Unit 2:

Aspects of
Personal
Developmen
t
 Module 5:
COPING WITH STRESS
IN MIDDLE AND LATE
ADOLESCENCE
OBJECTIVES
At end of the lesson, the learners will be able to:
 Evaluate the stress level of the students using the Stress Inventory Test
 Identify stress and its role to human history
 Explain how does your body react to stress
 Distinguish stress to the different related ideas , like pressure, anxiety and
depression
 Understand stress and its sources amid youthfulness may help in distinguishing
approaches to adapt and have a stimulating life
 Identify various roots of stress and its effect on your system
 Provide ways of coping with stress
STRESS MANAGEMENT
 What is Stress?
• Stress is an natural response to the demands of our
environment
 It is a physiological response to a physical or
psychological threat
 A normal reaction to anything that can disturb one’s
balance/equilibrium, known as homeostatic state
• Generally used when we feel that everything seems to
have become too much – we are overloaded and
wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures
placed upon us
 It is an emotional factor that causes bodily or mental
tension
• This term is actually borrowed from physics that means
strain, pressure, or force on a system
 Stress and Pressure
• Pressure is a force, and stress is the result of
that force being applied to a system.
 If pressure is applied to a metal, the metal
is stressed

 Stress and Anxiety

• Stress is a response to a threat in a situation;
anxiety is a reaction to the stress

• Depression refers to an experience where you

feel down most of the time which is called “low
mood” and you have also lost interest in things
you usually enjoy.
“Stress is the effect while stressor is the cause”
 Stressor is anything that induces a stress response.
Common Stressors
• Physical Stressor • Mental Stressor • Social/ Emotional/
Environment Academic Overload Psychological
Unexpected Event Stressor
Relationship

• Economic Stressor • Physiological • Spiritual Stressor

Money Stressor Disturbance of
Condition of our body Tranquility

General Stressors
• Lack of Time
• Coping with Changes
• Words associated with stress:

Anxiety Prolonged Stress can be

Pressure devastating; burnout, breakdown,
Misery depression are some of potential
Strain
results of long term illness.
Desperation
Tension
Anger Example:
• Too much school works/activities/exam
Panic can lead to
Dejection PRESSURE―STRESS―BREAKDOWN
Practice The 4 A's of Stress Management
• Avoid unnecessary stress
 It’s not healthy to avoid a stressful situation that needs to be addressed, but you
may be surprised by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.

• Alter the situation

 If you can't avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Often, this involves changing
the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.

• Adapt to the stressor

 If you can't change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful
situations and regain you sense of control by changing your expectations and
attitude.

• Accept the things you can't change

 Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such
as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases,
the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be
difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t
change.
STRESS RESPONSE
• also known as “fight-or-flight” syndrome that is
stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system
• It is the collection of physiological changes that
occur when you face a perceived threat or when
you face situations where you feel the demands
outweigh your resources to successfully cope
known as stressors
• When your stress response is triggered, a series
of changes occur within your body. They
include:
 Redirection of blood away from extremities and
instead of major organs
 The release of cortisol and other hormones, which
bring other short and long term changes

• The stress response is intended to give you a

burst of energy so you’re to fight off attackers
or run away from them effectively
KEEP STRESS UNDER CONTROL
• UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES OF STRESS
 Life is full of stress. Sometimes it comes and goes and sometimes it lingers. Stress
narrows your ability to think clearly, function effectively, and enjoy life.
Understanding stress is an important part of stress management. It requires
deliberate, conscious effort to pause and simply ponder on the situation you are
currently experiencing. You need to discover the stressors, the factors of which
create the stress in your life to be able to recognize stress as it comes. It will help
you break the stress in your life, so you can be happier, healthier, and more
productive.
• ANALYZE YOUR STRESS FACTORS AND
WRITE THEM DOWN
 A stress journal can help you identify the
regular stressors in your life and the way
you deal with them. Each time you feel
stressed; keep track of it in your journal.
As you keep a daily log, you will begin to
see patterns and common themes. You
will get to analyze stress responses and
consequences, consider each item, and
ask why because the answers will reveal
stressors, such as anxieties, deadlines,
trying to do so much, managing time,
poor health habits.
• DEAL WITH THE STRESSORS
 Develop techniques to deal with the causes of stress.
The longer you avoid dealing with the stress factors,
the more the stress will build up. If tension comes
because you have put off an unfinished task,
restructure your priorities so you can get the task
that you have been avoiding out of the way and off
your mind.
Learn to Work under the Pressure
 When you can’t reduce the stressors, you
need to manage your stress response.
However, when the pressure mounts, you
can relive it. Relaxation is the key but
must train ourselves to relax when
pressure is on.
Some tips to relax when you’re under
pressure:
1. Stop for a moment and take a few deep
breaths.
2. Do a relaxing exercise. Swing your hands
at your sides and stretch.
3. If you have tons of work to finish, take a
“power nap”. Lie down and totally relax
at your sides and stretch.

