ST. ANDREW MONTESSORI AND HIGH SCHOOL, INC.

Nancayasan, Urdaneta City

S.Y. 2021-2022

GRADE 11- Personal Development

LESSON 5

COPING WITH STRESS IN MIDDLE AND LATE ADOLESCENCE

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Dictionary definitions do not quite capture the meaning of stress as it is seen and
experienced in the world of work. One of the Webster’s definitions describes it as an “…
emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension.”
A practical way of defining stress is the feeling one gets from prolonged, pent-up
emotions. If the emotions you experience are pleasant and desirable – joy, elation,
ecstasy, delight – you usually feel free to let them show. They are not suppressed.
Therefore; positive emotions do not usually cause stress. Negative emotions, on the
other hand, are more often held inside. They are hidden. You suffer quietly and you
experience stress. Do not confuse positive situations with positive emotions. A wedding,
for example, is a positive situation that often brings about the negative emotions of
anxiety and tension. So stress can exist in great situations.

Causes and Effects of Stress

Just as there is great variety in the range of emotions you might experience,
there are many possible manifestations of stress – in your private life and in your
working life. Here are some words that describe the emotions associated (as cause and
effect) with stress.
 Anxiety
 Pressure
 Misery
 Strain
 Desperation
 Tension
 Anger
 Panic
 Dejection

Prolonged stress can be devastating; burnout, breakdown, and depression are

some of the potential results of long-term, unmanaged stress. By wearing a mask, you
may expect to hide stress caused by problems in your personal life and not let them
influence your performance on the job. This will probably not work. The more you try to
hold your emotions in, the greater the pressure build-up will be.

Everyday frustrations cause stress build-up

From the time you wake up until you go to sleep, you may be confronted with a
succession of stressful situations. Managing to get yourself (and possibly a spouse and
children) out of bed and ready to face the day can be a challenge to your patience and
ingenuity. Driving to school or work can be harrowing – especially if you’re running late.
You may experience frustration in arranging to get the car repaired. You may face
conflicts in school or at work, such as coping with unrealistic deadlines, equipment
failures, or unexpected bad weather. If part of your job is selling, you may experience
feelings of rejection when most of your customers say “no.”
A series of stressful and frustrating experiences throughout the day can cause
you to lie awake at night in an emotional turmoil – unable to get needed rest. You face
the next day with less emotional and physical stamina. After another stressful day and
another night without rest, you may have even less emotional strength and stability.
Therefore, stress build-up, if not resolved, continues day after day.
Problems in our personal life can be devastating

Surviving the normal, everyday stress described above can be difficult. But far
more serious and painful circumstances can create long-term stress. More serious
stressful circumstances may include separation from loved ones, personal illness, or
illness of a loved one, death of someone you care about, or conflict with a spouse or
close friend. Other major causes of stress are problems with drug and alcohol abuse,
domestic violence, care of children and elderly relatives, chronic mental illness, injury,
physical handicaps, even moving to a new home, if you’ve lived in the same place for
more than 10 years. The list goes on and on.
Managing your personal finances can be another stressful experience. This can
be a problem no matter what your income level, but it is especially difficult if you must
support a family and do not earn enough to live comfortably. Unpaid bills, unwise use of
credit, and budget limitations can make life difficult.

A common cause of stress is dealing with life’s transitions

This is especially true when a person must cope with too many transitions all at
once. For example, Ellen has just completed a program in fashion merchandising. She
is eager to get started on her new job. Her mother is ill and requires care. Her father
died a few months ago. Ellen’s new job requires that she relocate to a town 100 miles
from home. The move, a new career, and a change in family relationships may cause
excessive stress for her. Too many changes have arrived at the same time.
Source: Personal Development for Life and Work, 8th Ed., by Wallace, H.R. & Masters,
L.A., 2001.

