider the answers to these questions from the position of new knowledge - iissiidiology. Stress is an almost inevitable consequence of almost every aspect of modern life, yet there are unexplained individual differences in people's susceptibility. There are many directions of development and various forms of existence of proto-forms (people, animals, plants, minerals, molecules, atoms, etc.) Humanity develops according to its characteristic type of synthesis of specific characteristics - these are multilevel manifestations of the qualities "All-Love-All Wisdom" (through human sensibility, emotionality) and "All-Will - All-Reason" (human mentality, intellect).
Many other forms of self-consciousness of various proto-forms create their own ideas about themselves and the reality around them on the basis of completely different energy-informational relationships than we have with you, and the development of these proto-forms occurs according to other types of synthesis. We form common energy-informational relationships with these forms of self-consciousness, which are manifested through our system of perception. Many proto-forms in the form of projections are manifested in our system of perception through biological systems: various parts of the brain, cells, molecules, atoms, elementary particles.
“Wedging” into the process of our perception, these proto-forms evoke in our self-consciousness unconscious reactions that cannot be rationally explained in any way: either a feeling of thirst, hunger, fatigue and need for peace; or sudden aggressiveness or bloodthirstiness characteristic of predators; or unconscious fear, fear and horror, which unconsciously motivate us with a single desire - to run away without looking back or hide somewhere far away.
Every day of our life is made up of some deeds and creative realizations, and each time this process stimulates the individual reprojection of our self-consciousness into some of the directions of synthesis characteristic of different proto-forms. This process in our life creativity occurs through stresses in order to obtain individual experience and synthesis of certain qualities in our further evolution.
How exactly does the tensor manifest itself in human life? The situation heats up to a certain critical volume, and with the appropriate mental state, there is an opportunity for the manifestation of this dissonance, as a result of which our reactions to the stimulus arise.
Before making a choice, we first consider ideas of different quality and try to connect them with the experience we already have. Each of the possible qualitative variants of our choices is tied to inertial space-time intervals of different lengths and, as a “projection” of previous decisions (with inherent tensors), is superimposed on each subsequent choice. The higher the degree of awareness, the higher its effectiveness and the less appropriate stressful situations are involved in the annihilation of tension, when there is no synthesis of human qualities (“All-Love-All-Wisdom” and “All-Will-All-Mind”).
It turns out that none of the situations we experience happens by chance - this process is sequential. At first, everything is comprehended due to a greater number of trials and errors made in life, which were due to the activity of destructive qualities (anger, irritation, discontent, which, of course, can also be manifested in different situations multi-level). But later, when analyzing the results obtained, we have the opportunity not to act “blindly”, but to perform conscious actions, foreseeing most of them in advance. possible consequences. Each of our actions depends on the acquired abilities of perception to form or avoid specific events and situations.
The better (more consciously) we make a choice, the faster they will change and resolve in better side unwanted circumstances in our lives. To learn how to make quality (altruistic-intellectual) choices, one must strive to become an “observer” of all events taking place in life, and not just their “participant”.
Proto-Form (Issiid. term) is any realization form of self-consciousness, which manifests itself in our realities as a wave reflection of the processes of simultaneous and absolute synthesis of different quality inertially occurring in it.
3. Changes in the functional state of the body, biochemical processes in it
Usually, we are accustomed to noticing only strong nervous shocks that affect our health, accompanied by sobbing, headaches... But exhausting the body, prolonged, unmonitored stresses are more dangerous. When studying stress, researchers encountered certain difficulties. As it turned out, it is quite difficult to determine which organ or system remains out of stress. It is easier to name the mandatory participants in stress: these are brain structures (hypothalamus and pituitary gland), endocrine glands (adrenal glands) and the autonomic nervous system. The main link in the hormonal mechanism that restores the body after changes provoked by stress are adrenal hormones.
So what happens to the body when stressed?
The brain sends a signal to the adrenal glands, which produce stress hormones - adrenalin, and then cortisol. Adrenaline immediately turns on the body's mobilization reaction, for example, to run away. Cortisol brings systems back from extreme to normal, a hormone produced in the adrenal glands when the body is faced with a sudden change in conditions and is mobilized to fight. Metabolic processes also increase, more glucose appears in the blood, inflammatory processes are suppressed, sensitivity to pain decreases, etc. At the same time, the human brain, whose chemical receptors are also excited by cortisol, sends continuous commands to the adrenal glands to reduce the production of this hormone as dangerous for the body in long-term "use".
If the stress is short-lived, this mechanism feedback allows you to restore normal level cortisol. Otherwise, a disease of the body or its self-destruction may occur, or, for example, with an increase in the level of cortisol in the blood, the level of another hormone rises - MMP9, which makes the walls of blood vessels more prone to rupture and the formation of blood clots, which, in turn, increases the risk of heart attack and death from it. How quickly a person reacts to stress and recovers from it depends on the quality of the genotype.
Iissiidiology explains that associative behavior is already inherent in the human genome along the family line and is realized as a result of a genetic predisposition to selfish realizations (associated with the adaptation of our personal individual shape in the world). The system of perception and the biological organism of each person is different.
The human genome contains a large number of various genes of other proto-forms - plants, animals, minerals. As a result of the mental-sensory dynamics of self-consciousness, there is an activation of genome regions characteristic of certain parts of the brain. And when these areas are activated during stress, the brain receives impulses that are also characteristic of some proto-form
All psychosomatic reactions are expressed in the body through the activity of the endocrine system through the production of hormones, and if we do not monitor, for example, fear, then it still affects the work of the brain departments and is perceived as a danger of possible consequences for the biological form.
Thus, we rarely consciously respond to different types stress to which we are exposed. Usually we notice only those stresses that affect us negatively. But with sufficient conscious interest in a positive and altruistic response to life situations, it is possible to control and change the activity of certain genes in DNA molecules, thereby preventing psychosomatic disorders in the body.
4. Phases of stress and human resistance to them
Our body, faced with an unusual impact, first responds to it. anxiety reaction, followed by the phase resistance to stressors(stress factors). But if stressors continue their impact on the body, then a third phase may begin - the phase exhaustion coping with stressors. This happens when the resources of the protective forces have been exhausted, and the body becomes ill.
So, at the first stage of a collision with a factor that we define for ourselves as a stressful one (anxiety reaction), defense mechanisms are activated, catecholamines and corticosteroids are released, which at the physiological level prepare the body for action. Selye proved that the main stress hormone in humans - cortisol - stimulates vital processes when adapting to stress.
In the first stage of stress, a person's self-control weakens. He gradually loses the ability to consciously and intelligently regulate his own behavior. Psychological contact in communication disappears, alienation appears. characteristic emotional feature this phase is the experience of restlessness and anxiety.
For a faster passage of the first stage in iissiidiology, a “two-minute rule” is given for getting out of a conflict situation. When we make decisions in critical situation, our brain imposes its egoistic realizations and profitable arguments, which we perceive as “our personal benefit”, and if, despite all sorts of egoistic provocations of the mind, we make a more positive decision in our choice, knowing why we are doing it, - tensorship in consciousness is annihilated and the time for further realization of stress is reduced.
The main thing for us in any situation- Decide quickly to make a radical choice. All our other choices with various consequences remain outside our dynamics and interest in non-positive implementations is gradually decreasing. Stress arises when we unconsciously live our lives and are not responsible for our choices. Motivating ourselves with positive ideas about everything that surrounds us, we organize our understanding of life and peace of mind.
At the second stage - gradual adaptation to a difficult situation and active resistance to it. This level is provided by spending more than usual amount of vital energy. Signs of an alarm reaction in the body practically disappear. At this stage, addiction to stress occurs under the long-term action of harmful agents, during which the organism is restructured and adapted to changed conditions. An example is the features in a state of health, such as "anemia of athletes", "sports tachycardia".
This stage is manifested in the fact that the person has a loss of effective conscious self-control. In terms of duration, stress is individual - from a few minutes and hours to several days and weeks. Having exhausted his energy resources, a person feels devastation and fatigue. However, not always, even when the first two phases are activated, a person finds a positive way out of the situation, which delays the search for new tactics and strategies of behavior and keeps the individual in a stressful state.
At the third stage, the body is exhausted if the stressor is too intense. The overall resistance of the body drops sharply. As a result, burnout, illness or death can occur if the stressor continues to act, or if the necessary help and support is not provided to the body.
