chapter 6

• Eliminating unnecessary stressors


  1. Keep a stress diary to identify stressors and how you cope with them

  2. Identify stressor for the day

  3. Identify routine stressors (experienced often)

  4. Identify unique stressors (seldom encountered)

  5. Identify reaction to each stressor encountered

  6. Identify psychological reactions (e.g., fear, anxiety, confusion)

  7. Identify physiological reactions (e.g., perspiration, increased pulse rate, muscle tension)

  8. Identify behavioral reactions (e.g., became aggressive, called a friend)

  9. Identify means of coping with each stressor
• Stress diary


  • Helps identify stressors and how to cope with them
• Nutrition and stress


  The relationship between nutrition and stress remains unclear
• Some foods can produce stress-like responses
• Dietary habits can exacerbate stress-related illness
• Substances provided by food can be depleted by stress
• Stress leads to poor nutritional habits
• Stress results in eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia
• Balanced diet


  Maintaining a balanced diet is essential to staying nutritionally healthy
• Components of a balanced diet

  • Proteins
  • Carbohydrates
  • Fats
  • Minerals
  • Vitamins
  • Minerals
• To ensure you get an appropriate variety of foods, eat foods in an amount consistent with the food pyramid
• Healthy foods should be low in

  • Saturated fat
  • Trans fat
  • Cholesterol
  • Sodium
  • Sugar
• Foods to limit


  • Foods high in saturated and trans fats and cholesterol
  • Processed and fried foods
  • High-fat milk and milk products
  • Baked products and snack foods
  • Drinks with high-fructose corn syrup
  • Foods fried in hydrogenated shortening
  • Foods and drinks with added sugars
• Diet-related chronic diseases


  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes
  • Cancer
  • Osteoporosis
• Diets high in saturated fats

  Increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood
• High cholesterol


  Leads to clogging and can cause coronary heart disease
• Reducing saturated fats and increasing fiber in diet

  Reduces the risk of heart disease and certain cancers
• Pseudo stressors


  Food substances that produce a stress response and mimic sympathetic nervous system stimulation
• Pseudo stressors


  • Colas, coffee, tea and chocolate containing caffeine
• Effect of stress on vitamins

  Chronic stress depletes vitamins from bodies, especially B complex vitamins and vitamin C
• Deficiency in vitamins causes anxiety, insomnia, muscular weakness, and stomach upset
• Stress interferes with calcium absorption in the intestines and increases excretion of potassium, zinc, copper, and magnesium
• Salt increases blood pressure to a dangerous level during stress
• Vitamin B is needed to break down sugar


  Produces an intense stress response
• Chronic stress


  Burns out the beta cells resulting in reduced production of insulin
• Eating to manage stress


  • Eating a balanced diet, guided by the food pyramid
  • Limiting the amount of saturated fats and increasing the amount of fiber
  • Adding cruciferous vegetables and limiting alcohol
  • Limiting the intake of caffeinated beverages and not using tobacco
  • Supplementing one's diet with vitamins, especially C and B complex
  • Limiting foods containing sugar, intake of processed flour, and intake of sodium
• Noise and stress


  Noise can raise blood pressure, increase heart rate, and lead to muscle tension
• Noise relates to job dissatisfaction and results in irritation, headaches, increased blood pressure, sleep problems, and hypertension
• Stress responses develop at 85 decibels and prolonged exposure to sounds above 90 decibels result in hearing damage
• Life-events scale


  Helps you assess the amount of significant changes in your life to which you have had to adjust
• If stress results in illness and disease, then people experiencing a greater deal of stress should report more illness than people reporting only a little stress
• Social support


  Presence of significant others with whom to discuss stressors
• People who experience a greater deal of life change but had good social support contract no more illnesses than people who experienced less life change
• People who experience a greater deal of life change but did not have good social support contract much more illnesses than others
• Hassles


  Daily negative interactions with the environment
• Everyday hassles are more detrimental to health than major life events
• Hassles


  • Losing a wallet
  • Smoking too much
  • Having troublesome neighbors
• Absence of uplifts (positive events we interpret in ways that make us feel good) also relate to ill health
• Hassles are associated with depression, unhealthy eating, and tobacco and alcohol use
• Success analysis


  Success boosts one's self-esteem and is multi-faceted and in the eyes of the beholder