STRESS RESPONSE

Your stress response is the collection of physiological changes that occur when
you face a perceived threat when you face situations where you feel the demands
outweigh your resources to successfully cope. These situations are known as stressors.
When your stress response is triggered, a series of changes occur within your
body. They include:
 Redirection of blood away from extremities and instead to major organs
 The release of cortisol and other hormones, which bring other short- and long-
term changes.
 The stress response is intended to give you a burst of energy so you’re able to
fight off attackers or run away from them effectively.

KEEP STRESS UNDER CONTROL

There are many effective ways to handle stress. Of course, you can’t avoid stress—in
fact, you wouldn’t want to avoid all stress, because you’d never grow.

Understand the Causes of Stress

Understanding why you are under stress is important. This may seem obvious,
but it requires deliberate, conscious effort to pause and simply ponder your situation. By
now, you are familiar with the stress response, the emotional or physical symptoms of
uncontrolled stress. Now you need to try to discover the stressors, the factors of which
create the stress in your life.

Analyze your Stress Factors and Write Them Down

Write down your response to stress. For example, you may write down, “I feel
tired most of the time. My lower back seems to ache all through the day and night. I
miss deadlines and run behind schedule.” Analyze stress responses and
consequences, and consider each item, and ask why. “Why am I feeling tired? Why
does my back ache? Why do I run behind schedule? Carefully consider each answer,
because the answers will reveal stressors, such as deadlines, anxieties, trying to do so
much, managing time or money poorly, or poor health habits.
Deal with the Stressors

Develop techniques to deal with the causes of stress. The longer you avoid
dealing with the stress factors, the more the stress will build up. If tension comes
because you have put off an unfinished task, restructure your priorities so you can get
the task that you have been avoiding out of the way and off your mind.

Learn to Work under Pressure or Unusual Conditions

When you can’t reduce the stressors, you need to manage your stress response.
Almost everyone, at least at some point, has to meet deadlines, keep several jobs going
at once, resolve problems that come up, and do extra work when necessary. However,
when the pressure mounts, you can relieve it. Relaxation is key—but most people must
train themselves to relax when the pressure is on. Some tips to relax when under
pressure are the following:
 Stop for a moment (especially when you feel your muscles tightening up) and
take a few deep breaths.
 Do a relaxing exercise. Swing your hands at your sides and stretch.
 Take a “power nap.” Lie down and totally relax for a few minutes.
 Find time to do the things you enjoy.
 Leave your study area for a while to take a brisk walk.
 Find a quiet place to read a magazine or novel during break or at lunch.
 If possible, look at some peaceful images such as forests, beaches, etc. These
images can initiate a relaxation response.
 Look up.
 Keep something humorous on hand, such as a book of jokes.
 ST. ANDREW MONTESSORI AND HIGH SCHOOL, INC.
Nancayasan, Urdaneta City
S.Y. 2021-2022

GRADE 11- Personal Development

Worksheet 3

NAME: ____________________________________________DATE: _____________

GRADE: ________________________ SCORE: ___________

Activity: STRESS SURVIVAL KIT

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Choose 3 objects or symbols that make you feel relaxed to include in your kit. (You
may draw and cut pictures)
2. You can make the symbols.
3. You can use words or pictures.
4. Think about how the symbol helps you when you are dealing with stress and stressful
situations.
5. Write a paragraph for each symbol or object in your kit and how it helps you cope
with stress in your everyday life.

STRESS SURVIVAL KIT

PARAGRAPH
OBJECT OR SYMBOL 1

OBJECT OR SYMBOL 2

OBJECT OR SYMBOL 3
 ST. ANDREW MONTESSORI AND HIGH SCHOOL, INC.
Nancayasan, Urdaneta City
S.Y. 2021-2022