Of course, different people react differently to the same stimuli. Everyone knows this personal experience. Someone in a difficult situation remains unperturbed, while someone is lost. Someone, even for an insignificant reason, can "explode", say offensive words, and someone will explain himself quite calmly. It all depends on the character warehouse, on the individuality of the person and on the availability of acquired means of protection against stress.
If we ask ourselves why we were stressed last month, then, after analyzing the situations, we will understand that most of the cases leading to stress are nothing more than its provocateurs. But which situation will turn into a stressful one depends on the person himself, the awareness of his choices and the interest to know this part of his perception.
AT psychological literature concepts are also actively discussed. stress availability and stress tolerance, since it is they that largely determine whether a person will experience distress in response to certain event. Stress resistance is characteristic of physically healthy, emotionally stable individuals with an active life position, with low anxiety and adequate self-esteem. Stress availability is characteristic of passive, dependent, highly anxious or prone to depressive and hypochondriacal reactions of individuals.
Psychologist S. Melnik believes that any problem consists of 50% of the facts that we can control, and 50% of the influence of another person and circumstances that do not depend and are not under our control. If we consciously control only our 50%, then we are responsible for our actions, and we do not waste our energy on the other 50% to resist the circumstances of life. This rule, according to S. Melnik, makes us the master of the situation: “It also means that you have an incentive to further active actions. Don't wait for conditions or people around you to change, instead take responsibility for what you do. Changing your emotional or physical state will allow you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
- change your attitude to circumstances;
- adapt your physiological response;
- take action to solve the problem.
The position of a person who is ready to develop psychological invulnerability is a movement towards his goal in life: “I wonder what situation today will throw me to test my capabilities?”. Many studies show that a person responds positively to stress only if they are able to treat stressful events as a challenge that rewards effort. When talking about stress management techniques, it's helpful to think about the positives that can be learned from most stressful situations. When a person manages to put this ability into practice, he overcomes the biggest obstacle to gaining resistance to stress.
The ability to transform negative perception situations in a positive, is a kind of culmination of stress management. By learning to control them, which we unexpectedly fall into, we transform into an exciting and valuable life experience, automatically believing that they allow us to demonstrate our best qualities and make our life more productive and fulfilling.
So your choice is whether you will let events get the best of you or whether you will be in control and, accordingly, be able to accept stress as an opportunity that can be effectively used.
I suggest that it is not yet possible to completely control every stressful situation in our lives, but we can control many of our mental reactions to stressful circumstances. It's not easy, but it's possible! So the basic principle of dealing with stress is constant self-control and analysis of the significance of the situation for yourself personally, as well as the subsequent impact of stress on life. It is necessary to show more love for people and try to create a friendly environment around you. Research shows that feelings of social attachment and love significantly increase people's resilience to stressors.
Summing up the intermediate result, we can say that the main reason that troubles happen in our life is that we are too afraid of complications in life and protect ourselves from them, being constantly in a tense state. At the same time, we constantly show interest in our destructive states in order to avoid, as it were, possible troubles for us. Therefore, we create drama or tragedy out of our lives, simulating all sorts of troubles, reacting negatively to them in advance.
When we find ourselves in a stressful situation, we can take a shorter path to the formation of a positive reaction and understanding why we are given such situations in life. We need to find positive motivation in a timely manner, which will convince us that our previous subjective ideas are not related to our current fears, and that we are only gaining individual life experience through specific states or repetitive stressful situations.
They should be perceived as an intermediate state between the current moment and even more so with the harmonized state that we strive to achieve in relations with the people around us and the world, as necessary processes that ensure the quality of our later life. But motivation is also formed on the basis of some life experience. If we lack it, then it is better to focus on sensory perception and take a difficult situation for granted. And then gradually images and a rational justification for its solution will appear in our self-consciousness.
5. Stress is the "flavor and taste of life"
All of our lives, one way or another, are connected with stress. Stressful situations occur in the life of every person, and the presence of stress impulses in all spheres of human activity is beyond doubt. Stress has a significant impact on both physical health, mental condition, and on the socio-psychological functions of a person. It is reflected in all aspects of our life creativity and leaves a certain imprint on all our possibilities and ways of interacting with the outside world.
Despite the fact that stress provokes many diseases, according to G. Selye, there is no point in avoiding it, since “stress is the aroma and taste of life, and only those who do nothing can avoid it ... We should not, and unable to avoid stress. Complete freedom from stress would mean death.”
The problem of our prolonged stress is that all the troubles that occur in our lives correspond to the quality of our own mental states. Life does not take into account how “bad” or “good” we are according to society, the main thing is how we personally evaluate ourselves and transform our personal existence. We ourselves resonantly (with our interest) attract many stressful and unpleasant situations into our lives.
There is only one way out - to saturate our life creativity with a positive and trusting attitude towards people and the whole world around us, combining it with a deep understanding of the reasons for the circumstances of our life. In fact, even a one-minute visualization of how any situation changes for the better reduces fear and fills our existence with positive emotions.
Therefore, the main thing in life is to accept stress not as a turning point, but as a certain stage, the resolution of which will open up great opportunities for our development. Iissiidological assessment of the scientific characteristics of stresses and their awareness helped me understand the following:
- stress reveals the flaws in my perception;
- exist pressing need in the analysis and work with their stresses;
- subsequent changes in ideas about myself and the world around me make a significant contribution to the formation of me of a better quality - as a Human with a capital letter.
7. The book “Stress resistance. How to stay calm and efficient in any situation,
8. The book "Organizational stress. Theories, research and practical application",
9. The book “Stress Theory and Psychophysiological Research. Emotional stress”, author R. Lazarus
10. Article "Reflections on the quality of elections",
11. Article "Self-control, awareness and the position of the "outside Observer" in stressful situations",
12. Article "Ghosts in our genes", authors - the editorial board of the site
13. Article "Motivation as a mechanism for the work of self-consciousness", author Iirrffliirriss Luurrffm
Views: 3090Homeostasis (from the Greek homoios - the same, stasis - state, stagnation) - constancy internal environment, a stable state of the body, which is supported by coordinated physiological processes. To maintain normal life, nothing in the body should deviate greatly from the norm. A strong deviation is a disease, an excessive deviation is death.
The concept of stress
Stress translated from English (stress) - tension, effort, pressure.
The concept of stress was developed in the 1930s by the Canadian endocrinologist Hans Selye, who, based on previous work colleagues, later defined stress as "the body's non-specific response to any demand."
Pay attention, this is important: stress is not a requirement itself, but an answer to it!
The answer to the same situation can be different for different people.
What means: non-specific response? When we shiver in the cold or sweat in the heat, when the pulse quickens and blood pressure rises when walking or running, this is a specific response at the level of body physiology.
But all these changes have one thing in common - they require restructuring, adaptation to the difficulties that have arisen. This is the non-specific answer. And it is formed at a deeper biochemical level with the participation of the so-called stress hormones: cortisol, adrenaline, etc. The main task of these hormones is to provide an emergency release of reserve energy for an adequate response.
Everything that affects us makes it necessary to adapt to this effect in order to keep the body in a normal state.
Moreover, emotional coloring impact doesn't matter. Only the intensity of the body's need for restructuring is important. Grief and joy of the same intensity can cause the same non-specific demand to adapt to a new situation.
This response takes place in three stages (phases):
anxiety phases (fight or flight),
phases of resistance (mobilization of the regulatory mechanisms of the body) and
exhaustion phase (if the stress lasts too long or exceeds the strength of the defense).
These stages are united by the concept general adaptation syndrome.
The body forms the answer to the challenge by changing the previously set parameters of homeostasis (stability due to changes - allostasis).
Allostasis- the process by which the body, responding to influences, maintains the constancy of its internal environment.
The impact of stress on health
With short-term exposure, allostasis is essential for adaptation (accommodation) and survival. When exposure stops, stress responses are turned off.
Chronic stressors create a situation where these reactions are triggered too often, creating allostatic load. We can say that allostatic load is constant stress.
Since the setpoint shift of one system affects the others physiological systems, with chronic stress, a different state of equilibrium of the internal environment of the whole body is formed.
In other words, allostatic load is a state of predisease, premature aging(such as wear and tear on the item as a result of use). Unlike mechanisms and things, the body has the ability to recover, and if there is no opportunity to recover, this load will lead to illness.
