Semester Stress Project

This Project, out of the couple I am working on for school right now, is by far my
favorite Project, as it is easy to understand, interesting, and very beneficial for my
life/health. My life has taken a trip into the unknown recently as I took a job as a
supervisor over a new division of the company I have been with for the last 10 years.
Long story short; for the past 10 years I have been extremely comfortable with little
stress in the workplace, now I am in a extremely stressful work situation (with regrets)
and dont know what Im doing as I havent had any training. I have chosen three
different stress reducers, although you have asked for new stress reducers, I cant say
they all are new to my life however, I can say that they have been reimplemented in my
life as I havent been the most faithful in using them focusing solely as stress reducers
in my life.
My first Method for stress relief is playing the drums, most of the time this is a
stress reduction in my life after a long hard day of work , notice the most of the time. I
tend to play music that continues to push me to the limit of my capabilities, usually in the
form of heavy metal or progressive metal(bands like Dream Theater, Rush, Megadeth,
Animals as leaders, Meshuggah, (legendary drummers in each of those bands to name
a few). Though sometimes it seems to activate stress when I play high energy music
and push the limits, so I have decided to take up playing Jazz or anything soothing for
that matter over the next couple of days after all of my daily tasks are complete (work
now play later seems good for stress relief in my life). I have chosen certain groups to
play along to as I practice drums for at least an hour every night, Dave Brubeck, John
Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, hell even some early 90s sting albums!

My Second Method is to do at least 30 minutes of treadmill every night .

Something I never do, formal exercise. SO BORING. I did purchase a new treadmill
recently in hopes that I could make it a habit especially in the cold weather when hiking
and outdoor stuff is hard to do, so this works out I suppose!
My third method is simple. Read a book for at least 30 minutes. I never read
books so this is a new thing for me. I chose to read a book that I have actually been
interested in for quite some time, an autobiography/ journey of my favorite drummer. He
experienced an extreme trial in life that brought him to thoughts of suicide. His only child
a daughter of whom was 18 years old had her life viciously taken away from a drunk
driver, and only six months later lost his wife to terminal cancer although he maintains it
was a broken heart with no will to live. Should be interesting.
Wow, so this project actually has been awesome for me as I take a look back in
reflection of the three specific methods I have been paying attention to. The first method
was the one I was most excited about honestly as I am very much in love with music,
and have a very versatile range or depth in music genre interests (not to toot my horn).
And playing the drums along with some of those Jazz and easy listening groups was out
of the norm for me as I enjoy playing high energy, sweaty, and mostly angry music on
my kit. I was reacquainted with some fabulous music that I really havent listened to for
a long time. VERY VERY RELAXING, I was forced to play quiet and with dynamics
rather than destroy my Drumkit and sticks. (Drum Heads and sticks go quick with
aggressive playing haha, I know from experience) My first night of practice was playing
along with the album from Dave Brubeck called Time Out. Songs like Take Five and
Kathys Waltz became some of my favorites very quickly. Examples-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qgI95n6rM(Kathys Waltz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGotpIxkGU (Take Five Live) .
I also took this music on the road, I frequently get stuck in five o'clock traffic, I
noticed that I was much much more forgiving to road related stressors when I had this
music playing. I cannot say that this musical method brought any sort of extra stress
into my life , only peace! This method is one that will stay more frequently in my life , in
fact I have attended a couple of Jazz concerts because of this method.
I can say that the treadmill thing most definitely reduced stress especially when I
did it before bed. It seemed to help me have more productive sleep and rest as I was
pretty much worn out after 30 minutes of cardio exercise. I must say that I had the
hardest time motivating myself to do this method consistently and havent done it for
many days in a row since my three days in a row with it(if that makes sense). It seemed
to give me a hint of extra stress initially each time I knew I had to do it, and I really
dislike working out in a formal sense as I mentioned before so It was exceptionally hard
to keep my eyes off the timer and not think about what Id much rather be doing after a
long day of work, Doing Psychology homework, or just relaxing (hehe).
Now the third method took a couple tries to get a consistent amount of required
days to do , as I did it whilst doing the treadmill thing and I found myself nodding off to
sleep mostly because I was ready for bed and exhausted. So I had to do this one at a
different time . I wake up for work at 4:30 am every morning so that was out of the
question to do it in the morning. So after work I chose to read the Ghost Rider book
about my favorite drummer, Neil Pearts motorcycle Journey of self healing while leaving
everything behind. Actually was an amazing book to read and I actually continue to read