4. Get More Sleep

5. Find time to do things you enjoy. Play
your favorite sport. Shop for yourself and
do “me” thing. Get time to bond with your
friends.
6. Leave your study area for a while to take
a brisk walk.
7. Find a quiet place to read a magazine or
novel during break or at lunch.
8. If possible, look at some peaceful images
such as forests, beaches, etc. These
images can initiate a relaxation purpose.
Look up and see how beautiful the sky is.
9. Keep something humorous on hand,
such as book of jokes.
10. Put some music on and dance.
Free up your muscles.
11. Indulge in physical activity. Play your
favorite sport; swim, basketball,
volleyball, badminton.
12. Avoid caffeine because it is a
stimulant that will increase your level
of stress rather than reduce it.
13. A common cause of stress is
having too much to do and too
little time in which to do it,
sometimes you have to Learn to
Say ‘No’
14. Manage your time. Make a to-do
list.
15. Talk to someone.
THE BRAIN POWER
 BRAIN TEASERS!

 You are in a cabin and it is pitch black. You

have one match on you. Which do you light
first, the newspaper, the lamp, the candle,
or the fire?

You light the match first!

THE BRAIN POWER
 BRAIN TEASERS!
 A lift is on the ground floor. There are four people in the lift including me.When
the lift reaches first, floor, one person gets out and three people get in.The lift
goes up to the second floor, 2 people get out 6 people get in.
It then goes up to the next floor up, no-one gets out but 12 people get in.
Halfway up to the next floor up the lift cable snaps, it crashes to the floor.
Everyone else dies in the lift. How did I survive?

I got out on the second floor!

THE BRAIN POWER
 BRAIN TEASERS!
 The number 8,549,176,320 is a unique number.
What is so special about it?