Sometimes this term is used to refer to external influences that cause the body to make efforts to maintain stability.
Stress or Distress?
Meaning of the word stress changed during recent decades. Currently, stress is usually considered the inability of the human or animal body to adequately respond to emotional or physical challenges (real or imagined). This is what Hans Selye called distress.
Distress from English. distress - grief, suffering, malaise.
Signs of "stress-distress" can be defined at the cognitive (cognitive), emotional, physical or behavioral level.
cognitive signs : short-sightedness, low self-esteem, poor concentration, memory impairment, etc.
Emotional Signs include moodiness, anxiety, excessive anxiety, irritability, tearfulness or hysterical laughter, agitation, loneliness. This list also includes depression, as it is seen as a form of exhaustion resulting from chronic emotional stress.
physical symptoms : pains of a different nature, intestinal upset (bear disease), nausea, dizziness, chest pain and heart palpitations.
Behavioral symptoms of stress may include increased (or decreased) appetite, drowsiness or insomnia, social withdrawal, procrastination or neglect of duties, increased drinking, smoking or drug use, and jittery habits such as nail biting.
To avoid or not to avoid stress?
It cannot be avoided, because life without stress is impossible. Stress in a person's life (as an adequate response to external or internal influences) is a natural bodily reaction.
Any activity triggers the stress mechanism.
But distress is an undesirable phenomenon. And to avoid it, you need to train your body and mind.
How stress affects health?
Any training (physical education, hardening, starvation, etc.) causes tension in the body in order to maintain homeostasis. For it to be useful, three basic conditions must be met.
- The strength of the impact (stress) should not exceed the adaptive capabilities of the organism, but sufficient to have the desired training effect.
- Duration - within the resistance phase (do not bring to exhaustion).
- Have enough time to recover spent reserve energy. The stronger the load and the less training, the more time is required for recovery. Interestingly, under normal conditions, the body restores a little more than was expended. This is the effect of training.
As for the psyche, here training is primarily a philosophical attitude to life, the formation of positive emotions,.
To avoid chronic stress, it is necessary to streamline the regime of the day, work and rest. Restful and sufficient sleep, a healthy diet and lifestyle are essential. Bad habits- the cause of chronic stress is the very allostatic loads mentioned above.
An orderly, healthy and active lifestyle, pleasant impressions and timely rest (periods of silence and doing nothing) - this is a life without stress (distress).
Concept, functions, essence of stress
Introduction
psychology stress relaxation
One of the more popular types of affects in our time is stress. It involves a state of too powerful and prolonged emotional stress that occurs in a person when his nervous system becomes psychologically overloaded. Stress disrupts the labor activity of a person, disrupts the normal development of his behavior. Stress, especially if it is frequent and prolonged, has a negative impact not only on the psychological state, but also on the physical state of human health. They suggest the main "risk factors" in the manifestation of diseases such as the gastrointestinal tract and the cardiovascular system.
The term stress in translation from English means influence, tension, effort, and in addition, external influence that organizes this state.
The concept of “stress” is increasingly and firmly entering our everyday life. It owes its own appearance to the Canadian doctor and biologist G. Selye, who in 1936. concentrated interest on the specific response of the body to each condition presented to it
The factors activating this tension were called stressors: they can be physical (the influence of cold, infection), or mental (acute conflict in the family, at work).
Stress is not only nervous tension in the decision on the impact of stressors, but also an adaptive response of the body. This is where Selye's theory of the cumulative adaptation syndrome began. The theory goes through three main phases: a state of anxiety (the body assesses the state of anxiety, a feeling of difficulty appears), then a phase of high resistance (resistance - when the body's defenses are animated). And finally - the phase of exhaustion (if the individual feels that his strength is running out).
So, stress involves a biologically appropriate reaction of the body. Sometimes they try to consider it as something bad, unhealthy, but life shows that it is not acceptable to exclude stress reactions. G. Selye believes that the difficult part of life, the product of our activity - stress - is not only dashing, not only a tragedy, but also a great benefit, since in the absence of stressors the individual is doomed to a colorless existence.
Object of study: a person as a psychological phenomenon.
Subject of research: main theoretical combinations to the study of stress
Target term paper: to explore the views formed in psychology about stress and ways to deal with it.
Historical analysis of the idea of stress in foreign and domestic psychology;
Examining current emotional representations of stress;
Emphasizing the content of the concept of stress.
1. The concept of stress. Main reasons
1The concept of stress. Main reasons One of the more well-known types of affects in our time is stress. Stress plays a significant role in today's society. Stress has a huge impact on the behavioral characteristics of a person, his ability to work, health status, relationships with people around him. Stress is a state of too powerful and prolonged emotional stress that occurs in a person if his nervous system is experiencing emotional overload. The most commonly used definition is the following: "Stress is a tense state of the human body, both physical and mental." It exists in the life of every person, because the presence of stressful situations in all areas human life and activities, of course. Each phenomenon, circumstance or news can induce stress, that is, be a stressor. Stressors can be a variety of conditions: microorganisms, viruses, various poisons, atmospheric temperature, trauma, and much more. However, as it turned out, various emotiogenic factors, factors that affect the emotional area of people, can also be such stressors. All this, without exception, can excite us, grief, a cruel word, an undeserved insult, an unexpected obstacle to our aspirations. Whether this or that situation causes stress or not depends not only on the situation itself, but also on the person, her skills, hopes, self-confidence, etc. Of course, the analysis of danger, the expectation of unsafe results, which the situation has in itself, plays a huge role. Consequently, the very appearance and feeling of stress depends not so much on objective as on subjective conditions, on the characteristics of the person himself: his assessment of the situation, comparison of his own strengths and abilities with what is necessary from him. Stressful conditions appear both at home and at work. According to the idea of management, the maximum interest is shown by organizational factors that stimulate stress among the working staff. Understanding these factors and paying special attention to them will help to avoid almost all stressful situations and increase the effectiveness of managerial work, and in addition to achieve the goals of the organization with the least psychological and physiological losses of personnel. Since it is stress that is considered a factor in numerous diseases, and therefore causes significant harm to human health, while health is one of the necessary criteria for achieving success in any activity. For this reason, individual factors that can cause stress are also considered in the work. In addition to the factors of stress, the stressful state of the body is analyzed - stressful tension, its main features and prerequisites. Translated from English, the term stress is influence, pressure, tension, and distress is unhappiness, grief, sickness, need. According to G. Selye, stress is a non-specific (i.e., the same for different influences) response of the body to any condition shown to it, which can help it adapt to the problem that has arisen, cope with it. Every surprise that disrupts the lunch flow of life can cause stress. Moreover, as G. Selye notes, it does not have any significance, how much we are pleased with the situation with which we met. What matters is the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. As an example, Selye cites a disturbing situation: a mother, who was informed of the death in battle of her only son, feels a terrible inner shock. If after some time they say that the news was false and the son suddenly enters the house safe and sound, she will feel powerful joy. The multidimensionality of stress in humans is so huge that it was necessary to carry out studies of the entire typology of its manifestations. In the current period, it has been established to divide stress into two key types: systemic and mental. Since a person is considered a social being and in the activity of his accumulated concepts the main significance is played by the mental sphere, in this case, directly mental stress is most important for the process of regulation. The peculiar results of the two incidents - unhappiness and pleasure - are absolutely diverse, including opposite ones, but their stressful influence - non-specific conditions for adaptation to new conditions - can be one and the same. Stress is a simple and often colliding manifestation. We all feel it from time to time - it can appear as a feeling of vacuum in the depths of the stomach when we rise, introducing ourselves in society, or as high nervousness or insomnia during the examination session. Small stresses are inevitable and unsafe. Directly excessive stress creates difficulties for individuals and institutions. Stress is considered a necessary component of human life, you just need to learn to distinguish between an acceptable level of stress and too much stress. This type of stress, which we will analyze in this work, is formed as an excessive psychological or physiological stress. 