IV. Write short answers to questions in task III (2-5 sentences to each point).

V. Write a letter to a person you would like to meet introducing yourself and describing your key qualities (15-20 sentences).

Module 2. Life’s ups and downs.

Topic 4. Making it through in a stressful world.

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.

--Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

Stress is a term in psychologyandbiology, first coined in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance. It refers to the consequence of the failure of anorganism–humanoranimal– to respond appropriately toemotionalorphysicalthreats, whether actual or imagined.

Stress symptomscommonly include a state ofalarmandadrenalineproduction, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, andexhaustion, as well asirritability, muscular tension, inability toconcentrateand a variety ofphysiologicalreactions such asheadacheand elevatedheart rate.

Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor, real or imagined, a stimulus that causes stress. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term; chronic stressors over the longer term.

Alarm is the first stage. When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the fight-or-flight response.

Resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually depleted.

Exhaustion is the third and final. At this point, all of the body's resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic nervous systemsymptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate etc.). If stage three is extended, long term damage may result as the body, and the immune system is exhausted and function is impaired resulting indecompensation.

The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses such as ulcers,depression,diabetes, trouble with thedigestive systemor evencardiovascularproblems, along with other mental illnesses.

Both negative and positive stressors can lead to stress. Some common categories and examples of stressors include: sensory input such as pain,bright light, or environmental issues such as a lack of control over environmental circumstances, such asfood,housing,health,freedom, or mobility.

Social issues can also cause stress, such as struggles with conspecificor difficult individuals andsocial defeat, or relationshipconflict,deception, orbreak ups, and major events such asbirthanddeaths,marriage, anddivorce.

Life experiences such as poverty,unemployment,clinical depression,obsessive compulsive disorder,heavy drinking, or insufficientsleepcan also cause stress. Students and workers may face stress fromexamsand project deadlines.

Responses to stress include adaptation, psychological copingsuch asstress management,anxiety, anddepression. Over the long term, distress can lead to diminished health and/or increased propensity to illness; to avoid this, stress must bemanaged.

Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress, with stress defined as a person's physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the fight-or-flight response. Stress management is effective when a person uses strategies to cope with or alter stressful situations.

There are several ways of coping with stress, such as controlling the source of stress or learning to set limits and to say "No" to some demands that bosses or family members may make.

A person's capacity to tolerate the source of stress may be increased by thinking about another topic such as a hobby, listening to music or spending time in a wilderness. Techniques of stress management may include some of the following:autogenic training,conflict resolution,exercise,getting a hobby,meditation,deep breathing, yoga,nootropics,relaxation techniques,spas,spending time in nature,natural medicine, clinically validated alternative treatments,time management, listening to certain types of relaxing music.

Another means of destressing is downshifting. Downshifting is a social behaviorortrendin which individuals live simpler lives to escape from therat raceofobsessive materialismand to reduce the “stress, overtime, and psychological expense that may accompany it.” It emphasizes finding an improvedbalance between leisure and workand focusing life goals on personal fulfillment and relationship building instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success. In the 1990s this new form ofSimple livingbegan appearing in themainstream mediaand has continually grown in popularity among populations living inindustrial societiesespecially the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Slowing down the pace of life and spending time meaningfully while not spending money wastefully are principle values of downshifting. Another main tenet is enjoying leisure timein the company of others, especially loved ones, and shunning self-absorption because it resists the normality of individualism and isolation ofpost-modernsociety.

The primary motivations for downshifting are gaining leisure time, escaping from work-and-spend cycle, and removing the clutter of unnecessary possessions that are accrued while existing in those societies with the higheststandards of livingand levels of production. The personal goals of downshifting are simple: To reach a holistic self-understanding and satisfying meaning in life.