Chapter 15: Stress and Health "STRESSED OUT?"

Introduction
Students have read about how college students can experience stress from all the changes they experience. In this exercise, students will read two online pamphlets that the University of Florida has provided for students overwhelmed by stress.

Lesson Description
Students will use information from the University of Florida Counseling Center Web site to learn about ways that students can balance their levels of stress. Students will read about how examining their feelings and using rational thinking can help reduce levels of stress, and how using ineffective coping strategies can aggravate stress levels. They will also learn techniques that can help them maintain balanced levels of stress. Students will then answer four questions and apply this information by designing collages that suggest stress management techniques to their fellow students.

Instructional Objectives
1. Students will be able to explain ineffective and effective strategies of coping with stress.
2. Students will be able to use this knowledge to design collages that suggest methods to balance levels of stress.

Student Web Activity Answers
1. A person who uses ineffective coping strategies runs the danger of adopting unhealthy habits that can become addictive or fatal. Ineffective coping strategies include withdrawal from others, substance abuse, eating disorders, aggressiveness, and suicidal thoughts. Eventually, these coping strategies become new problems, and add to the feelings of stress students are trying to balance.
2. Recognizing the way they feel can help students feel better. Sometimes students are so overwhelmed by stress that they have trouble evaluating problems. Before stress gets out of hand, students need to follow three steps. First, they need to examine and clarify their feelings. Do they feel anxious, depressed, or angry? Second, they can acknowledge and take control of their thoughts in a constructive way. They should avoid irrational thinking and negative self-statements. Working through stress in this way helps students avoid completely losing their emotional balance. The third step is getting support by talking to someone about the way they feel.
3. Negative, irrational thinking provokes overwhelming feelings of anger, anxiety, and depression and aggravates stress levels. Avoid irrational thoughts by focusing on the present, staying with the facts, being realistic and objective, being optimistic, being kind to yourself, and retaining perspective.
4. You can control the levels of stress you feel by taking the time to care for your body and mind. Establish balanced levels of stress by maintaining your physical health, using effective time management, using relaxation techniques, talking about your feelings, clarifying your values, and deciding what you really want out of your life.
5. Students' collages will vary. Students should use methods described in their textbooks and on the Web site to illustrate how high school students can maintain a balance among levels of stress.

Student Web Activity