2 Types of stress. stress and frustration In his most recent works, G. Selye emphasizes two types of stress: physiological (eustress) and pathological (distress). Translated from English, stress is influence, pressure, tension, and distress is misfortune, grief, sickness, need. From these positions, sensitive (psychological) stress, in turn, requires an ambiguous assessment: depending on the power, vitality, positive or negative emotional reaction it is capable of proceeding within its usual limits or turning into the most painful state. Under the influence of negative feelings (unrequited love, death loved one, forced separation from the Motherland) there were many remarkable creations in the fields of painting, literature and art. V. Kataev pointed to this feature of creativity: “Look for betrayal or unrequited love in the origins of the creativity of a genius. The more dangerous the wound, the more ingenious the artist's creation. Together with these frequent stressful situations, they "repress" the sensitive device of a person, over-irritate the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for maintaining an active vitality. As a result of ongoing shifts in the ratios of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, peculiar "diseases" are formed. social adaptation". These diseases are usually referred to as hypertension. disease and peptic ulcer of the stomach. From the standpoint of the positive influence of alcohol, which suppresses emotional stress, certain creators of addiction to alcohol are regarded. The famous Swedish scientist L. Levn discovered that all cheerful emotions (admiration) stimulate the same vivid psychophysiological reactions inherent in negative emotions. In the past years, prescriptions have arisen regarding the likelihood of stress formation not only under the influence of an excess of stressors, but also in the presence of their deficiency. In the experience, information about the development of stress in the conditions of artificially created isolation, sudden restriction of external signals (a position called sensory deprivation), presence in unusual, unusual habitats (hydronauts, astronauts). Thus, emotional tensions can be caused by a lack of sensual experiences: they are especially painfully experienced by people of an active, active warehouse. In a similar way, the issue of saving and strengthening psychological well-being must involve an adequate balance of positive and negative emotions. Close to the concept of stress is the concept of frustration. This term translated from Latin means deceit, vain anticipation. Frustration is perceived as tension, anxiety, desperation, rage, which take possession of a person when, on his way to achieving a goal, he encounters unexpected problems that prevent the satisfaction of a need. Frustration forms, in a similar way, along with the initial motivation, a new, protective motivation, which is aimed at overcoming the obstacle that has arisen. The past and the latest motivation are realized in psychological reactions. The most popular response to frustration is the appearance of aggressiveness, concentrated most of all on obstacles. The appropriate reaction to the obstacles is to cope with or bypass it, if there is such an opportunity; hostility, rapidly turning into rage, is expressed in violent and inadequate reactions: humiliation, physical attacks on a person (pinching, pounding, pushing) or an object (breaking it). Retreat and departure. In certain variants, the subject responds to the frustration by leaving (for example, leaving the room), accompanied by hostility that is not freely expressed. Frustration pulls along emotional pathologies only when an obstacle is formed for the strongest motivation. If a nipple is taken away from children starting to drink, they will react with anger, but at the end of sucking there are practically no emotional manifestations. 1.3 Physiological mechanisms stress The study shows that physiological indicators of stress include ulcers, migraine attacks, hypertension, back pain, joint pain, shortness of breath and heart pain. Psychological tensions include irritability, hunger, depression, and low interest in interpersonal and sexual relationships. Nowadays, no one is doubted that in the presence of stress (whether it be illness, physical torment or emotional shock - powerful, low, prolonged, temporary), the most difficult nervous mechanisms are activated. Suppose there was a quarrel or some kind of repulsive phenomenon: a person is agitated, in no way able to find a place for himself, he is gnawed by an undeserved insult, a nuisance due to the fact that he could not lead himself correctly, did not find words. He himself would be glad to disconnect from these thoughts and ideas, but again and again scenes of what happened appear before his eyes; and again a swell of resentment and indignation comes up. There are three physiological adaptations of such stress. · Firstly, a high-intensity stable center of excitation has developed in the cerebral cortex, the so-called dominant, which subjugates all the activities of the body, all the actions and thoughts of the individual without exception. Therefore, in order to calm down, it is necessary to eliminate, defuse this dominant, or form a new, rival one. All distracting methods (reading a very interesting novel, switching to a favorite process) are, in fact, focused on the development of a competing dominant. The more interesting the business into which an upset person strives to go, the easier it is for him to form a competing dominant. Therefore, each of us does not interfere with having any hobby that opens the way to positive emotions. · Secondly, following the emergence of the dominant, a special chain reaction- one of the deep structures of the brain - the hypothalamus, is excited, causing the nearby important gland - the pituitary gland - to secrete a huge portion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the blood. Under the influence of ACTH, the adrenal glands produce adrenaline and other physiologically active elements (stress hormones), which cause a versatile result: the heart begins to contract more often and more intensely (recall how it “jumps” out of the chest in the presence of horror, anxiety, anger), blood pressure increases ( therefore, a headache may occur, a sudden heart attack may occur, breathing becomes faster). In this phase, requirements are prepared for the purpose of active muscle loading. However, the current person, in comparison with the primitive, after stress, as a rule, never uses the accumulated muscle energy, it is for this reason that he still has long time biologically active elements circulate, which do not allow either the nervous system or internal organs to calm down. Need to neutralize stress hormones, and best friend here - physical education, enhanced muscular work. · Thirdly, due to the fact that the stressful situation retains its significance (after all, the incident did not end successfully and some kind of necessity remained irritated in this way, otherwise there would be no negative emotions), impulses are again and again credited to the cerebral cortex, dominants that support dynamism, and continue to produce stress hormones in the blood. Thus, you need to reduce for yourself the importance of this unfulfilled aspiration or find a way to implement it. 2. Causes and signs of stress tension 1 Factors causing stress By reducing the effectiveness and security of the individual, excessive overstrain is costly for institutions. Almost all the difficulties of employees, which are reflected both in their salary and in the results of their activities, and in the state of health and well-being of employees, nest in psychological stress. Stress directly and indirectly increases the costs of achieving organizational goals and reduces the quality of life for huge amount workers. Stress can be caused by factors associated with the work and activities of the company or the activities of a person's own life. Consider these conditions, operating from within the company, that stimulate stress. An overload or very light workload, i.e. an assignment that should be completed in certain interval time. The worker was simply entrusted with an inordinate number of tasks or an unreasonable level of output for that period of time. In this case, as a rule, there is excitement, frustration (feeling of catastrophe), as well as a feeling of hopelessness. But underloading can induce the same feelings. An employee who is not getting a job to his or her ability tends to feel uneasy about one's worth and position in the social structure of the organization, and feels obviously unrewarded. Role conflict. The conflict of roles appears in this case, if dual conditions are presented to the worker. For example, a salesperson might be given the task of not being slow to respond to customer requests, however, if he is observed talking to a customer, he is told to remember to fill the shelves with food. A conflict of roles can also happen as a result of interference with the principle of one-man command. Two managers may give conflicting instructions to an employee. For example, the director of an organization may ask the head of the shop to maximize production, at the same time, the head of the technical control department will require strict adherence to quality standards. Role conflict can also arise from differences between the norms of the informal group and the conditions of the formal company. Under these conditions, the individual is able to feel tension and excitement, as he wants to be accepted by the group, on the one hand, and to comply with the requirements of the leadership, on the other. role uncertainty. Role ambiguity appears when an employee is not convinced of what is required of him. In contrast to the conflict of roles, here the conditions will not be ambivalent, but also evasive and vague. Society must have a correct understanding of management expectations - what they are required to do, how they should do it, and how they will evaluate it afterwards. Uninteresting work. Certain studies show that individuals who have more interesting jobs express less anxiety and experience less physical ailments than those who specialize in boring jobs. But people's beliefs about the concept of "interesting" activity are different: what may seem at first glance fascinating or boring for one, will not necessarily be interesting for others. There are also other factors. Stress can be caused by terrible physical circumstances, such as fluctuations in room temperature, bad lighting, or loud noise. Incorrect correspondence among powers and responsibilities, poor communication channels in the company and unreasonable conditions of employees to each other can also cause stress. The ideal state would be one where productivity is at an acceptably high level and stress is at the lowest possible level. To achieve this, managers and other employees of the organization must learn to manage stress in themselves. How to manage in order to increase and decrease the level of stress? .Develop the concept of values