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HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide

Kaplan University

Stress Management and Prevention Program Resource Guide

By

Hilary Brighton

Kaplan University

HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

February 15, 2016

Table of Contents

Unit 1 The nature of stress

Information to Remember 4

Self-Assessment Exercises 4

Journal Writing 5

Unit 2 the PHYSIOLOGY OF STRESS

Information to Remember 6

Self-Assessment Exercises 6

Journal Writing 7

Unit 3 PSYCHOLOGY OF STRESS

Information to Remember 9

Self-Assessment Exercises 9

Journal Writing 10

Unit 4 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND THE HUMAN SPIRITUALITY

Information to Remember 11

Self-Assessment Exercises 11

Journal Writing 11,12,13

Unit 5 DEALING WITH STRESS: COPING STRATEGIES

Information to Remember 14

Journal Writing 14

Unit 6 RELAXATION TECHIQUES 1: BREATHING, MEDITATION, AND MENTAL IMAGERY

Information to Remember 16

Self-Assessment Exercises 16

Journal Writing 16,17

Unit 7 NUTRITION AND STRESS

Information to Remember 18

Self-Assessment Exercises 18

Unit 8 PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND ACTIVITY

Information to Remember 19

Self-Assessment Exercises 19

Journal Writing 19,20

Unit 9 applying stress: critical ISSUES FOR management and prevention to your professional life

Information to Remember 21

Additional Information

references

Unit

1

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:

Defining Stress: “Stress is the body’s response to any demand placed upon it. This response has both physical and psychological components (University of Minnesota, 2016).” Stress effects people’s emotional control and inner peace and is a perceived threat to the mind, body, spirit, and emotions (Seaward, 2016).

Types of Stress and Stressors: There are three main types of stress: eustress (good stress), neustress (neutral stress), and distress (bad stress) (Seaward, 2016). Sources of stress are called stressors and they can be caused by many different things. Environmental, physiological, interpersonal, psychological, organizational, financial, and life events are all common stressors (Seaward, 2016).

Signs and Symptoms of Stress: Psychological symptoms of stress may include anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, irritability, fatigue, or panic attacks. Physical symptoms of stress may include insomnia, headaches, increased heart rate, teeth grinding, and gastrointestinal problems. Behavioral stress symptoms may include use of alcohol/tobacco/drugs, excessive TV watching, over/under eating, or job/school burnout (Sapolsky, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

This self-assessment exercise allowed the student to create a mandala which symbolizes unity (Seaward, 2016). In the mandala, mental, spiritual, and physical and emotional well-being components were reflected upon in the order of importance in which they occurred in life. After the mandala was constructed, each area was reflected upon and the importance of each area for balancing wellness and stress levels was discussed. An environment in which the individual felt the most balance was discussed as well.

Journal Writing:

|Situation |Start |Midway |End |

|When assignments at work are heavy |7 | | |

|When I break my diet and eat fast food |5 | | |

|When I don’t engage in Physical Activity |5 | | |

|When I don’t get to spend enough time with my significant other |9 | | |

|When my credit card is nearing its limit |6 | | |

|My grandmother’s health due to dementia and goals of care |6 | | |

|Balancing my personal and professional life (spending enough time with friends) |5 | | |

|Keeping the house tidy when I am working long stretches |8 | | |

|When there are a lot of long papers due at once |9 | | |

|My father’s health and well-being after the loss of my mother (not quite a year ago) |8 | | |

| | | | |

(Seaward & Stahl, 2016)

Unit

2

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Anatomy & Physiology Defined: “Anatomy is the science that studies the structure of the body (MedlinePlus, 2016).” Physiology is the study of the function of living things (National Cancer Center Institute, 2016). Stress affects both of these aspects of the human body.

How Stress Affects the Immunity: Cortisol attacks white blood cells which are the main defense of the immune system. Cortisol is a stress hormone secreted by the adrenal glands (Seaward, 2016).

Stress & Disease: The association between stress and disease is considerably high. The systems affected are the nervous and immune systems. Nervous system diseases caused by stress include tension headaches, migraines, TMJD, asthma, IBS, and heart disease (Seaward, 2016). Immune system diseases related to stress include the common cold and flu, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers, and cancer (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

In this self-assessment exercise, the student wrote about neuroscience and neuroplasticity in relation to brain function. They then described five diseases which occur or affect the nervous system and are affected by stress. They also described one disease which affects the immune system and is affected by stress (Seaward, 2016).

Journal Writing:

Stress and anxiety affect our lives every day. There is a great deal of contributing factors that lead to these feelings of stress and anxiety. Becoming aware of these stressful factors is an important step in becoming mindful in dealing with stressful situations.

The stress and anxiety about people is affecting my life because I constantly think about others, and sometimes forget to think about myself and what is bothering me. For example, since my family has suffered loss of close family members, I am constantly feeling stress about how my brother, sisters, and dad are dealing with the stress of the loss. I do not take enough time out of the day to reflect on my own feelings and how I am dealing with the loss. I think it is easier to focus on other people’s issues instead of focusing on my own, even though I know I shouldn’t think that way. As the holidays near, I am especially worried about my family and how we will all handle not being able to share the memories we use to with my mom. In relation to the stress and anxiety I feel personally about people, is the fact that I work around lots of sick people every day and I am constantly feeling stress to approach them in the correct way when helping them in the hospital. I also have to work with physicians and nurses and sometimes I have to approach them in stressful situations to ask questions, which sometimes gives me a bit of anxiety.