This is the only number that includes all the

digits arranged in alphabetical order.
BRAIN
 A jellylike mass of fat and
protein weighing about 3
pounds (1.4 kilograms)
 One of the largest and most
complex organs in the human
body
 It is made up of more than 100
billion nerves that not only put
together thoughts and highly
coordinated physical actions
but regulate our unconscious
body processes, such as
digestion and breathing.
 PARTS OF THE BRAIN
The brain has 3 major parts – the cerebrum the cerebellum
and the brain stem.
 Brain Stem (Medulla) – connects the spinal cord and the
rest of the brain. Basic functions like breathing, sleeping,
heart rate, blood pressure and food digestion occurs here.
 Cerebellum – is located at the base and the back of the
brain and is responsible for coordination and balance.
 Cerebrum – is the largest of the three brain sections,
accounting for 85 percent of the brain's weight. It has two
halves, or hemispheres. It is further divided into four
regions, or lobes, in each hemisphere. The lobes –frontal,
parietal, temporal and occipital, named from the sections of
the skull next to them – each have different functions:
 The frontal lobes are responsible for problem solving and
judgment and motor function.
 The parietal lobes manage sensation, handwriting, and body
position.
 The temporal lobes are involved with memory and hearing.
 The occipital lobes contain the brain's visual processing system.
The brain is surrounded by a layer
of tissue called the meninges. The
skull (cranium) helps protect the
brain from injury. Other parts of the
brain include:
 Cortex – the outermost layer of brain
cells. Thinking and voluntary
movements begin in the cortex.
 Basal ganglia – a cluster of structures
in the center of the brain that
coordinate messages between
multiple other brain areas.
Neurons
 The neuron is the basic working unit of
the brain, a specialized cell designed to
transmit information to other nerve cells,
muscle, or gland cells. It consists of a
cell body, dendrites, and an axon.
 The cell body contains the nucleus and
cytoplasm.
 The axon extends from the cell body and
often gives rise to many smaller branches
before ending at nerve terminals.
 Dendrites extend from the neuron cell body
and receive messages from other neurons.
 Synapses are the contact points where one
neuron communicates with another with the
help of chemicals called neurotransmitters. The
dendrites are covered with synapses formed by
the ends of axons from other neurons.
Critical Age
 Brain cells regenerate throughout one's life, according to Doug
Postels (a pediatric neurosurgeon in New Orleans).
 “Zero to Three Movement”
o the general idea that the first three years of life are a critical
period for children’s brain development, and that deprivation
over those years will result in persistent deficits in cognitive,
emotional and even physical health
o synaptogenesis, or the creation of pathways for brain cells to
communicate, occurs.
o the brain's size does not increase much after age three.
Experiments that support age THREE as the
CRITICAL AGE:
1) removal of some parts of the brain of children under three to
correct disorders caused the remaining brain portions to
assume the role of the removed portions --a function that is
not present in brains of older people
2) removal of some parts of the brain of children under three to
correct disorders caused the remaining brain portions to
assume the role of the removed portions --a function that is
not present in brains of older people
 CREDITS

Video Sources
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-t1Z5-oPtU
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDecu0ME1Zo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzrjEP5MOT4
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJlUuZbEAs
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpQrMqDoqE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXV1cu0xn7A
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHuggMfQDm8
 Online Sources
 UK STRESS ORGANIZATION
 Giedd, J. N., and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 861-863. Doi:
10.1038/13158Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijenbos, A., Paus T., Evans, A.
C., & Rapoport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood
 https://www.simplypsychology.org/stress-biology.html
 https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm
 https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/stress-tips.html
 http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/neuromyth-or-neurofact/most-learning-happens-in-the-fir
st-3-years/
 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/interviews/giedd.html
 http://www.brainfacts.org/brain-basics/neuroanatomy/articles/2012/the-neuron/,
 Book Sources
http://www.webmd.com/brain/picture-of-the-brain#1,
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/brain/
 Personal Development Reader – Department of Education (2016)

 Moving Up: A Guide to Personal and Career Development – Phoenix Publishing House and
Maricel Ilag-Ramos (2016)

 Personal Development – Vibal Group, Inc., and Aida Maria H. Perez (2016)
 Critical Age (3 years old) Drug
Damage
 Drugs – destroys neurons
that make SEROTONIN
 Inhalants,steroids, marijuana,
cocaine, alcohol
 SueRusche – co-author of the
book “False Messengers”
 Inhalants – destroy outer
lining of nerve cells
YOU CAN GROW YOUR
INTELLIGENCE
 New Research Shows the Brain Can Be Developed like a Muscle
 Brain as a Mystery
 But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle
 “Use it or lose it!”
 The Cerebral Cortex
 Evidences that the Brain Can Get Stronger
 Animals
 Babies
 Smart Vs. Dumb
 Here are 30 ways you can increase your intelligence:
 Read More – Intelligence begins with reading. The more you will read, the more you will absorb and therefore the more
intelligent you will get. 

 Set Goals – Goals create structure in life and only through proper structure can you increase intelligence.

 Meditate – When you meditate you calm your brain. This peace and tranquility is  crucial in building intellect.

 Make Notes – The body remembers by doing. So by making notes on everything you do, you will increase memory and
intellect.

 Play Sudoku – Playing Sudoku challenges your brain and helps you think logically. It is a brain game and according to the
American Alzheimer’s Association and it might help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

 Stay Hydrated – Our brains depend on proper hydration to function properly. Brain cells require a delicate balance between
water and other elements to operate at max efficiency. So try to keep you brain replenished and drink the medically
recommended amount of water every day.