in your own work. Rate own work in the following way: "must commit today", "commit later this week" and "work when there is time". .Learn to say "no" when you reach the limit, after which you can no longer take over more work. Explain to your supervisor that you understand the value of the assignment. Then outline certain priority works on which you are working at this time. If he requires a new task to be completed, ask yourself what work you should postpone until the end of the new task. .Build a particularly productive and lasting relationship with your boss. Understand his difficulties and orient him to see yours. Train your manager to value your values, your workload. .Never agree with your boss or anyone else who begins to set ambivalent conditions (role conflict). Make it clear that these demands are pulling you in the opposite direction. Ask for a meeting with absolutely all involved parties in order to find out the problem. Do not take an accusatory-hostile position; simply explain what specific difficulties form dual conditions for you. .Alert your supervisor or co-worker if you feel that the expectations or standards for scoring your assignment are not clear at all (role ambiguity). Let them know that you are a bit unsure about a number of specific assignment questions and would like to be able to discuss these questions with them. .Negotiate feelings of discouragement or lack of interest in working with your manager. Once again, take into account that you should not end up in a state of complaining. Explain that you are a supporter of demanding work and would like to be able to contribute to other types of work. .Look for a daily time to disconnect and have fun. Close the door for five minutes every morning, elevate and prop your feet up on something, relax completely and put the work out of your head. Head towards pleasant ideas or images to refresh your mind. Leave yours from time to time workplace to change the situation or the development of thoughts. Don't dine there, and don't linger long after you should have gone home or started some other work. Other conditions associated with a reduction in the likelihood of stress include the implementation of appropriate nutrition, keeping fit through exercise and the result of a single balance in life. In order to manage others, while achieving significant work productivity and a low degree of stress, it is possible to recommend the following: .Assess the possibilities, needs, and inclinations of your workers and try to select the size and type of work for them for their proper reasons. As soon as they show satisfactory results in the performance of these tasks, increase their workload if they want it. At suitable options delegate power and responsibility. .Allow your workers not to perform any task if they have a good reason for doing so. If this task is required, explain what it is for and prioritize their work to allow specific time and resources to complete the additional task. .Accurately describe specific areas of opportunity, responsibility, and performance expectations. Use two-way communication and data of your own subordinates (opposite interconnectedness). .Apply a leadership style appropriate to the given situation. .Ensure appropriate rewards for efficient work. .Act as a mentor according to your relationship with your subordinates, shaping their capabilities and negotiating time-consuming tasks with them. 2 Stress Thus, stress is a difficult situation for the body, i.e. non-specific result of the organism in the demand shown to it (tense environment). Under the influence of stress, the human body feels a tense state. Consider different states a person who can warn about the presence in the body internal stress. Meaningful analysis is able to transfer these signals from the psychological (feelings) to the rational (reason) and thereby eliminate an unnecessary state. Signs of stress: .Can't concentrate on anything. .Very common errors in work. .Memory gets worse. .Often feeling tired. .Speech becomes faster. .Thoughts fizzle out. .Headaches appear more often. .Increased excitability. .Work does not provide the former pleasure. .The sense of humor becomes less. .The craving for smoking increases. .An addiction to alcohol appears. .More often a feeling of malnutrition. .The taste for food is lost. .Inability to finish work on time. When we have identified signs of stress in our body, we need to reliably study its causes. Causes of stress tension: .Very often we do not what we want, but what we need, what is part of our duties. .Constant lack of time. .Constantly something adjusts, we do not have time to go anywhere. .It begins to seem that everyone around is clamped. .I want to sleep all the time. .We begin to have many dreams. .Increased craving for smoking. .Drinking alcohol more than before. .Almost everyone dislikes .There are constant conflicts everywhere. .Feeling dissatisfied with life all the time. .We make debts. .An inferiority complex appears. .No one wants to talk about their problems. .We do not feel respect for ourselves. Not all causes of stress are listed. Everyone has to do their own analysis. own state and identify the causes of stress that are characteristic only for his body. Predisposition to stressful tension can also be determined using various tests. 3. Ways to deal with stress 1 Relaxation The automatic alarm reaction consists of three successive phases (according to the theory of G. Selye): Adaptation. In other words, if stress sets in, then very soon the stressful state begins to decrease - the person begins to calm down one way or another. If unlived fitness breaks off (or is completely absent), then the possibility of the occurrence of any psychosomatic diseases or disorders is not excluded. Thus, if a person seeks to concentrate his own efforts in maintaining health, in this case, in a stressful impulse, he must consciously respond with relaxation. With this type of active protection, the person in stay intervenes in each of the 3 phases of stress. Thus, he is able to prevent the influence of a stress impulse, suspend it, or (if the tense situation has not yet arrived) reduce overvoltage, thereby preventing psychosomatic pathologies in the body. Activating the work nervous system, relaxation regulates the state and level of mental arousal, makes it possible to reduce or throw off the psychological and muscle tension initiated by stress. So what is relaxation? Relaxation is a method by which you can partially or completely get rid of physical or mental stress. Relaxation seems to be a very necessary method, because it is quite easy and simple to master it - no special education is required, including natural talent. However, there is one inevitable requirement - motivation, i.e. anyone should understand why he seeks to study relaxation. Relaxation methods must be studied in advance so that during a crisis period it is easy to counteract irritation and mental fatigue. With the regularity of classes, relaxation procedures will eventually become a habit, will be correlated with pleasant emotions, although in order to study them, you need will and endurance. Relaxation exercises. Most of us are now so accustomed to spiritual and muscular tension that we accept it as state of nature, without even realizing to what extent it is contraindicated. It is necessary to understand exactly that, having studied relaxation, one can learn to coordinate this tension, delay and relax according to one's own will, according to one's own desire. Thus, it is preferable to perform relaxation exercises in a separate room, without prying eyes. The aim of the procedures is the absolute relaxation of the muscles. Complete muscle relaxation has a positive effect on the nervous system and lowers the spiritual balance. Here are some examples of relaxation exercises. .Lie still for about two minutes, eyes closed. Imagine the room you are in. First, try to mentally go around the whole room, and then overcome the path along the entire perimeter of your body - from head to heels and back. .Try to carefully follow your breath, passively aware that you are breathing through your nose. Mentally note that the inhaled air is somewhat colder than the exhaled. .Take a deep breath and hold your breath for a second. At the same time, sharply tighten all the muscles for a few seconds, trying to feel the tension in the whole body. Relax as you exhale. Repeat 3 times. Then lie still for a few minutes, relaxing and focusing on the feeling of heaviness in your body. Enjoy this pleasant feeling. Now do exercises for individual parts of the body - with alternating tension and relaxation. Exercise for leg muscles. Tighten all the muscles of the legs at once - from the heels to the hips. For a few seconds, fix the tense state, trying to feel the tension, and then relax the muscles. Repeat 3 times. Then lie still for a few minutes, completely relaxed and feeling the heaviness of your relaxed legs. All sounds of the environment register in consciousness, but do not perceive. The same applies to thoughts, however, do not try to overcome them, they only need to be registered. The following exercises are identical to the exercise described above, but apply to other muscles of the body: gluteal muscles, abdominals, chest muscles, arm muscles, facial muscles (lips, forehead). In conclusion, mentally "run" through all the muscles of the body - is there even the slightest tension left somewhere. If so, try to take it off, as relaxation should be complete. To complete the relaxation exercises, take a deep breath, hold your breath and momentarily tighten the muscles of the whole body: while exhaling, relax the muscles. After that, lie on your back for a long time - calmly, relaxed, breathing is even, without delay. You have regained faith in your strength, are able to overcome a stressful situation - and there is a feeling of inner peace. After doing these exercises, you should feel rested, full of strength and energy. Now open your eyes, then close your eyes several times, open again and stretch sweetly after a pleasant awakening. Sit down very slowly, smoothly, without jerking. Then, just as slowly, without sudden movements, stand up, trying to maintain a pleasant feeling of inner relaxation for as long as possible. Over time, these exercises will be performed faster than at the beginning. Later it will be possible to relax the body when needed. 