Recently, I have been having some work related stress regarding work load equality. I am a respiratory therapist and I work third shift. On third shift, we only have two respiratory therapists working typically, so we have to make sure the work load for the night is divided fairly. Since we work twelve hour shifts, if the work load is not divided fairly, it can easily lead to feeling burnt out and very overwhelmed. Unfortunately, one of my co-workers has not been dividing the work load up evenly when I work with her. I am a pretty timid and soft-spoken person, so it is hard for me to speak up for myself and tell her she is doing something wrong. I do not want to come off as being bossy or as a know it all. I ended up speaking with my supervisor about these work-load issues and she had a talk with my co-worker. I felt a lot of stress and anxiety because out of the two years I have worked there, I had never had to bring an issue like this up to my supervisor. I do not like confrontation, so I was really stressed and anxious to go back to work after my boss had talked with my co-worker. It ended up working out just fine and my co-worker politely told me if I ever feel she is doing something wrong to just bring it up to her and she will try to work through it. After having this issue resolved, for the most part, I have felt relief from the stressful feelings at work and I am glad I finally spoke up.

The stress and anxiety I am feeling about world issues is based upon all of the recent shootings in the U.S. primarily. I am not one to keep up with the news much, but it seems like every other day there is a new school shooting or massive terrorist-type threat going on. It is making me very stressed to watch all of the violence on TV and in the social media. It makes me wonder what the world is coming to and what will happen next. I try to focus on the positives that are happening in the world, even though the negatives seem to be what are highlighted most.

The stress and anxiety I feel about my eating habits are getting better. Recently, I started eating healthier and got back into a work-out routine. Before this positive change, I was always feeling down on myself and I felt tired all the time. I did not have very much interest in doing things I usually liked to do. Every time I ate something I knew was bad and unhealthy, I would stress myself out about it. It wasn’t worth stressing over anymore, so I decided to make a positive change and started eating healthy and working-out regularly for 30-40 minutes a day. I feel a lot better about myself now, and working out is a great stress reliever.

When I have to work a lot of night shifts in a row, I do not get adequate sleep because I stress myself on not waking up for my alarm clock, or about what will happen at work the next night. I am hoping this class will give me some helpful tips to deal with the stress and anxiety I feel that keeps me from being able to get to sleep. It seems like my mind does not stop running when I lay down to go to sleep. I have to sleep with the TV on so I can focus on something besides all my thoughts.

When I am lacking in exercise and physical activity, I stress myself out quite a bit. I am use to working out regularly, so my body can definitely tell when I stop my routine for a few days. I begin to get restless and I feel really tired. When I exercise regularly, I have a lot more energy and I am in a better mood all together.

There are many things in life that cause me anxiety and stress on a daily basis. I am hoping by being aware of all of these stressors, I can become more mindful in dealing with stress and deal with it in a positive way (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Unit

3

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

Information to Remember:

Emotions: There is a great range of emotions which impact humans in many different ways. We can often times become spiritually immobilized by our many different emotions and we must become conscious of them (Seaward, 2016).

The Mind and Stress: The mind releases neurochemicals in the brain which send messages throughout the body in order for bodily functions and homeostasis to occur. The role of ego affects how people interpret and deal with stress. “…the ego sounds the alarm of imminent danger for mental, emotional, and physical threats (Seaward, 2016).”

Spirituality and Religion: Spirituality involves the belief in a force greater than oneself. Religions are based on rules and faith. Pillars of human spirituality include relationships, values, purpose, and divine mystery. These pillars can be affected by stress when life distractions occur (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

In this self-assessment exercise, the student discussed the Tibetan culture and its relation to stress. Many different theorists were named in the reading required for this unit which held different theories about the mind, stress, and perceptions. The student described commonalities among some of these theories. The student described ways of coping with and managing fear. Different communication styles were discussed as well in this assignment and ways of improving them were described (Seaward, 2016).

Journal Writing:

The five-minute mindful breathing exercise is a great tool for beginning to practice meditation and mindfulness. It allows you to calm down and to find peace in yourself. It is a great way to relieve stress.

As I practiced the five-minute mindful breathing exercise, I visualized my breathing just as the text said, like waves of the sea. I felt very relaxed as I thought of small waves trickling up shore with each breath. I became at peace with my surroundings and had a sense of relief from any worry for that short amount of time.

Distractions are common when practicing self-meditation and can be hard to block out (Stahl, 2010). I tried to do the exercise quite a few times, and each time my distractions lessened. Some of the distractions I did have were noises around me. A clock was ticking, and it was hard for me to block it out. Also, the first couple times I tried the exercise, I noticed I was concentrated more on my breathing than trying to relax. I was focused on how many times I was breathing, and how deep of breaths I was taking, rather than the meditation aspect of the exercise. Once I re-read the directions and focused more on visualizing each breath as that of a wave, I began to feel more at ease and relaxed.

Some of the emotions and feelings I felt while doing this exercise were peacefulness, happiness, awareness, and calming. I felt at peace with myself and my surroundings. I felt happy when I thought of the waves and the sea. I felt aware of my surroundings. I felt a general sense of calmness.

