KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in

Management and Prevention

Stress
Management and
Prevention
1

Program Resource
Guide

KA P L A N U N I V E R S I T Y

Stress Management and Prevention

Program Resource Guide

By
Jonathan Snyder
Kaplan University
HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention
September 2, 2014

Table of Contents
UNIT

THE

NATU RE

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing: Journal Writing
UNIT

THE

PHYSIO LOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing: Journal Writing
UNIT

PSYCHOLOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing: Journal Writing
UNIT

PERSONAL ITY

TRAITS

AND

THE

HUM AN

SPIRITUAL ITY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

DEAL ING

WITH

STRESS:

COPING

STRATE GIES

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT
AND

REL AXATIO N

M ENTAL

TECHI QUES

IM AGE RY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing

1 :

BREATHI NG ,

M EDITATI ON,

UNIT

NUTRITI ON

AND

STRESS

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT

PHYSIC AL

EXERCISE

AND

ACTIV ITY

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
UNIT
AND

APPLYING

PREVE NTIO N

STRESS:

CRITICAL

TO

PROF ESSI ONAL

YOUR

Information to Remember
Resources: Exercises
Tools: Journal Writing
Tools: Journal Writing
ADDITI ONAL

INF ORM ATIO N

ISSUES

F OR

L IF E

M ANAGEM EN T

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Unit

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:

Stress being defined- This is important because to be part of a stress

management program you really need to know what stress is. By figuring out
what stress it you can then identify what might be sources of stress.

There are different types of stress- By knowing that there are different types of
stress you can learn what types might be good or bad. This will again help you
when it comes to controlling your emotions in a stressful situation.

Learning how your body can react to stress- By learning the reason why we
have a fight or flight system and what changes it can make to your body is very
important. This again further helps to increase awareness how constantly
being under stress can actually have negative impacts.

Resources: Exercises:

Personal Stress Inventory: Top Ten Stressors- I really loved doing this exercise
since it gave me time to really think about what stresses me. This allowed me
not only to identify my stressors but start to think about a way to cope with
these stressors.

Tools: Exercise:

2
Unit

Are You Stressed?- I also enjoyed this exercise since it allowed me to look at
aspects of my life to see if Im suffering from certain things associated with
stress. This allowed me to gauge what stress level I was currently at that
week.

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

Information to Remember:

How are immune system functions- I believe this is important, because it lets
you find out how you immune system is supposed to be working. Once you find
out how it is supposed to be working you can then notice ways it is not
functioning properly and how to find out what is causing it.

Link between diseases and stress- This is important because it helps you to
identify what parts might be in disorder for example your nervous or immune
systems. This will also show that you might just need to cope with stress better
to get rid of what your body is suffering from.

Causes of stress- By learning what can cause the stress response to kick-in you
can learn ways to cope with the stressors. This is a crucial part of any stress
management program.

Resources: Exercises:

Immediate, Intermediate, and Prolonged Stress Effects- I really liked doing

this exercise, because it allowed me to look at what responses I have to stress

at each stage. It also allowed me to recognize that once I notice Im going

through one of these symptoms that it might be because Im just too stressed.

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Unit

Tools: Journal Writing:

My Health Profile- I loved this journal exercise, because it allowed me to get a

good baseline for my current health. It has helped me to compare how much of
a change I have had in the way stress affects me by comparing this to the
results of my health assessment after my recent move.

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Learning about emotions- This really helped to understand that there are bad
and good emotions that people experience. We even learned that anger isnt
necessarily a bad emotion, but it can be if we are constantly angry or
aggressive.

Personalities- This was a huge point in this unit in which we talked about
stress prone and resistant personalities. This definitely explained the
importance of why I should control my emotions especially since Im a Type A
personality; which of course is a stress prone personality.

Stages of Grieving- This is also important to remember just for general

knowledge about how our emotions can go through changes during the
grieving process. It also shows that there is a natural process that everyone
goes through when something very emotional is affecting them.

Resources: Exercises:

4
Unit

Anger: The Fight Response- This exercise was really eye opening to see how I
usually handle my emotions when something angers me. I have now been able
to recognize signs of when Im getting really upset so I can start to walk away
from the situation before my exploder response take over.

Tools: Journal Writing:

The Psychology of Your Stress- This journal activity really allowed me to see
how I might displace outcomes of situations on other people. This helped me to
learn to take more personal responsibility for an outcome no matter what. This
will help me to overcome stress in the future.

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human

Spirituality
Information to Remember:

That environment can play a role in your stress level- This is important to
remember when you are going through a stressful time. For example if you are
going through a tough time at work in that environment you will probably be
more stressed so it is vital to make sure you find ways around the stress.

Global impacts that cause stress- In one of the lessons it talked about how
global events can make us stressed out. For example with the terrible job

market it automatically made people stress since they werent financially

stable.

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Unit

Learned more about Type A personality- This really helped me since this is the
specific type of personality that I have. It really showed how this type of
personality can affect my overall health and stress levels.

Resources: Exercises:

Your Personal Value System- I really enjoyed doing this exercise since it
allowed me to see what is truly important in my life. It also is a good way to
see if things that I hold of value in my life might need to change to make sure
other values dont conflict with anything.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Stress-Prone Personality Survey- I enjoyed doing this journal activity since it

allowed me to see how much I let stress affect me. I was really surprised to see
that despite being a Type A personality I actually scored relatively low on the
stress prone survey.

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:

Reframing- This is a valuable ability to have when it comes to stress

management. It shows that you are able to take out positives in a negative
situation which will help to make sure that you dont activate the stress
response.

Humor- I loved learning about the different types of humor. It goes to show
that sometimes you just need a good laugh to get over something and get back
into a positive mood.