GRADE 11- Personal Development

LESSON 6

THE POWERS OF THE MIND

The power to act

The brain has three major parts -- the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain
stem. The brain stem connects the spinal cord and the brain. It controls functions that
keep people alive such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and food digestion.
Those activities occur without any thought. You aren't telling yourself, "Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale." You're just breathing.
Things are different in the cerebellum. That region controls voluntary movement.
When you want to lift your fork, wave your hand, brush your hair or wink at a cutie, you
form the thought and then an area in the cerebellum translates your will into action. It
happens so quickly. Think about how little time passes between your desire to continue
reading this sentence and the time it takes your eyes to move to this word or this one. It
seems automatic, but it isn't.
Neurons, the basic functional units of the nervous system, are three-part units
and are key to brain function. They are comprised of a nerve cell body, axon and
dendrite, and they power the rapid-fire process that turns thought into movement.
The thought moves as an electrical signal from the nerve cell down the axon to a
dendrite, which looks like branches at the end of nerve cells. The signal jumps from the
end of the dendrite on one cell across the space, called a synapse, to the dendrite of
another cell with the help of chemicals called neurotransmitters. That signal continues
jumping from cell to cell until it reaches the muscle you need to wave, wink or walk.
The cerebrum is the largest of the three brain sections, accounts for about 85
percent of the brain's weight, and has four lobes. The lobes-frontal, parietal, temporal
and occipital -- each have different functions. They get their names from the sections of
the skull that are next to them.
The parietal lobe helps people understand what they see and feel, while the
frontal lobe determines personality and emotions. Vision functions are located in the
occipital lobe, and hearing and word recognition abilities are in the temporal lobe.

A critical age

Because the brain's healthy functioning is essential to living and determines

quality of life, doctors emphasize protecting the organ from injury and chemical abuse.
There is a consensus among researchers that brain cells regenerate throughout
life, said Doug Postels, a pediatric neurosurgeon in New Orleans, but that new growth
happens very slowly after a certain age.
"The size of the brain doesn't increase much after 3," Postels explains.
During the first three years of life, the brain experiences most of its growth and
develops most of its potential for learning. That's the time frame in which
synaptogenesis, or the creation of pathways for brain cells to communicate, occurs.
Doctors generally accept that cut-off point for two reasons, Postels said. First, in
situations where doctors removed parts of the brains of patients younger than 3 to
correct disorders, the remaining brain sections developed to assume the role of the
portions those doctors removed. But when physicians performed the same surgery on
older patients, that adaptability function did not occur.
Second, "We know from experiments that if you deprive people of intellectual
stimulation and put them in a dark room, that it produces permanent changes in the
brain," Postels said. "That occurs most dramatically before age 3. After that age, it's
impossible to ethically do a study."
Previous research produced information about the effects of stimulation
deprivation, but modern ethical guidelines prohibit such research on people because of
the potentially harmful outcome.
Drug damage

Because so little recovery occurs to brains damaged after age 3, the effects of
drugs and alcohol on the brain might be lasting.
Doctors know what inhalants, steroids, marijuana, cocaine and alcohol do to the
brain when people use them. "The question scientists can't answer now is if the damage
is permanent," said Sue Rusche, co-author of "False Messengers," a book on how
addictive drugs change the brain.
Inhalants, such as glue, paint, gasoline and aerosols, destroy the outer lining of
nerve cells and make them unable to communicate with one another. In 1993, more
than 60 young people died from sniffing inhalants, according to National Families in
Action, a drug education center based in Atlanta. Studies have found that marijuana use
hinders memory, learning, judgment and reaction times, while steroids cause
aggression and violent mood swings.
Ecstasy use is rising among young people, Rusche said, and scientists have
found that drug destroys neurons that make serotonin, a chemical crucial in controlling
sleep, violence, mood swings and sexual urges.
While doctors and scientists know about some effects drugs have on the brain,
they don't have a full picture, Rusche said.
"When people start using a drug, the scientists know nothing about it. These
people are volunteering to be guinea pigs," said Rusche, who is co-founder and
executive director of National Families in Action. "Once enough people take it, scientists
apply for grants and start studying it. People are inventive. They find new drugs or new
ways to take old drugs-like crack from cocaine.
"There's a lot we won't know about until later," she said. "The classic example is
cigarettes. We allowed people to smoke for 100 years before we knew about all the
horrible things that nicotine will do.