Meditation can help people become mindful of their surroundings and help them find overall peace within their life. As the mind practices meditation, it will become further aware of distractions which get in the way of the person’s ability to be mindful and at peace. Mindful meditation takes a great deal of practice, but it can be very useful in dealing with stress, anxiety, and fear (Stahl & Goldstein, 2016).

Unit

4

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human Spirituality

Information to Remember:

Global/Economic Stressors: Economic stressors including world poverty, job loss, and global shrinkage of the economy are affecting more people worldwide. As the popularity of credit card use rises, financial stress due to debt has become a common stressor among Americans (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Esteem: Self-esteem impacts the way we deal with stress. Increased levels of self-esteem allow an individual to believe in themselves and make better life choices (Seaward, 2016).

Behavioral Change: Change is hard for everyone. Self-esteem and ego affect the ways in which we deal with change. Prochaska’s Model of Change identifies several steps people should go through for effective change to occur (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

This self-assessment exercise allowed the student to become familiar with self-esteem and the role it plays in resolving stress. Relationships, values, and meaningful purpose in life were explained in relation to how they are affected by stress. The student’s perception of differences between values, attitudes, and beliefs were discussed. Prochaska’s Model of Change was explained and the student gave a real-life example of how this model works (Seaward, 2016).

Journal Writing:

Identifying emotions in the body can help us to be more aware of our feelings and they affect they have on our stress. Often times, people confuse their thoughts with their emotions, and this causes them to have stress in their life. If we gain awareness of our emotions, we can associate them with different feelings and learn how to positively cope with them.

There are many emotions related to fear in the body. The emotions I feel when I am fearful are anxiety, distress, edginess, jumpiness, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, worry, and feeling overwhelmed. I feel anxious, nervous, and tense sometimes at work. I have to deal with very stressful situations which sometimes have bad outcomes. I am a respiratory therapist so I ultimately am perceived as the one who “pulls the plug” at times during my job. When I have to let someone go and take them off life support, some of these feelings of fear come over me. Sometimes I feel uneasy and overwhelmed by the situation. When I get really fearful of a situation I tend to get clammy, sweaty palms and my breathing sometimes quickens. I have to remind myself to take slow, deep breaths. I am usually pretty good about dealing with my own feelings when it comes to fear. I try to picture a happy memory in my mind and it usually soothes me. For example, I think of a joke that always makes me laugh or someone’s face who always makes me smile. I focus on what that person would say to me to try to calm me. I also say little prayers to help me relax.

When I feel confused about a situation or matter in my life, chaos is the word that best describes my emotions. I am a very forward person and I ask a lot of questions to avoid confusion at all times, whether it be in school or in everyday life. I do not like feeling uncertain or unaware about anything. I like to be on top of everything from day to day. I think I feel this way because I am such a busy person and I have a lot going on in my life. When it comes to work, if I am confused about something, such as a medication order, I go to the source and ask for clarity. If there is confusion in my personal life such as with schedule conflicts, I usually just make my own plans and say I am unavailable if something comes up. An example of when I have felt confusion in my life was when I first started college. I felt overwhelmed because I didn’t know where all my classes were or what exactly was going to be expected of me. There was really no way of asking how to deal with this kind of confusion. Like the first day of a job, I just had to go through it and find out how to deal with the confusion on my own. After some time, I got used to dealing with the confusion and the overwhelmed feelings slowly started to fade away.

When I am angry, there are many different emotions that consume me. I feel very frustrated with whatever is causing the anger. I feel irritated, grouchy, and grumpy. I tend to talk louder and act in a disgusted manner. I sometimes slam cupboard doors or stomp my feet when I am walking. When I am angry, it is hard for me to see past what is bothering me and I tend to want action or answers immediately. To relieve my anger, it helps to talk about what is bothering me with someone. I think talking helps me become aware of where the anger originated and how I can get past it. However, I tend to “talk” in a loud voice which can sometimes be portrayed the wrong way. An old saying says we “take our anger out on the ones we love most.” I believe this to be true. I tend to get grumpy and irritated with my significant other whom I live with when I am angry about something. I am hoping that having greater awareness of anger feelings and emotions will help me positively deal with my anger. I hope to learn positive ways of coping with my anger and stress so I do not continue “taking it out” on my significant other.

When I feel sad, I feel emotionally distraught. I feel unhappiness, grief, and loneliness most when I am sad. Usually when I am sad it is because I am thinking about loved ones who I have lost. I usually cope pretty well with loss but there are triggers which make me feel sad. Some of these triggers are birthdays, anniversaries, etc. of the loved ones I have lost. On these particular days, feelings of grief and loneliness come over me. I feel like there is something missing in my life when I am sad. I usually feel tired and depressed when I am sad. My family and friends help me to remember happy memories with my loved ones to overcome some of the sadness.

When I feel shameful, there are many emotions that overcome me. People describe me as being “tender hearted” so when I feel shameful, I feel a great deal of guilt, embarrassment, regret, and humiliation. I try to put my emotions aside and think of others with every decision I make. When I do something which hurts someone else’s feelings, it bothers me a great deal and I feel shameful of myself. I try to resolve issues with other people and talk about differences in a calm way to help rid me of shameful emotions.

