Stress Management

Thesis statement:

Because of the need to improve our daily functioning through the mitigation of stress, there is need to understand what stress is, causes of stress, and ways of recognizing stress and how to apply effective stress management strategies.

I. Stress Management

A. What is stress?

a. A normal physical and mental response to events that we engage in which changes our behavior.

b. Stress can manifest itself in acute or chronic form. Acute stress is often short lived and end when its situations causing it are addressed. Chronic stress is a long term stress and results when causal factors remain unresolved for very long time.  

B. Understanding Stress

a. Stress can develop at any environment or place where there is prevalence of causal factors. This means that no individual is insulated against stress and thus it is desirable for individual to be educated on the issues surrounding stress and how to manage it.

b. Levels of stress can be measured using well know techniques. For instance, Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale can be used to rank life stressful events while variation in blood pressure and galvanic skin response can also be measured to in order to test stress levels or any changes in stress levels.

C. Causes of Stress

a. Changes in the environment can cause stress to an individual as one attempt to respond to such changes. As an example, increased workload at school or at work place can cause stress as one tries to adapt to these changes.

b. Stress can develop when individuals expend too much time on work or when they are forced to handle excessive amount of work, then it can take its toll on your body

D. Recognizing stress

a. Stress can be recognized by cognitive symptoms. These symptoms include constant memory problems in individuals, possession of negative perception of things or events or having continuous worrying over issues.

b. Behavioral symptoms can also be used to recognize stress in individuals. Little sleep or too much sleep, use of drugs to facilitate relaxation and nervous habit like biting ones nails can indicate stress  

E. Effects of Stress

a. Stress can lead to low or under performance as individual's response to stress cause their work to suffer. As results, stress often reduces the capability of people to perform their work effectively due to the expenditure of energy in coping with stress.

b. when individuals are exposed to long-term stress, they are more likely to develop serious health problems which can disrupt almost all the body function. Stress can cause increased blood pressure, inhibit the immune system, contribute to infertility, speed up the aging process and heighten the danger of heart attack or stroke.

F. Stress management Strategies

a. Finding time to relax from work reduces stress as cases of prolonged work can lead to burnout. Individuals who take periodic rests from work can often reduce any work related stress to considerable levels or even end them.

b. Cognitive behavior therapy can be used to manage stress. This therapy attempts to influence negative thoughts of individuals. While the therapy takes about three months, it useful in making individuals identify negative perceptions that do not help individuals cope up with stress.   

G. Stress Statistics
a. According to the Labor Force Survey, there were about 415 000 individuals in Britain In 2008/09 who believed that the stress they were experiencing at work was making them unwell. This work related stress was experienced at levels that led to illness among the workers.
b. American Psychological Association conceals that about managers and executives experience high levels of stress while the self-employed experience the lowest levels of stress.

H. Time management

a. Effective time management skills are essential in the mitigation of stress. Since most the work related stress arises due to work overload, managing time means finishing tasks in good time. This therefore relieves employees or students of stress.

b. Proper time management skills help in the setting and achieving of goals through the identification of priorities, organizing one action and meet all deadlines. This enables one to avoid stress by reducing chances where one is     worried about events such as their failures.  

While it may seem that hope is gone for those that are under stress, much can be done to mitigate the effect of stress as well as provide a healing environment where individuals can feel less stressed and thus more productive. Today, it is even possible for one to enroll in a stress management course online where they can learn how to identify, cope and reduce stress that is often present in every environment whether at school, home or work. So, are you in a position to identify and manage stressful condition today?

Your thesis statement is one sentence. It will be the last sentence of your introduction. It needs to be approved by the teacher, and needs to follow the 'blank, blank and blank' format.

First main point- this will be the first sub point in your thesis.

            A point to support it

            A point to support it

Second main point- this will be the second sub point in your thesis

            A point to support it

            A point to support it

Third main point- this will be the third sub point in your thesis

            A point to support it

            A point to support it

A few sentences that could be a basis for your conclusion, which will be 4-5 sentences.