it even after my period of Project with this method had ended . Its amazingly written,
and you see the beginnings of what calms his soul about of the way through the book
and gives him hope in life in general. In this certain area of the book he is so distraught,
he obviously cannot forget about the horrible things that have afflicted him in the past
couple of months and is consumed with his self proclaimed selfish thoughts, until one
day he is in a bar a long ways from home, having a burger and beer when his server
(obviously on his first day of work) totally spills a portion of his food he was trying to
place it on the table. This doesnt bother Neil as much as it should as he knew it was
obviously a mistake. But the boss comes out and proceeds to scold the server for being
clumsy and stupid, at this point Neil intervenes and says everything is fine trying to
descalate the situation in turn; giving him a glimpse of happiness after helping someone
else out not thinking about himself for once. From this point on so far things begin to
change for him and how he treats others around him, finds that it calms him down and
allows happiness into his life a little more often. I was influenced by his words to be a bit
easier on people after reading his book, in turn actually reduced my stress greatly!
A little research into the world of stress management related to music proved to
not be at all difficult. I found many articles of studies involving people with high levels of
stress tests administered and relaxation with and without music involved, the first
proving to bring a speedier recovery to the subject.
Method-Sixty healthy female volunteers (mean age = 25 years) were exposed to a
standardized psychosocial stress test after having been randomly assigned to one of three
different conditions prior to the stress test: 1) relaxing music (Miserere, Allegri) (RM), 2)
sound of rippling water (SW), and 3) rest without acoustic stimulation (R). Salivary cortisol and

salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), subjective
stress perception and anxiety were repeatedly assessed in all subjects. We hypothesized that
listening to RM prior to the stress test, compared to SW or R would result in a decreased stress
response across all measured parameters.
Results-The three conditions significantly differed regarding cortisol response (p =
0.025) to the stressor, with highest concentrations in the RM and lowest in the SW condition.
After the stressor, sAA (p=0.026) baseline values were reached considerably faster in the RM
group than in the R group. HR and psychological measures did not significantly differ between
groups.
Their Conclusion-Our findings indicate that music listening impacted the
psychobiological stress system. Listening to music prior to a standardized stressor predominantly
affected the autonomic nervous system (in terms of a faster recovery), and to a lesser degree the
endocrine and psychological stress response. These findings may help better understanding the
beneficial effects of music on the human body.*
Many different articles say that quiet, soothing, calming music can reduce blood pressure.
As music can absorb our attention, it acts as a distraction at the same time it helps to
explore emotions. This means it can be a great aid to meditation, helping to prevent the
mind wandering.** in many instances also reducing the amount of cortisol, the chemical or

hormone known to cause the human immune system to lose its strength.*** Many people with
high stress levels are more frequently ill. Stressors wear down the immune system and makes it
less able to fight invaders.****
Ultimately, I have found that exercise might be the most realistic and healthy way to
reduce stress, although I find it difficult to consistently do it. The music thing has been a great
eye opener for making my appreciation of different music anew, and fresh. I actually have

attended a couple of Jazz shows since beginning this project. I love it. Another thing, this project
has actually been a great tool for me and my new job, as mentioned before, as it is a high stress
position, well high stress compared to what I am used to. I will continue to read the Ghost Rider
book too! I have greatly enjoyed reading a book for once. Been so long since I have read the R.L.
Stine goosebumps books hehe.

Works Cited

* The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response

Published online 2013 Aug 5.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3734071/
** The Power of Music To Reduce Stress By Jane Collingwood
http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-music-to-reduce-stress/

*** Stress Hormone Affects Immune System

By Rick Nauert PhD

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/07/15/stress-hormone-affects-immune-system/2608.html
**** Stress and Its Physical Reactions Chapter 14