When I think about emotions I feel which are associated with love, I feel longing, affection, attraction, caring, compassion, and fondness. When I think about love and the people I love most, I think about how compassionate I am towards them. I would do anything to help them out and I have a special warmth in my heart for each one of them. I consider these people my close family members and best friends. I have a significant other whom I share feelings of attraction and affection with. When I think about the love and emotions I share with my significant other, the feelings are unlike any feelings I have for anyone else. I feel a sense of infatuation and longing to be with him for many years ahead. I feel at ease when I am around him and I am able to confide in him about all things in my life. I think about his safety and I try to protect him from any harm. When I feel loved by my significant other, I feel at ease with my life.

When I am joyful, I feel happy, content, and satisfied. Some examples of when I have felt joyful are when I became an aunt for the first time to my niece. I felt excited, happy, and hopeful of the new life that had just begun in our family. Another thing that brings me joy is when I get good grades. I feel satisfied, happy, and excited when I get good grades. It helps me gain confidence in myself. I feel joyful when I get to spend time with my significant other. He makes me feel happy and I enjoy the company we share together.

There are many different emotions tied to different feelings in our lives. When feelings and emotions are ignored or not dealt with, stress can occur. Becoming aware of these emotions can help us positively deal with stressful stimuli in our lives (Stahl & Goldstein, 2016).

Unit

5

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:

Creating a Positive Mindset: Believing in yourself and having self-confidence helps people move through stages of change. Being optimistic rather than pessimistic helps as well (Kabat-Zinn, 2016). Positive thinking neutralizes the ego and allows the individual to reflect on both negatives and positives, but have a key focus on the positives (Seaward, 2016).

Humor for Stress Relief: Humor and laughter can decrease feelings of fear and anger and can provide emotional balance to a stress-filled life (Seaward, 2016). Laughter can stimulate your organs, activate and relieve you stress response, and soothe tension and stomachaches (Mayo Clinic, 2016).

Healthy Boundaries: Healthy boundaries are guidelines established for personal stability. They may be established in different areas of one’s life including relationships, finances, nutrition, leisure, and family. It is important to establish healthy boundaries in life but have flexibility so they are not too rigid (Seaward, 2016).

Journal Writing:

Mindful self-inquiry can be used to relieve stress and anxiety. It allows the mind to focus on emotions and thoughts about what is causing stress and anxiety. Having awareness of these emotions can help individuals find peace in their lives.

When I began to do this exercise, I started by focusing on my breathing and trying to get in a calm state within my mind. To do this, I thought about things that calm me. Calming thoughts for me include beaches and waves, warm weather, and carefree attitudes. I think about when I was on vacation in Mexico last February, getting a massage on the beach. I believe that was the most relaxed I have ever felt. I had no feelings of worry, anxiety, fear, or tension. I was happy and content and living in the moment for that thirty minutes. I heard the waves of the ocean splashing on the shoreline in the background. I felt the soft touch of the massage on my back. I felt at peace with my surroundings and with life in general.

With a calming sensation, I began to think about my life and what I have been focusing my energy on lately. When I think about work, I realize it has been causing me the most anxiety in life. I realized this a while ago and that is why I made the decision to go back to school. I am hoping to find a new career path after finishing my bachelor’s degree. I am hoping to find something that makes me happier. I love my job but my current place of employment does not offer any advancement opportunities or raises. I feel that I am too young to settle for a job with no advancement opportunities. I realize I have been letting this anxiety affect my personal life and work performance. I often times am running on very little sleep and I tend to take my emotions out on my significant other whom I live with. At work, I find myself feeling annoyed with some of my coworkers. I feel that I am always trying to go above and beyond in my job and everyone else is laid back and has a lazy attitude. This makes me feel taken advantage of in my job at times.

In order to eliminate these feelings of stress and anxiety which are mostly work-related, I began to set goals for myself. I need to find happiness in myself again in order to be happy in life. In order to do this, I plan on working out and trying to eat healthier. When I exercise regularly and eat a well-balanced diet, I have less stress in my life. Exercise is a stress-reliever for me. When I exercise, it gives me time to reflect on my life, much like I was able to do with this meditation exercise. Exercising makes me feel good about myself and gives me energy. I am in a better mood when I exercise regularly and eat healthy. Another goal I set for myself is to focus on things that make me happy and avoid things which cause me stress. Things which make me happy are visiting family and friends, getting good grades, and spending time with my significant other. Things that stress me out are drama at work and in my personal life, finances, and housework. In order to deal with stressful stimuli, I plan on vocalizing my feelings to friends and family and sticking up for myself. I often times keep to myself and bottle my emotions up. Vocalizing my emotions will help me in moving forward and finding peace in relationships. In order to deal with stress related to finances, I plan to be more aware of my spending and budget better. I will vocalize to my significant other the stress I have about housework and will find ways for him to help me keep the house clean.

This exercise has helped me be more aware that I am feeling these emotions for a specific reason. It is my intention to find positive ways to deal with these emotions and stressful stimuli. Having awareness of the anxiety and stress in my life allowed me to make plans for eliminating these stressors. This exercise helped me to feel at peace in dealing with stress and anxiety. It helped me realize that even though I have a great deal of stress in my life, I can deal with it in a positive and peaceful manner. Stress and anxiety will always exist, but instead of trying to cover it up and not deal with it, I plan to be aware of it. I hope this awareness will bring me peace and happiness in my life (Stahl & Goldstein, 2016).