2 Concentration The inability to concentrate is a factor directly related to stress. For example, most of working women of the weaker sex at home perform 3 functions: housewife, wife and mother. Any of these functions asks a woman for concentration, maximum interest and, of course, absolute dedication. There is a lot of unfocusedness. Any of these 3 functions gives rise to a whole series of impulses that divert the woman's interest from the work performed during this period and can provoke a tense situation. This kind of tearing apart from day to day leads everything to exhaustion in the end, mostly mental. In such a case, concentration procedures are simply irreplaceable. They are allowed to be performed in any place and if necessary during the day. For the basics, it is preferable to exercise at home: early in the morning, on the eve of leaving for work (study), or in the evening, before going to bed, or - even more correctly - immediately after returning home. Thus, we note the approximate order of execution of concentration exercises. Try to ensure that there are no spectators in the room in which you have to practice. Sit on a stool or regular chair - only sideways to the back so as not to lean on it. In no case should the chair be with a soft seat, otherwise the effectiveness of the exercise will decrease. Sit as comfortably as possible so that you can remain still for a certain amount of time. Place your hands freely on your knees, close your eyes (they should be closed until the end of the exercise so that attention is not distracted by foreign objects - no visual information). Breathe through your nose calmly, not tensely. Try to focus only on the fact that the air you breathe in is colder than the air you breathe out. And now two options for concentration exercises: a) concentration on the account. Mentally count slowly from 1 to 10 and focus on this slow count. If, at some point, your thoughts begin to dissipate and you become unable to concentrate on the count, start counting from the beginning. Repeat the count for several minutes. b) concentration on the word. Choose a short (two-syllable is best) word that evokes positive emotions in you or that has pleasant memories associated with it. Let it be the name of a loved one, or an affectionate nickname that your parents called you in childhood, or the name of your favorite dish. If the word is two-syllable, then mentally pronounce the first syllable on the inhale, the second on the exhale. Focus on "your" word, which from now on will become your personal slogan with concentration. It is this concentration that leads to the desired side effect - the relaxation of all brain activity. Perform relaxation-concentration exercises for several minutes. Practice for as long as it pleases you. Having finished the exercise, run your palms over your eyelids, slowly open your eyes and stretch. Sit quietly in your chair for a few more moments. Note that you have succeeded in conquering absent-mindedness. Often there are situations when it is difficult to remember someone's last name or some thought. We often stop in the middle of a room or corridor, confused, trying to remember what we went for or what we wanted to do. It is in such cases that a short-term concentration on command is recommended - on your word or on the account. In most cases, a word (or thought) that has fallen out of memory will come to mind in just a moment. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will necessarily always succeed. But with the help of concentration on a word or count, one can recall the forgotten faster than with the help of increased memory tension. With this simple method, a person is able to make an effort and overcome himself. Conclusion The state of stress in a person is as old as the person himself. Everyone is subjected to stress - from a newborn up to a powerless old man. Stress is by no means only an evil inclination, by no means only misfortune, but also great benefit because no stress different nature our vital activity would become like some kind of colorless and gloomy miserable existence. Activity is only one way to end stress: you can’t sit it out and you can’t overstay it. Constant concentration of attention on the bright sides of life and in actions for which they have every chance to improve their position, not only preserves the state of health, but also contributes to success. Nothing is more discouraging than failure, nothing is more encouraging than a result. Stress can be overcome, all you need is a desire and a little free time for yourself. Another problem is that there is no desire - it’s simply pleasant for a person to realize what he feels is stress, telling and “complaining” to absolutely everyone about how deep stress he is, looking for sympathy, understanding in this. Bibliography psychology stress relaxation 1. Vasilyuk F. E. Psychology of experience. M .: "Knowledge" 1984 Gippenreiter Yu.B. Introduction to General Psychology M.: Chero, 1998 Zhdanov O.I. Stress: essence, function, meaning // World of Psychology. 2008. No. 4. Kizhaev-Smyk L.A. Psychology of stress M.: "Science", 1983 Maklakov A.G. General psychology M.: St. Petersburg, 2003 Stolyarenko L.D. Fundamentals of psychology M .: "Science", 2001 Stress [electronic resource].-access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress Wikipedia (11/11/2010) Stress [electronic resource].-access mode: http://www.effecton.ru/409.html Effecton.ru (11.11.2010) Stress - stress management [electronic resource].-access mode: http://www.lossofsoul.com/STRESS/ LossofSoul.com (11.11.2010) Sudakov K. V. Systemic mechanisms of emotional stress M .: "Science", 1981 What is stress? [electronic resource].-access mode: http://www.depressia.com/page_1014.html Depressia.com (11/11/2010) Shcherbatykh Yu. V. Psychology of stress M .: "Eksmo", 2008 Shcherbatykh Yu. V. Psychology of stress and correction methods St. Petersburg: "Peter", 2007
Introduction
Stress. Basic concepts
Stress prevention
2.1 Relaxation
2 Physiology of relaxation
5 Autoregulation of breathing
Conclusion
Introduction
There are many definitions of the concept of stress. In general, this is a physiological reaction of the body, expressed in a state of tension. Stress occurs in a person under the influence extreme impacts.
Stress is a complex process, it always includes both physiological and psychological components. With the help of stress, the body, as it were, mobilizes itself entirely for self-defense, for adaptation to a new situation, activates defense mechanisms that provide resistance to the effects of stress. The positive impact of moderate stress is manifested in a number of psychological and physiological properties - improving attention (volume and stability), increasing a person's interest in achieving the goal, and in a positive coloring of the work process.
The author of the theory of stress, Hans Selye, defines it as a set of stereotypical programmed reactions that primarily prepare the body for physical activity. This, in turn, provides the most favorable conditions in the fight against danger. Weak influences do not lead to stress, it occurs only when the influence of certain factors (stressors) exceeds the adaptive capabilities of a person. Under stressful influences, certain hormones begin to be released into the blood, as a result of which the mode of operation of many organs and systems of the body changes (its protective properties change, the rhythm of heart contractions increases, blood clotting increases). The body is prepared to fight, ready to cope with the danger, to adapt to it - this is the main biological significance of stress.
1. Stress. Basic concepts
There are physiological and psychological stressors. Physiological include pain, excessive exercise stress, extreme temperature (heat, cold), etc.; to psychological ones - the need to make a decision, responsibility for something, resentment, experience, conflict.
Stressors can be both actual and probable. The most destructive psychological stresses for the body, which are divided into informational (occur in conditions of information overload) emotional (manifested in conflict situations, with threats, insults).
Every change in our life acts as a kind of ballast. It is not only about situations that we regard as negative.
Let us illustrate this with the example of the gradation of the degree of severity, which was developed by the American scientists Holmes and Ray. Life events in accordance with the pressure exerted on the psyche are evaluated by them on a scale from 0 to 100 points.
Table 1. Severity of influence life events on the human psyche
Смерть партнера100Развод73Разлад в супружеской жизни/разрыв65Тюремное заключение63Смерть близкого члена семьи63Серьезная травма или заболевание53Брак50Потеря работы47Примирение и другие перемены в семейной жизни45Выход на пенсию45Изменение в состоянии здоровья члена семьи44Беременность40Появление нового члена семьи39Перемена места работы39Изменение в финансовом состоянии37Крупный долг31Перемена в ответственности по месту работы29Уход сына или дочери с родного дома29Перемена в условиях life25Change of habits20Change of school19Change of rest18Small debt17Changes related to sleep and daily routine16Changes in habitual eating habits15Vacation13Holiday12Misdemeanor (fine for traveling without a ticket)11
These are selected categories of stressors. Of course, there are actually many more. The crux of the problem is that the overall severity score accumulates. According to the creators of the scale, scoring, for example, more than 300 points within one year, you face the danger of a rather serious reaction, that is, depression, psychosomatic diseases (heart attack, asthma, allergies). So if in a year you manage to finish your studies, get a job, get married, get pregnant, give birth to a child, find an apartment, then these joyful situations alone will bring more than 200 points. If, in connection with these pleasant chores, your budget suffers, and you owe a little, you can get closer to critical point at 300 points.
Having developed the theory of stress, Selye identified three stages in it.
The first is the anxiety stage. This is the phase of mobilization of the body's defenses, which increases its resistance to a specific traumatic effect. At the same time, the body functions with great tension. However, in the first phase of stress, he copes with the load even with the help of functional mobilization without structural changes.
The first phase is followed by the second phase - the balanced expenditure of the body's adaptive reserves (the stage of stabilization, resistance). All parameters that are out of balance in the first phase are fixed at a new level. At the same time, a response that differs little from the norm is provided, everything seems to be getting better. However, if stress continues for a long time, due to the limited reserves of the body, the third phase inevitably sets in - exhaustion. In the second and third stages, the body, having exhausted its functional reserves, turns on the mechanisms of structural restructuring. When they are not enough, there is exhaustion.
