the midpoint, prior to where eustress turns into dis-
tress. Studies indicate that stress-related hormones in
optimal doses actually improve physical performance
and mental-processing skills like concentration, making
you more alert. Beyond that optimal level, though, all
aspects of performance begin to decrease in efficiency.
Physiologically speaking, your health is at serious risk.
It would be simple if this optimal level was the same
for all people, but it’s not. Hence, the focus of any effec-
tive stress-management program is twofold: (1) to find
out where this optimal level of stress is for you so that it
can be used to your advantage rather than becoming a
detriment to your health status, and (2) to reduce physical
arousal levels using both coping skills and relaxation
techniques so that you can stay out of the danger zone
created by too much stress.
Types of Stressors
Any situation, circumstance, or stimulus that is per-
ceived to be a threat is referred to as a stressor, or
that which causes or promotes stress. As you might
imagine, the list of stressors is not only endless but
varies considerably from person to person. Acute stress
world might fall into this category. The third type of
stress, distress, is considered bad and often is abbrevi-
ated simply as stress. There are two kinds of distress:
acute stress, or that which surfaces, is quite intense,
and disappears quickly, and chronic stress, or that
which may not appear quite so intense, yet seems to
linger for prolonged periods of time (e.g., hours, days,
weeks, or months). An example of acute stress is the
following: You are casually driving down the highway,
the wind from the open sunroof is blowing through
your hair, and you feel pretty good about life. With a
quick glance in your rearview mirror you see flashing
blue lights. Yikes! So you slow down and pull over.
The police car pulls up behind you. Your heart is
racing, your voice becomes scratchy, and your palms
are sweating as you try to retrieve license and regis-
tration from your wallet while rolling your window
down at the same time. When the officer asks you why
you were speeding you can barely speak; your voice is
three octaves higher than usual. After the officer runs
a check on your car and license, he only gives you a
warning for speeding. Whew! He gets back in his car
and leaves. You give him time to get out of sight, start
your engine, and signal to get back onto the highway.
Within minutes your heart is calm, your palms dry, and
you start singing to the song on the radio. The threat
is over. The intensity of the acute stress may seem cata-
clysmic, but it is very short-lived.
Chronic stressors, on the other hand, are not as intense
but their duration is unbearably long. Examples might
include the following: being stuck for a whole semester
with “the roommate from hell,” a credit card bill that
only seems to grow despite monthly payments, a boss
who makes your job seem worse than that of a galley
slave, living in a city you cannot tolerate, or maintaining
a relationship with a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or
wife that seems bad to stay in but worse to leave. For
this reason, chronic stressors are thought to be the real
villains. According to the American Institute of Stress
(AIS), it is this type of stress that is associated with dis-
ease because the body is perpetually aroused for danger.
A concept called the Yerkes-Dodson principle, which
is applied to athletic performance, lends itself quite
nicely to explaining the relationship among eustress,
distress, and health. As can be seen in
Fig. 1.14
,
when stress increases, moving from eustress to distress,
performance or health decreases and there is greater
risk of disease and illness. The optimal stress level is
The Yerkes-Dodson curve illus-
trates that, to a point, stress
or arousal can actually increase
performance. Stress to the left of the midpoint is con-
sidered to be eustress. Stress beyond the midpoint,
however, is believed to detract from performance and/
or health status and is therefore labeled distress.
Good
P
e
r
f
o
r
m
a
n
c
e
Poor
Maximum Performance
Stress (Emotional Arousal)
Low
I
l
l
n
e
s
s
High
Poor performance
Poor performance
Eustress
Distress
Low
(underaroused –
bored)
High
(overaroused –
overwhelmed)
Moderate
(optimally
aroused)
FIGURE 1.1
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the release of various stress hormones throughout the
body. Note that there is a growing opinion among
some health practitioners that increased stress levels
in the 21st century may be a direct result of our being
out of touch with the natural elements that so strongly
influence our body’s physiological systems. In any
case, some of these bioecological factors can be posi-
tively influenced by lifestyle changes, including dietary
habits, exercise, and the regular practice of relaxation
techniques, which bring a sense of balance back into
our lives.
Psychointrapersonal Influences
Our current understanding is that psychointraper-
sonal influences make up the greatest percentage of
stressors. These are the perceptions of stimuli that we
create through our own mental processes. Psychoin-
trapersonal stressors involve those thoughts, values,
beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and perceptions that we
use to defend our identity or ego. When any of these is
challenged, violated, or even changed, the ego is often
threatened and the stress response is the outcome. Psy-
chointrapersonal stressors reflect the unique constructs
of our personality, and in the words of stress researcher
Kenneth Pelletier, represent “the chasm between the
perceived self and the ideal self-image.” These influ-
ences are the most likely to cause stress. For this reason
it becomes imperative to intercept the stress response
in the mind before it cascades down as a rush of stress
hormones into the body to cause potential damage.
Social Influences
Social influences have long been the subject of research
to explain the plight of individuals who are unable to
cope with their given environment. Most notable is
the issue of overcrowding and urban sprawl. Studies
conducted on several species have shown that when
their numbers exceed the territorial boundary of each
animal, despite an abundance of food and water, several
seemingly healthy animals die off (Allen, 1983). This
need for personal space appears to be universal in the
animal kingdom. This includes humans, who likewise
begin to show signs of frustration in crowded urban
areas, traffic jams, long lines at checkout stands, or
whenever their personal space is “invaded.” The origin
of this particular social influence may be instinctual
in nature. Additional social causes of stress include
financial insecurity, the effects of relocation, some tech-
nological advances, violation of human rights, and low
is often the result of rapid-onset stressors—those that
pop up unexpectedly—like a phone call in the middle
of the night or the discovery that you have lost your
car keys. Usually the body begins to react before a full
analysis of the situation is made, but a return to a state
of calm is also imminent. Chronic stressors—those that
may give some advance warning yet manage to cause
physical arousal anyway, often merit more attention
because their prolonged influence on the body appears
to be more significant. Much research has been con-
ducted to determine the nature of stressors, and they
are currently divided into three categories: bioecolog-
ical, psychointrapersonal, and social (Girdano, Everly,
and Dusek, 2012).
Bioecological Influences
Chemtrails, global warming, and genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) not withstanding, there are several
biological and ecological factors that may trigger the
stress response in varying degrees, some of which are
outside our awareness. These are external influences,
including sunlight, gravitational pull, solar flares,
and electromagnetic fields, that affect our biological
rhythms. From the field of chronobiology we learn
that these factors affect three categories of biological
rhythms: (1) circadian rhythms, fluctuations in physi-
ological functions over the course of a 24-hour period
(e.g., body temperature); (2) ultradian rhythms, fluc-
tuations that occur over less than a 24-hour period
(such as stomach contractions and cell divisions); and
(3) infradian rhythms, changes that occur in periods
longer than 24 hours (e.g., the menses). These biolog-
ical changes are influenced by such natural phenomena
as the earth’s orbit and axis rotation, which give us
periods of light and darkness as well as seasonal dif-
ferences. A prime example of a bioecological influ-
ence is seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a condition
affecting many people who live at or near the Arctic
Circle. Many of these people become depressed when
they are deprived of sunlight for prolonged periods
of time. But technological changes are also included in
this category, an example being jet lag as a result of air-
plane travel through several time zones. Electrical pol-
lution, environmental toxins, solar radiation, and noise
pollution are other potential bioecological influences.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), petrochemi-
cals, synthetic chemicals, and some types of nanotech-
nology are considered new bioecological threats. In
addition, some synthetic food additives may trigger
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