Unit

6

Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing, Meditation, and Mental Imagery

Information to Remember:

The Relaxation Response: This physiologic change includes decreased blood pressure, decreased oxygen consumption, and overall decreased arousal. It is the opposite of hyperarousal which causes stress and perceived threats (Kabat-Zinn, 2016).

Conscious Breathing: Breathing is a sense of relaxation. Different patterns of breathing can help one achieve relaxation. One of these patterns is known as diaphragmatic breathing, which involves being conscious of each inhalation and exhalation (Seaward, 2016).

Meditation: Meditation is silence of the body, speech, and mind. It is a practice for removing thoughts in the mind so that awareness of inner meanings can be focused on (Kabat-Zinn, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

This self-assessment allowed the student to reflect on the positive effects of diaphragmatic breathing in response to relaxation. The steps which are important to engage in while practicing diaphragmatic breathing were discussed. Imagery and visualization were explained and ways in which they can be used for relaxation were highlighted (Seaward, 2015).

Journal Writing:

Being mindful of how I interact with myself helped me to realize feelings and emotions which may be affecting me negatively. When I think about what kinds of unkind messages I send myself, they are mostly related to my weight. I often times tell myself I am fat and that I really need to start working out again and watching what I eat. I am hard on myself when I am getting dressed. I always tell myself I do not look good in anything I put on. I spend a great deal of time putting make-up on and fixing my hair to make myself feel better about my appearance. The feelings I have about my weight cause me stress and some anxiety. Every time I eat something that is not healthy, I beat myself up inside. Every week that goes by without exercising, I beat myself up inside. In order to change these feelings, I plan to change my thought process. Instead of thinking of myself as fat, I will try to focus on better attributes such as my health. I might feel fat and overweight, but I’m not. I’m just not as physically active as I have been in the past. Also, if I spend more time exercising and eating healthy, I won’t have to spend so much time worrying about how I look and beating myself up in the mirror. However, I will try to be less skeptical of my appearances in the mirror.

Although weight is the biggest thing I talk negatively to myself about, the other thing I question of myself is my happiness. I am having quite a bit of work-related stress and I am not very happy with my place of employment. I know what I need to do to find happiness in my career, but it seems unreachable at this time. My boyfriend and I just moved into our acreage two years ago and love our house. We live near our family and friends, which is great. My boyfriend loves his job and what he does here. I have been holding back my feelings about my job for a long time, but the truth is I haven’t really liked it since I started two years ago. Finally, last week, I confronted with my boyfriend my feelings about this. I told him I am not going to find happiness in my career unless we move. I was really scared for his reaction, but surprisingly he took it well. He basically told me he could sense the stress and tension and that my happiness is important to him. We came up with some future plans and he is on board to move if I can’t find a better job opportunity here when I am finished with my Bachelor’s program. It was a huge sense of relief and a great deal of anxiety and stress has been lifted from me since we had our conversation. I realized it is important to vocalize my emotions and feelings because otherwise stress, anxiety, and unhappy thoughts flood my mind.

I have been “watering the seeds of my own suffering” by not expressing my emotions and bottling them up inside. I have learned recently that communication and expressing yourself is the best way to end this suffering. It helps for me to talk about my emotions and issues out loud and to get an outsiders opinions and guidance. I usually call my close friends and sisters when I am beating myself up about something. They offer me their advice and guidance and it helps me to see things in a different light. When I communicate my emotions and problems, it gives me a great sense of relief. In the past, I have bottled all these emotions up and I become very stressed and anxious. My attitude was crabby and tense when I bottled all my emotions up. I felt like I had weight on my shoulders. Now when I have a problem, I communicate it and deal with it right away to avoid these stressful feelings.

Dealing with unkind or difficult people can be very stressful and feelings of resentment can arise. At work, there are a couple of older coworkers who always seem to be in a bad mood. They are always complaining and finding the bad in everything. At first, these attitudes really affected me negatively because I am a positive person and I try to see the glass half-full at all times. I try to remember that everyone has emotions and that something could be affecting them negatively, leading to their negative attitude. As time has gone on, I have taught myself to try to see the good in every situation and every person. Instead of letting them talk about negative issues at work, I try to spark up a conversation about non-work related things. I ask about their weekend or how their families are doing. This usually brightens up the mood and decreases the tense feelings.

I have become better aware of my emotions and messages I give myself through this exercise. This awareness has helped me come up with ways to deal with these emotions and messages. I have realized that communicating my feelings and finding a good listener to give me advice helps me get through stress and anxiety (Stahl & Goldstein, 2016).

Unit

7

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:

Mental Imagery and Visualization to Prevent Stress: The mind has the power to create images to heal or hurt. Visualization is like taking a mini vacation in your mind—leaving behind all worries to find your inner peace (Seaward, 2016).

Stress and Eating Habits: As cortisol is released in the body, varied levels of stress can occur. Altered levels of cortisol can cause an individual to over/under eat which can cause poor eating habits to form (Seaward, 2016).

