The state of stress exhausts a person, and the quality of life decreases. Moreover, each organism has an adaptive reserve of energy. Each person's reserve of strength and ability to psychologically overcome the consequences of a tense situation are individual.

There are examples of stressful situations that have the greatest impact on the individual. Any change in living conditions causes tension to which a person adapts. Let's consider the most significant stressful situations in the work and personal sphere, compiled by psychologists based on research results.

Stress in everyday life

Any stressful event should be considered as an interaction between a person and his environment. The same situations will become critical for some, while others can cope with them. What can influence the degree of tension?

1. Character, temperament, self-esteem. Anxious people are more susceptible to the influence of critical circumstances. A person with weak potential in life is quickly exhausted; he does not have enough resources to fight.
2. Age periods. At every stage of life there are moments of vulnerability and vulnerability. The critical group includes teenagers, pregnant women, and the elderly.
3. A person who is exhausted during illness experiences stress more acutely, since the illness is a critical factor.

Events that lead to social, financial and physical changes cause tension. Psychologists have developed situations that significantly affect health, moral well-being and adaptive capacity. There is a special rating of the most traumatic moments.

Scale of stressful life events in descending order

Various authors worked on the development of stress examples, but the very first were the American psychiatrists Holmes and Rey. Their analysis is related to the dependence of diseases on traumatic events occurring in life. Scientists worked with a large database of patients; data from five thousand people was processed.

The psychiatrists' findings were presented in a special table, which described severe stressful situations in life.

1. In the first place is the death of a loved one or loved one. The stages of experiencing death are long, sometimes a person cannot recover from it until the end of his life.
2. After experiencing death, divorce is the hardest thing to endure. exceeds acceptable standards, since a person has to cope with stress at all levels.
3. Going to prison is assessed as a strong stress factor. In some cases, being put on trial by a family member also affects his relatives. This is a strong emotional burden for the family.
4. Illness or injury is acutely experienced. Situations associated with illness are critical due to loss of performance, and the awareness of one’s own inferiority, for example, in case of injury, is a strong stress for the modern personality.

There are not only negative events in life; scientists have found that positive situations also affect the level of tension. Positive situations on the tension scale include:

• wedding;
• reconciliation with a loved one;
• retirement;
• pregnancy;
• vacation, holidays.

Sexual problems, difficulties with debt collectors due to overdue debts, conflicts in relationships, relocation and change of residence reduce resources and affect stress. There are more examples of stress factors in modern life. Stress was added to the table due to traffic jams, loss of a mobile phone, news of disasters and terrorist attacks.

Each factor is assessed by points; if several events overlap, then stress becomes high and can pose a threat to health.

Stress at work

In addition to everyday life, it is worth highlighting a separate group. Work situations that cause tension are at the initial level on the stress scale. Problems at work affect health, the psychological climate in the team, and general moral well-being. Let's look at examples of work-related traumatic moments.

The employee is overloaded with work tasks, he does not fit into the allotted time period, and is forced to stay late at work. The main feelings of a person in this case are constant anxiety, fear of not being on time, fatigue.

Interestingly, inactivity at work can evoke the same emotions.

Conflict of instructions. This stress factor arises due to inconsistency in management. The employee is given instructions that contradict each other. Requirements may fundamentally contradict, this causes tension, and a person cannot effectively carry out any of the instructions.

Instability, anticipation of bad news. Some companies from time to time experience crisis situations or are on the verge of bankruptcy. Employees of such organizations are subject to constant fear. Unrest is associated with the possibility of wage delays, layoffs, and the need to look for a new job.

Boring activities at work. Uninteresting tasks affect your emotional state. A person uses any options to avoid completing work assignments. Moreover, the same activity will be interesting for one, but not for another. This is a matter of professional preference.

Poor working conditions. Poor lighting, dampness, cold, noise - these situations negatively affect a person and cause him to experience stress.

Mobbing in a team. Bullying in a team is one of the most powerful experiences at work. In a situation of psychological discomfort, a person may become ill; mobbing is one of the most common reasons for dismissal.

Some stressful events can be anticipated and you can try to prepare for them. For example, in a situation of pregnancy, a woman goes to courses and reads literature in order to be ready for a new role. Other situations cannot be predicted; they become a shock and cause severe stress. This is the death of a family member or illness. A person can overcome some of the negative moments; they become a life lesson for him. For example, an employee managed to build a time management system and cope with the workload.

Video: Psychological workshop by Evgeny Yakushev “How to deal with stress”

Moscow City

psychological and pedagogical UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Social Psychology

Course work

on the topic “Stress in a person’s life. Overcoming it"

Completed by a student

Scientific director

Moscow, 2010

Introduction

Light feelings often last a very long time, nothing crushes them, because nothing strains them; they follow circumstances and disappear with them, while deep attachments are completely torn apart, leaving painful wounds in their place.