2. Prevention of stress
The stress reaction causes a natural response in the body in the usual reflex way. Our current "natural" way of life, with its "habitual" lack of movement, does not provide an incentive for active response. For us, more and more familiar in such situations is the reaction of "avoiding the situation." And this combination of inadequate lifestyle with biochemical and hormonal responses to stress can lead to serious health problems.
For a long time there was an opinion that the anxiety reaction is unpredictable and unsafe and in a different way a person can not react to stress. However, many years of experience shows that it is much more useful, using the reserve capabilities of the body, to master the methods of conscious and active self-regulation. This will allow you to respond to stress more calmly. This means learning to manage stress in spite of the natural automatic reaction and respond to it in an autoregulatory, or, as doctors say, relaxation.
There are four main methods of stress prevention through autoregulation:
1.relaxation,
2.anti-stress "alteration" of the day,
.first aid for acute stress
.autoanalysis of personal stress.
The use of these methods, if necessary, is available to everyone.
1 Relaxation
Relaxation is a state of wakefulness, characterized by reduced psychophysiological activity, which is felt either throughout the body or in any of its systems. How does relaxation affect stress? Automatic alarm reaction consists of three successive phases (according to G. Selye's theory): 1) impulse; 2) stress; 3) adaptation.
In other words, if adaptation occurs, then the stressful state soon subsides - the person, one way or another, calms down. If adaptation is disturbed (or absent at all), then some psychosomatic diseases or disorders may occur. Through relaxation, a person is able to intervene in any of the three phases of stress. Thus, it is possible to prevent the impact of a stress impulse, delay it, or (if the stressful situation has not yet occurred) reduce stress, thereby preventing psychosomatic disorders in the body. By activating the activity of the nervous system, relaxation regulates mood and the degree of mental arousal. This allows you to relax or relieve stress-induced mental and muscle tension.
2 Physiology of relaxation
Volunteers with sufficient experience in using relaxation methods were tested. Pulse, blood pressure, electroencephalogram (bioelectric fluctuations associated with brain activity), oxygen consumption and excretion levels were measured. carbon dioxide, as well as the level of lactate (lactic acid) in the blood. When comparing the data, the following results were obtained. The pulse became less frequent, breathing calmed down, oxygen consumption decreased by an average of 16% (from the initial 251 cm/min to 211 cm/min), and the amount of carbon dioxide released decreased. The electroencephalogram showed calming, manifested in an increase in the number of alpha waves. During relaxation, the level of lactate in the blood decreased. It is interesting to note that after the end of relaxation, the blood lactate level remained low for some time, and then rather slowly returned to the initial level. The data of these measurements are consistent with the experience of many people who claim that after relaxing for a certain time they feel calm and balanced. This is explained relatively simply. The fact is that the source of lactate is smooth muscles. Naturally, when the muscles relax, it produces a much smaller amount of it, which, in turn, is beneficial to health. These objective indicators, obtained as a result of measurements, once again prove that relaxation reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, while during stress the activity increases dramatically. Relaxation is very useful method, since it is quite easy to master it - this does not require special education and even a natural gift. True, there is still one indispensable condition - motivation, everyone needs to know why he wants to master relaxation. Of course, relaxation will not solve all worries and problems, but, nevertheless, it will weaken the degree of their impact on the body, which is very important. With the help of relaxation, it is impossible to eliminate negative memories or impressions stored in the subconscious, there is no need to wait for some special, miraculous effect. But thanks to relaxation, you can actively deal with stress.
With the regularity of classes, relaxation exercises; gradually become a habit and are associated with pleasant experiences. Naturally, these impressions will not arise immediately - diligence, perseverance and patience are required to master physical and mental self-regulation.
3 Anti-stress "remake" of the day
Very often, when returning home, people transfer their work activity, excitement to the family. What is needed to get rid of your daily impressions and, having crossed the threshold of the house, not to take out your bad mood on your family? After all, in this way we bring home stress, and the reason for everything is our inability to get rid of the impressions accumulated during the day. First of all, you need to install good tradition: after returning home from work or school, immediately carry out relaxation. Here are some recommended ways to relax in 10 minutes.
2.Sit in a chair, relax and rest quietly. Or, sit comfortably in a chair and take a relaxing "coachman's pose".
3.Brew yourself strong tea or make coffee. Stretch them for 10 minutes, try not to think about anything serious during this period of time.
.Turn on the tape recorder and listen to your favorite music. Enjoy these wonderful moments. Try to completely immerse yourself in the music, disconnecting from your thoughts.
.If your loved ones are at home, have tea or coffee with them and talk quietly about something. Do not solve your problems immediately upon returning home: in a state of fatigue, weakness, this is very difficult, and sometimes impossible. You can find a way out of the impasse after a little time passes and the stress of the working day subsides.
.Fill the bath with not very hot water and lie down in it. Do some soothing in the bath breathing exercises. Take a deep breath through closed lips, lower the lower part of the face and nose into the water and make a very slow exhalation. Try to exhale as long as possible (exhale with resistance). Imagine that with each exhalation, the total tension accumulated during the day gradually subsides.
.Take a walk outside.
.Put on a tracksuit, running shoes and run these 10 minutes. It is very important that the initiative of such "remake" of the day comes from ourselves. It is necessary to warn our loved ones that in this short period of time we forget about our household duties and try to spend these 10 minutes with them. With a fresh mind, solving all household problems will require much less nervous and physical energy.
4 First aid for acute stress
If you find yourself in a stressful situation unexpectedly (someone pissed you off, your boss scolded you, or someone at home made you nervous) - you start acute stress. First you need to gather all your will into a fist and command yourself “STOP!” To drastically slow down the development of acute stress. To manage from a state of acute stress to calm down, you need to find an effective way of self-help. And then in a critical situation that can arise every minute, we can quickly orient ourselves by resorting to this method of helping with acute stress.
Here are some tips that can help you get out of a state of acute stress.
1.Antistress breathing. Slowly take a deep breath through your nose; at the peak of inhalation, hold your breath for a moment, then exhale as slowly as possible. It's a soothing breath. Try to imagine. That with each deep breath and long exhalation, you partially get rid of stressful tension.
2.Momentary relaxation. Relax the corners of your mouth, moisturize your lips. Relax your shoulders. Focus on your facial expression and body position: remember that they reflect your emotions, thoughts internal state. It is only natural that you do not want others to know about your stressful state. In this case, you can change your facial and body language by relaxing your muscles and taking deep breaths.
.Take a look around and carefully inspect the room in which you are. Pay attention to the smallest details, even if you know them well. Slowly, without haste, mentally “sort through” all the objects one by one in a certain sequence. Try to focus fully on this "inventory". Mentally say to yourself: "Brown desk, white curtains, red flower vase," etc. Focusing on each separate subject, you will be distracted from internal stressful tension, directing your attention to a rational perception of the environment.
.If circumstances allow, leave the room in which you have experienced acute stress. Move to another where there is no one, or go outside where you can be alone with your thoughts. Mentally disassemble this room (if you went outside, then the surrounding houses, nature) “by the bones”, as described in paragraph 3.
.Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, lean forward and relax. Head, shoulders and arms hang freely down. Breathing calmly. Fix this position for 1-2 minutes, then very slowly raise your head (so that it does not spin).
.Engage in some activity - it doesn't matter what: start washing clothes, washing dishes or doing cleaning. The secret of this method is simple: any activity, and especially physical work, in a stressful situation, it acts as a lightning rod - it helps to distract from internal tension.
.Put on some soothing music that you love. Try to listen to it, concentrate on it (local concentration). Remember that concentration on one thing contributes to complete relaxation, causes positive emotions.
.Take a calculator or paper and pencil and try to calculate how many days you live in the world (multiply the number of complete years by 365, adding one day for each leap year, and add the number of days that have passed since the last birthday). Such rational activity will allow you to switch your attention. Try to remember some particularly remarkable day in your life. Remember it in the smallest detail, without missing anything. Try to calculate how many days this day of your life was.
.Talk on some abstract topic with any person who is nearby: a neighbor, a workmate. If there is no one around, call your friend or girlfriend on the phone. This is a kind of distraction activity that takes place "here and now" and is designed to force out of your mind the internal dialogue, saturated with stress.
.Do some stress relief breathing exercises. Now, having pulled yourself together, you can safely continue the interrupted activity.