Eating for a Healthy Immune System: There are many eating practices which may be performed to enhance the function of the immune system. Some of these practices include consuming antioxidants, fiber, fresh water, organic products, and proteins (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercise:

This self-assessment exercise allowed the student to complete a meditation exercise (sitting meditation or mindful lying yoga). After completion of the meditation exercise, the student was asked to write a paper reflecting on their mental, emotional, and physical thoughts while participating in the exercise (Seaward, 2016).

Unit

8

Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

Information to Remember:

Physiologic Benefits of Exercise: Exercise is an investment for personal health. Benefits of cardiovascular exercise include decreased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, decreased muscle tension, better sleep quality, improved immunity, and decreased cholesterol/triglyceride levels (Seaward, 2016).

The Four Dominoes: This example can be used to show the relationship between nutrition, stress, and the immune system. The four dominoes suggest stress depletes nutrients in the body, bad eating habits are associated with the current American lifestyle, food substances have sympathetic/physiologic responses, and processed foods contain toxins (Seaward, 2016).

Tips for Healthy Eating: Some helpful tips for eating healthier were given in the unit reading. Some of these tips included: washing produce to remove pesticides, avoid canned produce as the lose these products lose nutritional value after being canned, avoid “time-released” nutritional supplements, and drink more water or herbal tea instead of soft drinks (Seaward, 2016).

Self-Assessment Exercises:

This self-assessment exercise involved a team approach in which the student worked with a fellow classmate to develop a health and wellness program for a company. The students created a company and designed the wellness program based on their understanding of what a company is looking to gain out of a good wellness program. Some of the information the students were to include in their program were capital outlay, personnel, costs, proposals, and an initial pitch to get ideas started (Seaward, 2015).

Journal Writing:

Bringing interpersonal mindfulness to stressful situations can improve relationships. These six qualities will allow for mindfulness in the relationship and will also allow the individuals to communicate their feelings about each other in a positive way. I have chosen to complete this exercise with the thoughts of my significant other in mind.

OPENNESS: In order to feel more open in our relationship, we could try new and fresh approaches to getting to know each other more. Even though we have been together for so long, we can still learn new things about each other every day, which I think we forget. In order to gain openness in our relationship, new communication styles could be used. Often times, we forget to communicate our feelings as often as we should. Taking time out of each day to communicate with each other our feelings and emotions could improve our relationship. Often times we go about our relationship as if it is a routine. Being open with each other will help us learn new things about each other and help our relationship grow stronger.

EMPATHY: Identifying my own emotions and feelings will help me to be aware of my significant other’s emotions and feelings and how I can help him deal with them. Often times I overlook the feelings he has about a situation and only think about my feelings. In the future, to help our relationship grow strong, I will think about his feelings and emotions. I will ask myself: If something is making me upset or sad, how is it making him feel?

COMPASSION: When I notice my significant other is suffering from intense emotions or stress, I will try my best to end this suffering. In order to do this, I will communicate with him my understanding of his emotions and ask what I can do to ease his pain. I will explain to him that I have felt these feelings and emotions before and that I am here to help him get through these situations.

LOVING-KINDNESS: In order to display my feelings of true love and kindness, I will express to my significant other that ultimate happiness is all I want for him. I will let him know I will support and love him no matter what choices or decisions he decides to make. I will be by his side through every situation.

SYMPATHETIC JOY: In order to show sympathetic joy in my relationship, I will show that I am happy and content in my relationship and let it be known that I want the same feelings for my significant other. As he becomes more aware that I am content and happy in our relationship, he too may start to feel this joy.

EQUANIMITY: It is important for me to treat everyone with respect and kindness, no matter what the situation or circumstance. I will let my significant other know that although I have a great love specifically for him, I want happiness, joy, and love for everyone I meet and come into contact with.

Creating connections and being mindful of others’ emotions is a somewhat difficult process for most of us. It means that we have to think of someone else’s feelings besides our own. However, building a strong relationship based on interpersonal mindfulness qualities will help the relationship grow strong. Within these qualities comes a deep understanding and want for another person’s overall happiness and joy in life (Stahl & Goldstein, 2016).

Unit

9

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for Management and Prevention to your Professional Life

Information to Remember:

Tai Chi: Tai Chi is also known as “moving meditation.” It involves different movements which help regulate the flow of chi (energy). This practice is said to enhance one’s mind, spirit, body, and emotions. The purpose of this practice is to be in harmony with the flow of life’s energy (Seaward, 2016).

Progressive Muscular Relaxation: The purpose of this approach to reducing stress is to increase awareness of muscle tension and learn to reduce it to reduce stress levels. It consists of a systematic series of muscle contractions to reduce muscle tension (Seaward, 2016).

Clinical Biofeedback: This technique uses machines such as EKG, EMG, and EEG to amplify various body functions. The purpose is to gain better control of physiology and promote homeostasis. It has been used to help with migraines and lower back pain (Seaward, 2016).

Additional Information

Primary References: These books were provided by Kaplan University to help me throughout this course. I have a better knowledge base of many of the topics discussed throughout all of these units based on information provided in these books.

Seaward, B. (2015). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Stahl, B. & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Unit eight Group Project (Secondary Reference): An example of a health and wellness program and its major components. This is a great reference to look back on for anyone who is looking into a profession dealing with wellness corporation or wellness management.