Empowerment- I loved the lesson that talked about empowerment and how
being assertive and setting boundaries can really help to take control of a
situation. If we allow ourselves to set boundaries and being assertive in not
being the victim then we can truly become empowered.

Resources: Journal Activity:

Reframing Activity- This activity allowed me to see the positive side in negative
situations. It also showed how it is easy to become the victim in every
situation, but only if you allow it to.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Value System Activity- This activity allowed me to see where my values truly
lie. This helps to know when you are looking to see what things you might
need to reprioritize in your life.

Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing,

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Unit

Meditation, and Mental Imagery

Information to Remember:

Diaphragmatic Breathing- Learning about ways to control your breathing was

a very interesting part of this unit. It was amazing to actually feel how just
changing the way I was breathing made me relax.

Meditation- This part of the unit helped me to learn a little more about
meditation. I have already previously incorporated meditation in my life, but it
also gave me some new tips to make it easier to get centered.

Visual Imagery- I really loved doing the exercises and learning about visual
imagery. I actually started incorporating this into my daily meditation routine.
It has helped a lot with making sure I get centered and come back really
relaxed from my meditation.

Resources: Exercises:

Three Short Guided Visualizations: The three visualization exercise really

helped to enforce the impact visual imagery can have. It also allowed me to
see that sometimes I need to just step away from a situation and just take time
to relax.

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Tools: Journal Writing:

7
Unit

I Have a Vision: The Art of Visualization: I really loved this journal activity
especially the mountain lake visualization. This helped me remember one of
the times that I went to Colorado and I now use it as my visualization
technique.

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:

4 Dominos- This was a great way to show how stress can and will affect our
nutrition. It included such things as how the American lifestyle can affect the
way that our body absorbs nutrients.

Aspects of Nutrition- This was important to learn so you can see what all is
involved in the nutrition process. Also how being stressed out can cause
certain aspects of the process to be inhibited.

Different Nutrients- This is important to learn so that you can allow yourself to
truly eat a nutritious diet. I also learned that too much of some things such as
caffeine can actually cause the stress response to be triggered even when
there is no stress.

Resources: Journal Activity:

Stress-Related Eating Habits- I was able to see how my diet has changed over
the past year and if Im still prone to stress eating. I was positive in seeing that

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I scored below a 20 in the stress related eating habits activity since I have
made the changes in my nutrition.

8
Unit

Tools: Journal Writing:

Rainbow Diet- I initially thought that it would be hard to consciously think

about the color of foods that Im eating. However, I found after doing this
activity that the varieties of foods I normally eat are also a variety in colors as
well!

Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

Information to Remember:

6 Components of Physical Fitness- This is a really important aspect in this

weeks unit. By learning the different components you are then able to realize
what parts you might need to work on to become healthier in a physical sense.

Physiological Effects of Exercise- This is important to see how physical activity

can change different aspects of your body such as better quality of sleep or
self-esteem. It also helps show how physical activity can be an important part
of any stress management program.

Physical Exercise and Chronic Pain- You might think that this might not have a
direct effect on the amount of stress you are going through, but it really does.
This shows that by controlling your pain sometimes with physical exercise you
can actually control that part of your life that might be stressing you out.

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Resources: Journal Activity:

9
Unit

My Body Activity- It helped me to remember where I started and how far I

have come. It also helped remind me why I shouldnt compare myself to other
and to keep doing what Im doing.

Tools: Journal Writing:

Circadian Rhythm Activity- It allowed me to see how I really have set my life in
a consistent schedule. It also allowed me to reflect back on how much my
schedule has changed from what it used to be.

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for

Management and Prevention to your
Professional Life
Information to Remember:

Additional Coping Techniques- Meaning that for you to successfully be part of

a stress management program you have to find a variable selection of things
you can do.

Tai Chi- The lesson in this unit talks about the basics of Tai Chi. This technique
is used as a moving meditation to become one with the energy around you.

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Progressive Muscular Relaxation- This technique is a way to figure out where

tension is in your body. By finding this information out you can use it to your
advantage to allow yourself to relax and not have tension from stress.

Resources: Exercises:

Defining Your Social Group: This activity I ended up doing as part of this
project. It was a great way to see who I really can count on as a no kidding
social support group.

Tools: Exercise Activity:

Hobbies and Outside Interests- This activity I also completed as part of the
final project. It was a great way to see what hobbies I have and to ensure that I
continue to make time for the things that I really enjoy such as working out,
playing guitar, and spending time outdoors with my wife.

Additional Information
Books: Why Zebras Dont Get Ulcers- I really loved this book since it not only connected what
Sapolsky has found while studying animals, but it also showed how stress can affect all of us.
This a great book that anyone that is under a lot of stress needs to use.
Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-being- This book was a great
resource to read through while in this class. It really connected the lesson materials with what
we learned in each unit. It also worked really well with the journal and exercise activities that we
completed.

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Website: Meditation Mountain Lake: I really loved this visual imagery sound bite. It was a great
way to see the effectiveness of visual imagery first hand. It also helped me to reconnect to the
time I was in Colorado for vacation and I actually use that as visual imagery during my
meditation times now.
PowerPoint Presentation: Chapter 6 Stress Prone and Resistant Personalities- I really loved the
PowerPoint in this unit since it gave me a lot of information on my Type A personality. It really
showed how having this type of personality can affect my health and my stress level.

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References
Kaplan University . (2014). CD Meditation Mountain Lake.
Kaplan University Inc. . (2014). Chapter 6: Stress Prone and Resistant Personalities.
Sapolsky, Robert. (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (3rd Edition). New York, NY: St. Martin's
Press.
Seaward, Bryan. (2009). Managing Stress Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being
(6th Edition). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

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