2.5 Autoregulation of breathing
Under normal conditions, no one thinks or remembers about breathing. But when for some reason there are deviations from the norm, it suddenly becomes difficult to breathe. Breathing becomes labored and labored physical stress or in a stressful situation. And, on the contrary, with a strong fright, tense expectation of something, people involuntarily hold their breath (hold their breath). A person has the opportunity, by consciously controlling breathing, to use it to calm down, to relieve tension - both muscular and mental, thus, autoregulation of breathing can become an effective means of dealing with stress, along with relaxation and concentration.
Anti-stress breathing exercises can be performed in any position. Only one condition is obligatory: the spine must be in a strictly vertical or horizontal position. This makes it possible to breathe naturally, freely, without tension, to fully stretch the muscles of the chest and abdomen. The correct position of the head is also very important: it should sit straight and loose on the neck. A relaxed, upright sitting head stretches the chest and other parts of the body upwards to a certain extent. If everything is in order and the muscles are relaxed, then you can practice free breathing, constantly controlling it.
We will not go into detail here about what breathing exercises exist (they are easy to find in the literature), but we will draw the following conclusions:
1.With the help of deep and calm self-regulated breathing, mood swings can be prevented.
2.When laughing, sighing, coughing, talking, singing or reciting, certain changes in the rhythm of breathing occur in comparison with the so-called normal automatic breathing. It follows from this that the way and rhythm of breathing can be purposefully regulated by consciously slowing down and deepening.
.Increasing the duration of exhalation promotes calm and complete relaxation.
.The breathing of a calm and balanced person differs significantly from the breathing of a person under stress. Thus, the rhythm of breathing can determine the mental state of a person.
.Rhythmic breathing calms the nerves and psyche; the duration of the individual phases of breathing does not matter - the rhythm is important.
.From correct breathing human health, and hence life expectancy, largely depends. And if breathing is innate unconditioned reflex, therefore, it can be consciously controlled.
.The slower and deeper, calmer and more rhythmic we breathe, the sooner we get used to this way of breathing, the sooner it will become an integral part of our life. Try to do some other kind of activity to quickly forget the stressful situation. Moderate exercise or walking - in short, any activity that requires physical activity and concentration - will not hurt, but, again, do not overdo it.
psyche stress relaxation breathing
Conclusion
Stress occurs in a person under the influence of extreme influences.
With the help of stress, the body, as it were, mobilizes itself entirely for self-defense, for adaptation to a new situation, activates defense mechanisms that provide resistance to the effects of stress. Stress is a complex process, it includes both physiological and psychological components.
Stress has both positive and negative effects on a person. The positive impact of moderate stress is manifested in a number of psychological and physiological properties - improving attention (volume and stability), increasing a person's interest in achieving the goal, and in a positive coloring of the work process.
Under negative stress effects, certain hormones begin to be released into the blood, as a result of which the mode of operation of many organs and systems of the body changes (its protective properties change, the rhythm of heart contractions increases, blood clotting increases).
One of the ways to reduce the degree of impact on the body of stress factors is relaxation. Of course, relaxation will not solve all worries and problems, but, nevertheless, it will weaken the degree of their impact on the body, which is very important. Thanks to relaxation, you can actively deal with stress.
There are many various methods reducing the impact of stressful situations on the human psyche. Such as the:
· method of rationalizing the upcoming event;
· method of selective positive retrospection.
mirror method.
· a change of scenery;
·relaxation;
· "talking" the problem
·other.
The use of these methods, if necessary, is available to everyone. Active relaxation (relaxation), which increases the natural adaptation of the human body - both mental and physical.
Thus, stress is an integral part of the life of every person, it cannot be avoided. The stimulating, creative, formative influence of stress in the complex processes of human life is also important. But stressful influences should not exceed the adaptive capabilities of a person, since in these cases there may be a deterioration in well-being and diseases - somatic and neurotic. Mental stress, failures, fear, breakdowns, a sense of danger are the most destructive stressors for a person.
If we succeed in positively influencing our core life principles, to ensure that relaxation and concentration become an integral part of our lifestyle, then we will become more balanced and will more calmly respond to stressful factors. It is necessary to know that we are able to consciously influence certain processes occurring in the body, i.e. We have the ability to self-regulate.
List of used literature
1. Agrashenkov A. Psychology for every day. Tips, recommendations, tests. - M.: Veche, AST 1997. - 240 p.
2. Borodkin F.M., Koryak N.M. Attention: conflict - Novosibirsk: Mchl-vp "Science". Siberian branch, 1983. - 206 p.
3. Kitaev-Smyk L.A. Psychology of stress. - M.: Nauka, 1983. - 303 p.
4. Rudestam K. Group psychotherapy. Psycho-correctional groups: theory and practice / Per. from English. - M.: Progress, 1993. - 191 p.
5. Rutpman E.M. Should you run away from stress? - M.: physical culture and sport, 1990. - 383 p.
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Under the word "stress" many mean the exhaustion of the human body. However, his original interpretation sounds different. "Stress" is translated as tension, pressure. Thus, it is the physical or mental stress that a person experiences during a change. living conditions, environmental factors.
Stress is a physiological reaction aimed at adaptation and survival.A completely different concept "distress". This is an extreme degree of exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and the inability of a person to cope with it.
stress factors
For the full functioning of a person, like any other creature adapts to the environment. It is affected by the following groups of factors:
- Physical: fluctuations in temperature, atmospheric pressure, ultraviolet radiation.
- Chemical: exposure to toxins, aggressive substances.
- Biological: penetration into the body of bacteria, viruses.
- Mechanical, such as trauma.
- Psychogenic. This group plays a special role in the life of modern man. It is because of psychogenic factors that he experiences the greatest stress. Stress at work, the fast pace of cities, difficult events in life, information load - all this affects us, if not every day, then regularly and often.
Biochemistry and the positive role of stress
Stress plays a positive role. Suppose we are affected by a conflict situation when it is necessary to act quickly - an attack by a wild animal. The sympathetic nervous system is activated, the adrenal glands secrete the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase blood pressure, speed up breathing, mobilize glucose reserves, and suspend the digestion process in order to save energy for protection.
If the stress is prolonged (for example, psychogenic), other hormones, glucocorticoids, are used. They affect human life in the long term by stimulating metabolism and switching the body to use reserves such as glycogen, which is broken down into glucose. Thus, stress, whatever its origin, gives us an impetus to fully function and get the job done.
Stages of stress
In 1936, Hans Selye, a famous physiologist, put forward a theory according to which three stages of stress were distinguished:
Predisposition to develop pathological stress
Without exception, all people experience stress throughout their lives. Hans Selye compared it to seasoning, salt, without which the dish becomes tasteless. Stress gives a taste to life, and those who never experience it and live in ideal, “hothouse” conditions do not feel joy. They develop depression, dysphoria (morbid mood), apathy towards everything.
For example, in O. Huxley's dystopian novel "Wonderful new world» people lived in ideal society where any aggression and tension were excluded. However, they were periodically prescribed a dose of "experiences" in the form of a drug that stimulated the production of stress hormones in order to protect them from depression.
People, due to their mental and characterological characteristics, experience stress in different ways. One person acts, uses external circumstances to cope with the problem that has arisen. The other falls into despair, exhausts himself with constant thoughts and gradually passes into a phase of decompensation.
According to Pavlov, this is due to the type of our nervous system - temperament. Sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric people solve the situation in different ways. For example, let's compare the problem with a stone on the road. A phlegmatic or sanguine person will bypass him, a choleric person will do it quickly and with lightning speed, with an admixture of aggression directed at an inanimate object, and a melancholic person will begin to accuse himself of failure and doom, which will ultimately lead to a return back.
Of course, such a division is rough and inaccurate. We have intertwined different temperaments and we develop under the influence of the social environment. Therefore, there are anxious, neurotic, suspicious personalities who are predisposed to stress.
Also plays an important role upbringing. Stress resistance of a person depends on his faith in his own strength and ability to soberly assess the situation. But if a child is instilled with an inferiority complex from childhood or surrounded by hyper-custody, preventing him from coping with difficulties, then he will not respond correctly to stress in adulthood.
Symptoms of stress and distress
Positive stress stimulates us. We feel good and orderly because we are in control of the situation. thought processes accelerate, and physical activity increases.
However, distress leads to the following groups of symptoms.
