Post Traumatic Stress Essay

Stress, also known as the “fight or flight” response, alerts the body by flooding it with hormones that increase heart rate, blood pressure, and energy, when it senses danger. These hormones are linked to various diseases and disorders, including heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, allergies, colds, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, violent behavior, insomnia, teeth-grinding, and jaw pain (Farrington 6). Most individuals, especially students, experience types of stress such as eustress or distress, as well as chronic or acute stress. Positive impacts follow eustress such as improving skills or joyful feelings, like from a first date or improved performance. In contrast, distress can have potentially

Coping methods that can reduce stress and anxiety include meditation and breathing exercises. Meditation is the most popular exercise in the U.S. whereas schools such as New York University and Harvard University offer training in meditation because the practice lowers the risk of anxiety, depression, suicide, and other mental health disorders. One way an individual can meditate is by walking inside a quiet place or outdoors for at least 10 minutes. This alleviates pain compared to just sitting in the dark, where an individual is more vulnerable to overthinking. Students at Santa Clara University in California also “took an eight-week meditation class [in which] they reported greater reductions in stress than those who did not take the class” (Howard 1). These results demonstrate that providing students with information about how to deal with their emotional feelings benefits students with a healthier mind. Similar to meditation, breathing exercises allow thoughts to pass like clouds without getting sucked into what they mean (Oaklander 56). Focusing on the breathing pattern restricts the mind from thinking about anything else. This exercise can be practiced anywhere for 15-20 minutes, although, like meditation, time is not

It is human nature to respond to stress negatively, but with a change in perspective, it can help students grow as an individual. For instance, if stress is viewed positively, there would be fewer negative effects on an individual. Renee Jain, author of “Can Stress Help Students?” found that corporate trainers who focused on negative aspects of stress increased their stress. Harvard and Yale also conducted a positive-mind-stress experiment, where one group was introduced to stress making individuals weak and the other group was introduced to stress enhancing the body and brain. The group who was taught to think about stress positively reported being more productive, energetic, less fatigued, and experienced fewer headaches and backaches. Viewing stress positively can also be used as a motivation to improve. For example, rather than stress over a low grade, students focus on how to do better on the next assignment. David Noonan interviewed Elizabeth Poirier, a high school sophomore with high grades who was also involved in many extracurricular activities.The struggles she faced were keeping her 4.0 GPA, never having enough time to do all her work, not getting enough sleep, and having a limited social life. Although she faces many hardships, they do not stop her from continuing her routine. Poirier says, “You just have to believe in yourself and keep your eye on the ball” (Noon 54). So, keeping