A. Steel

Seeing and feeling is being, thinking is living.

W. Shakespeare

It is impossible not to agree with the above quotes. Feelings and emotions flow at the same pace as our lives. Sadness, despondency and other emotional experiences overwhelm us when we are faced with various problems that we cannot immediately overcome. And vice versa, we rejoice and rejoice when everything works out. Our emotions, our internal sensations are a kind of indicator of our individual perception of the situation. And they affect our mood and even the subsequent perception of the changes taking place. “We evaluate everything that fate sends us based on our mood.”

Sometimes it happens that when we find ourselves in the center of something joyful, we cannot appreciate it with dignity. More often than not, this happens because we are distracted and focused, for the most part, on other emotions. And negative experiences, in this context, distract us much more effectively from what is happening in the present time. Such experiences can be both short-term and long-term. In the case of experiences that greatly affect a person and affect him for a certain amount of time, scientists call this stress.

“Stress (in psychology) is a state of mental tension that arises in a person in the process of activity in the most complex, difficult conditions, both in everyday life and under special circumstances, for example during a space flight, in preparation for graduation exam or before the start of a sporting competition."

Stressful situations occur in the life of every person, since the presence of stressful impulses in all areas human life and activity is beyond doubt. Stress has a significant impact on both the physical health of the body and its mental processes, on the social and psychological functions of a person. This is reflected in all spheres of human life and leaves a certain imprint on his capabilities and ways of interacting with the outside world. The influence of this mental process can be large-scale, from a long-term uncomfortable-negative emotional state to, as mentioned above, physiological and mental disorders. Therefore, it is so important for a person to be able to identify this state in himself and get out of it correctly.

Currently, the problem of the influence of stress on human health and activity is becoming increasingly popular. Because in connection with the “technological breakthrough” that humanity has achieved, the pace of our lives has increased sharply over the past decades. Sometimes people simply can’t keep up with him. Due to this and many other factors, a person’s mood deteriorates, self-esteem falls, and some intractability of problems can lead a person to a stressful state.

But we cannot talk about stress only as a negative process in our life. It can be said that exposure to stress affects a person both negatively and with some positive connotations. Only negative emotions overwhelm us, and therefore we do not always understand that stress has helped us and introduced us to another side of this multifaceted life.

“Everything in life that does not kill me makes me stronger,” said Friedrich Nietzsche. This phrase also applies to stressful experiences.

When faced with any situation, a person will react to it. In the case when an individual does not have the feeling of being unable to solve a problem, and he copes with certain tasks, he will experience positive emotions, and his self-confidence will increase. In situations that negatively affect a person, which cause him difficulty in determining an appropriate model of behavior, or its outcome turns out to be negative, the individual may feel dissatisfaction, despondency, and sadness. And the longer a problematic situation drags on, the more it burdens a person. And this can lead to stress. However, with such negative aspects, information about this situation, which complicated his life, will remain in the memory of this individual. Most likely, next time this person will either find a suitable solution faster or try not to be at the center of the situation.

All this information suggests that the topic of stress is very voluminous. It is like a certain result of the interaction of life processes, which are distinguished by their non-standard nature and various emotional manifestations.

But, despite some controversial issues affecting the topic of stress, it is necessary for every person to know about the effect of stress on human physiology, on some psychological aspects, since everyone encounters stressful situations.

The relevance of the work lies in the emphasis on the main thematic characteristics of the topic under consideration “Stress in human life. Overcoming it."

The object of the study is students.

The subject of the study is resistance to stress as a personality characteristic.

The purpose of the study is to identify the type of stress resistance.

Hypothesis – students studying at the Faculty of Humanities are more susceptible to stress

Objectives – *determining the degree of stress resistance

* determination of the difference in the results of males and females.

About psychological stress

Today, the topic of stress is very relevant. It manifests itself both in scientific discussions and in journalistic materials. It turns out that you can find a lot of information on the topic of stress, and it even happens that it can be contradictory. What is stress? Nemov considers stress as a type of affect, defining it as “a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological tension that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives emotional overload. Stress disorganizes a person’s activities and disrupts the normal course of his behavior.”

G. Selye, who introduced the concept of stress in 1936, defines stress as “a nonspecific response of the body to any demand presented to it,” a state of mental tension caused by performing activities in particularly difficult conditions.

Literally this word is translated as “tension”, and quite often it refers to a wide range of human conditions. But this is always a tension of the entire human body, responding to the influence of various factors, both physical and psychological. From the point of view of the stress response, it does not matter whether the situation we are faced with is pleasant or unpleasant. All that matters is the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. The man, who was notified of the death of his wife, experienced a severe shock, even shock. They say that at such moments some people don’t even want to live in the world anymore. However, after some time, this man may be contacted and told that his wife was confused with another woman, and the wife, ironically, felt unwell on the street and, having lost consciousness, could not contact her husband and calm him down. Thus, the man will feel happiness, joy that his loved one is still unharmed, and will again feel inner strength and good mood.