This proposal is prepared for the Terra Printers health and wellness management. The scope of the project outlined includes vendors of national evidence-based products and services. To meet these needs, this proposal offers consulting services to provide the following expertise: (a) rationale; (b) mind-body programs or practices; (c) capital outlay; and (d) benefits.

RATIONALE

Terra Printer’s has experienced an increase in healthcare costs. There have been several employee suicides, and after several surveys it has been noted that its employees are struggling with heart and cardiovascular diseases, obesity, stress and anxiety issues. The proposed workplace wellness program will not only help alleviate the high healthcare costs associated with this company, but will also boost morale, improve employee well-being, and potentially increase the overall workplace productivity and efficiency. Employees will also see that Terra Printer’s management cares about them, which will greatly encourage loyalty to the company.

MINDBODY PROGRAMS/PRACTICES

➢ Weekly Counseling with a Wellness Coach – A weekly meeting with a wellness coach to discuss personal goals for weight loss and healthy living. The wellness coach will give advice and instruction on how to effectively meet these goals.

➢ Company Health and Wellness Newsletter – A monthly newsletter that highlights the company goals for wellness, employee successes with fitness and health, company health challenges, and upcoming health and wellness events within the company and the surrounding community.

➢ Monthly Wellness Check and Seminar – A monthly seminar to discuss the company’s progress of their employee’s goals and success led by the company’s wellness coach. These seminars will assist to illustrate the success of the workplace wellness program. It will display goals set by the employees, and a drawing will be done each month to give-away prizes for outstanding objectives that are met. The drawing will consist of three different goals, and the prizes received will match the objectives that are met. The hardest goals will receive the biggest prizes (e.g. full year’s gym membership, cash prizes, or a Fitbit device).

➢ Annual Health and Lifestyle Assessment – An annual employee physical with a physician, a physical fitness test, and completion of an employee lifestyle survey. The PT evaluation will assess biometric measurements, basic body measurements, BMI calculation, and physical endurance testing. The survey will cover general employee well-being as well as a stress and anxiety questionnaire. Overall this annual assessment will help the company realize the benefits of the program, as well as the areas that need improvement.

CAPITAL OUTLAY

The program will require some equipment for seminars, wellness coaching, and health assessments. Seminars will require a sound system, speakers, a computer, and equipment for a monthly power point presentation. The annual health assessments will also call for some equipment including a treadmill and free weights/bands. These will be used to assess different components of the employee’s health and physical endurance. Every month, the company will have a prize give away for the goals that have been reached. This will necessitate that the company purchases prizes for the high performers (e.g. water bottles, fitness arm-bands, fitness DVDs, Fitbit devices, cash prizes, and local gym memberships).

BENEFITS

Overall, this program will help Terra Printers reduce their annual healthcare costs by taking a proactive approach towards their employee’s health and wellness. Most cardiovascular diseases can be attributed to an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. These diseases corresponded by stress and anxiety are the source of many difficulties for employees, and will affect them both at home and in the workplace. These factors will affect work performance and the attitudes of the employees, causing a decrease in productivity and efficiency. Reducing the risk of all of these negative health components will save the company money on healthcare costs, and increase the performance and morale of the company’s employees.

TIMELINE

It will take approximately six months to start using the program in the work place. This six-month timeframe will allow for hiring and training of the wellness coach, ordering and shipment of equipment needed, construction on an area for monthly seminars and yearly health assessments, and management planning for this program. We will begin this program as a trial, which will last for one year. Once the year marks, management will evaluate the program’s benefits and areas for improvement and decide where to take the program next.

PERSONNEL

Workplace Wellness Coordinator – Manages the program within the company, coordinates events with the employees and holds personal meetings with them, briefs and updates company management on the program.

Health and Wellness Intern – Assist the Workplace Wellness Coordinator with the overall running and upkeep of the program. Also writes the monthly health and wellness newsletter.

Company Wellness Coach – Conducts weekly meetings with employees discussing fitness/lifestyle goals and changes, coordinates with guest instructors, advises employees on fitness activities, and coordinates the monthly health and wellness seminar.

TOTAL BUDGET

The Wellness Council of America recommends that at least $100-$150 per employee per year should be spent on promoting wellness (Hall, 2011).” Since this company plans to add incentives and health coaching to their wellness program, the budget will increase to around $300 per employee in order to see a return on the investment of the program (Hall, 2011). With 500 employees at the Terra Printer’s business location being targeted for this trial program, our budget will be about $150,000 for the installments, incentives, equipment, etc.

Along with this program budget we must also calculate in the cost of pay for the Workplace Wellness Coordinator and the Company Wellness Coach. The average pay for both of these positions is at least $23,000 per year for an individual with little to moderate experience. If we wish to hire seasoned health experts for both of these positions the appropriate offer would be around $61,000 per year. Therefore, the cost of filling these two positions for one year would be $46,000 - $114,000.

With these numbers in mind, we can calculate that the total cost for this workplace wellness program, including the salary for hiring the necessary health specialists, will be $196,000 – $246,000. Although this price may seem rather high, it pales in comparison to the estimated $2.5 million ($5K/employee) that Terra Printers is currently spending on Health Care for these 500 employees. After the yearlong trial period, the budget and effectiveness of the program will be appraised and modified to meet the needs of the company.

