Stress Chapter Summary

Stress
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Stress
Stress affects human beings both physically and psychologically; this can cause stress related diseases. Homeostasis is the state of dynamic balance of the human body's internal environment, which adjusts in response to internal and external changes. The stable internal environment is necessary for survival. Therefore, it is essential for the human body to maintain homeostasis. The brain usually initiates the stress response, which is a reaction of the body in an attempt to restore homeostasis (Seaward, 2012).
However, the stress response can be damaging particularly when it's frequent and severe, and people vary depending on their response to specific stressors. Some of the potential stressors that people face may include; crowds, testing, parenting challenges and traffic. The same potential stressor can cause a different response in different people. A number of factors influence a person perceives and reacts to a stress, which include; age, maturity, culture, life experience and personal traits. Culture, for example, affects a person's behavior and the meaning of various life events and therefore, how certain stressful events are perceived to be.
Stress has become an epidemic in our society. People can respond to stress adaptively or maladaptive, which can begin in the fight or flight response. There are positive and negative ways that people behave when managing stress. Some of the positive adaptive stress responses include; problem-solving, using social support and reframing of a problem, whereas the negative stress responses is avoidance, self-blaming and wishful thinking (Seaward, 2012). People can respond in either a healthy way that promotes or sustains their development or in a way that disintegrates their health. Culture has been seen to playing a big role in determining how people respond to a particularly stressful event. However, there are various approaches to stress management, for example, nurses experien...