 Minimize “Bad” Television – Watching TV nowadays with all of its reality shows or just simply watching re-runs is one of the
worst things you can do for your intelligence. While it can be relaxing you don`t stimulate your thinking. Try tuning into a
documentary or the news every now and then.    

 Exercise – Exercise keeps your body fine-tuned and energetic; it is a great way to increase your productivity
and intelligence.

 Mentally Simplify – Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge or skill. So try unclutter your thoughts and
process information one piece at a time. You will find that you will not just be more productive but your mental capacity will
increase. 
 Eat Yogurt and other “bacteria” – Certain bacteria have been scientifically linked to brain power. So it’s possible that by
simply eating yogurt you can promote the growth of neurons.

 Get Enough Rest – Imagine your brain like a smartphone. No matter how efficient and wonderful it is, it eventually needs to
recharge and shut down. A good night’s rest will do wonders in making you smarter.  

 Do Math Questions – The only reason people don’t like math is because it requires them to use their brains. By doing math
you exercise your brain and just like a muscle, through exercise it gets stronger and quicker.

 Make Connections – Don’t wait for ideas to become clear. Always be on the edge and make connections between things.

 Breathe – Oxygen is crucial to the brain and it can’t survive very long deprived of it. You should practice good breathing
techniques and give your brain as much as oxygen as it needs.  “You don’t need to know all the answers. No one is smart
enough to ask you all the questions”. – Unknown

 Do Crosswords – Crosswords are very effective in making your brain work and exercise.

 Take Breaks – Your brain is just a muscle and overworking it will only cause problems. Take periodic breaks to keep your
brain fresh and productive. And never forget to sleep. 

 Refine Your Thinking – Don’t just think but think about how you are thinking when you think. It’s a quite a handful of words,
but it works. If you plan out your thinking process you will think more productively.

 Eat Brain Food – There are many foods which have been associated with brain health, including dark green vegetables, fish
oil and nuts. Try to incorporate as much as brain food into your diet.

 Draw Diagrams and Charts –Try to organize your thoughts using diagrams and charts whenever possible. This
reorganization is very helpful in increasing intellect.
 Quiz Yourself – To become more intelligent try to always challenge yourself and push your brain to the
limits. So if this simply means that by using your opposite hand you are challenging yourself; do it.  
 Keep Your Brain Working – Your brain should never stop working unless you are sleeping or taking periodic
breaks as mentioned above. Keep your brain active, and clicking on all cylinders.
 Get a Rubik’s Cube – A Rubik’s cube is a great way to exercise your brain and build intelligence.
 Don’t take in too much Sugar – Too much sugar gives your brain short term jolt, but after the sugar rush is
over the sugar crash is just not worth it.
 Learn to Play an Instrument – Playing an instrument is a great way to increase your intellect. The reasoning
behind it is that you’re triple tasking: listening, reading and playing the instrument.
 Work on Vocabulary – If you know more words you will be able to not just acquire more information but will
be able to applyit more effectively as well.
 Eat throughout the Day – Your brain needs fuel to function. Try to avoid being hungry and keep yourself well
fed.
 Focus – Intelligence is largely based on how much you can focus at one time. Practice focusing on tasks and
avoid distractions.
 Listen to Classical Music – According to the “Mozart Effect” by listening to classical music an improvement in
productivity is induced.
 Don’t Give Up – Anybody can become smarter and improve their intellect so never give up and keep trying.
The Myth of Michael Jordan
According to the book, Michael Jordan was cut and didn’t get the
opportunity to join the varsity team of his school.

With all his achievements: Highest PPG in the NBA history, Scored
more than 3000 points in a single season, 11 MVP awards and 6
Championships.
Michael was left out in his high school varsity team.

The Process
Michael Worked Hard
Envision
Worked Harder
Achieved his goal

The Truth
Clifton “Pop” Herring – The Coach Who Cut Michael Jordan
Leroy Smith – The Boy Who Played