PITCH

Implementing a health and wellness program inside the workplace is essential, as employees are spending the majority of their time sitting at a desk in an office. Long work hours can make it difficult for them to get the adequate amount of physical activity recommended by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to achieve health benefits. Inadequate physical activity and a poor diet will greatly increase a number of health risk factors. These health risks (obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, stress/anxiety, etc.) are often the main cause for poor work performance, and the increased spending on healthcare within businesses. Conditions these health risks lead to such as cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, and diabetes are leading to a decline in the overall health of employees in the workplace, and are massive contributors to the increase in health related expenses for businesses.

By putting a health and wellness program into action that emphasizes the importance of a nutritious diet, adequate amounts of physical activity, and stress management, this company will create a better work environment for their workers. Based on a recent meta-analysis, workplace wellness programs were shown to reduce company healthcare costs by about $3.27 for every dollar used on the program. This means that this program potentially could decrease Terra Printers costs in employee healthcare by up to 32% ($80K).

In order to keep employees engaged with the health and wellness program, incentives ought to be given.  This program should be cost effective for the company, and its number one goal should be to serve its employees and to make our offices a healthier place to work. By ensuring employees in our business are happy and healthy, we will generate better work performance as a whole. This workplace wellness program will not only give employees realistic goals that will benefit their lives, but help us shape a stronger, healthier Terra Printers Corp for the future. 

CLASSMATE FEEDBACK

Partner: Joshua Sievers

• Implementing a health and wellness program inside the workplace is important as people are spending more of their time sitting at a desk or inside their offices and not getting the adequate amount of physical activity recommended for health benefits. By not getting an adequate amount of physical activity and not consuming nutritious meals, a number of health risk factors have increased. Nutrition and diet have been negatively affected as the popularity of fast food and convenience meals continue to rise. Employees are facing health risks and obesity factors which in turn cause poor job performance and greater expenses for businesses. Depression and hypertension are two chronic diseases which many employees are facing. Diseases such as these are leading to a decline in the overall health of employees in the workplace which also are contributing to an increase in health related expenses for businesses. Putting a health and wellness program into action which emphasizes the importance of a nutritious diet, adequate amounts of physical activity, and minimizing stressful stimuli in life could help create a better work environment for businesses. It could also decrease the employer's costs in employee healthcare. In order to keep employees on track with their health and wellness programs, incentives should be given. The program should be cost effective for the company and its number one benefit should be to serve its employees in order to make the workplace a healthier place to be. Making sure employees of the business are happy and healthy in the workplace will promote greater work performance as a whole. It will give employees realistic goals to complete not only to benefit themselves, but for the company as well. Imagine if we could take some of that 12,000 hours we spend sitting at work, and turn it into time spent improving our health. This would mean less time spent in hospitals, being sick, and working out, as well as potentially saving money on hospital bills and other medical expenses.

• Surveys and workplace studies show that companies/businesses that incorporate health and wellness programs into their workplaces experience a rise in productivity and efficiency. Their workforce is healthier, which reduces their healthcare costs and saves them time in sick leave. Since their employees are healthier, they are able to work for the company longer which also reduces the costs of having to train new workers not to mention that it helps preserve the expertise and knowledge of the older generation.

• You are absolutely correct about making the program cost effective as well as focusing on reducing stress and improving health (diet, exercise). I also love that you mentioned giving employees realistic goals as well as providing incentives for reaching those goals. I think that we should build on these core ideas when creating our workplace wellness program. Some of my ideas would be employee gym memberships, health and wellness workplace seminars (include training on stress management, healthy eating, and exercise options), a company employee sports team, and possibly even a company gym. Incentives like extra time off to work out or possibly even monetary bonuses could be implemented for reaching certain achievable goals.

• I think that the gym memberships, or even a discounted membership, would be a great incentive to give employers.  Also, the idea of having seminars would be a helpful technique for the employees to learn more about their health and wellness options.  As far as incentives, I like the idea of giving the employees a set amount of time to use for healthy activities such as working out.  We could put incentives on somewhat of a ranked system which ties them to the employee’s goals.  For example, we could have them set five goals, the first being easiest to reach and the fifth being the hardest to reach and give incentives for reaching each goal, with the last incentive being something that the employee would really want to achieve.  We need to talk about costs of the program/equipment needed and some of the other major components included in our program still.  

SUMMARY

Implementing a health and wellness program for Terra’s Printing Service could generate a reduction in overall healthcare costs, and improve general employee satisfaction and performance. It may also reduce health risks such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, stress, anxiety, and obesity which have been affecting employee health and work performance. Giving health and wellness options to employees will help Terra’s Printing Service move forward with a positive approach to healthy lifestyle choices and behaviors. These positive attributes will help the business grow and thrive now and in the future.

References

American Time Use Survey. (2015, October 26). Retrieved 04 February 2016 from

Fisher, C. (2016). Pay Scale for a Wellness Coach. Retrieved February 08, 2016, from

Hall, Don. (2011). WellSource, Inc. How Much Does a Good Wellness Program Cost? Retrieved

How Much Physical Activity is Needed? (2015, June 19). Retrieved February 08, 2016, from

How Much Should a Wellness Program Cost? (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from ram_Cost.pdf

How Much Should a Wellness Program Cost? (2011). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from



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