From this example we can see how different situations can affect a person, but there are some general points that can be seen here. Those results that came from these events - a situation that brought grief to a person and another that, on the contrary, made him happy - turn out to be absolutely different, even opposite, but their impact, a kind of stressor, will be a non-specific requirement for adaptation to new life elements, which distinguishes they have a common mechanism.

The body is constantly under the influence of environmental conditions, and there is a so-called opposition of its abilities, for example, the ability to adapt to the situation. Stress is a set of adapted reactions designed just in case, which is called general adaptation syndrome (GAS).

The main stages in the development of the general adaptation syndrome were put forward by Selye, demonstrating the universal concept of stress. The first stage, called the anxiety stage, involves the body encountering stress. Reactions corresponding to this stage occur almost instantly, and they are associated with preparation for new conditions and emergency situations. appropriate actions to these conditions. Initially, the nature of the situation that has occurred is unclear to the body, and this fact contributes to the activation of the next phase - the resistance phase, also called the resistance phase, that is, “innate immunity”. It mobilizes the body's strength to combat stress. The action of the defense mechanism helps the body adapt to new conditions and resist the effects of stressors. This stage, in addition to enhancing mobilization, activates the functions of attention, memory, and thinking processes. In this way, the person is provided with an adequate way to overcome difficult situation, find the best model behavior.

However, not always, even when the first two phases are activated, a person finds a positive way out of the situation, which delays the search for new tactics and strategies of behavior and keeps the individual in a stressful state.

Here a state of distress already develops, which most people call stress. The resistance phase continues to operate, since the body has not overcome the stressful situation, and its action, its struggle becomes more intense, which leads to the third phase - the phase of exhaustion. During this phase, serious disturbances in biological and psychological adaptation occur. The body's resources are depleted, weakness and other negative symptoms appear, which lead to various diseases, as a result of which borderline conditions develop. These conditions include primarily neuroses - “psychogenic neuropsychic personality disorders, manifested in specific clinical phenomena in the absence of psychotic phenomena.” Aggression, anxiety, depression, phobias and many other conditions indicate an unresolved stressful situation that has taken root and is a consequence psychological disorders.

So, the concept of “stress” covers many different mental states that are characterized by extreme tension and arise as a result of the action of extreme stimuli (stressors).

There are many types of stress, but in general, its effects can be divided into physiological and psychological. Physiological stress is characterized by tension in physiological functions, and psychological stress is characterized by a violation of the harmony of the individual, its imbalance, and there is often a joint interaction of these types on a person.

Physiological stress is characterized by the direct effect of a certain stimulus on the body. Let's imagine that a chef is preparing food in the kitchen; with an awkward movement, he hooks his sleeve on the handle of a pan in which water is boiling. Realizing that the pan is falling, the cook tries to hold it, but since he was not wearing gloves, and the pan is very hot, the cook pulls his hand back and the pan still falls to the floor.

Psychological stress is more complex internal state. Therefore, a mandatory analysis of the significance of the situation is required here, taking into account the characteristics of the individual’s personality and his intellectual processes. Physiological stress represents some stereotypical response of an individual, while psychological stress is absolutely unpredictable and depends on the characteristics of the individual. Also, a situation that does not have objective reasons for stress can also create psychological stress, and that is why objectivity is an ineffective assistant in the analysis of psychological stress, because everything depends on individual perception. All this complicates the ability to identify universal psychological stimuli, stressors, and the environment that provokes them. Each approach should be different from the other in its individuality. For example, even a very weak stimulus in a certain situation can provoke psychological stress, but a very strong one may not affect a person in any way. Therefore, many aspects need to be taken into account in order to understand the reason that contributed to the development of this condition. This is especially true in litigation.

Ustimov divides psychological stress into emotional and informational. Information stress occurs when a person does not keep up with the pace created by the life situation, it is difficult for him to make the right decision and, thus, he cannot cope with his goal. An example of this could be an emergency situation. States of emotional stress arise in extreme situations that carry extreme danger and they are more traumatic for a person’s personal foundations.

Selye also introduced the concepts of “eustress” and “distress,” thus differentiating the concept of stress. Eustress is a positively colored emotional response of the body to the demands placed on it, corresponding to its resources, that is, a person sees some obstacle in front of him and, since he does not have a lack of resources, overcomes it. But here is another situation: when a person is faced with a problem, but he does not have the resources to solve it, then this will be characterized by negative experiences and have a negative emotional coloring. This is precisely what can be called distress. But despite the heterogeneity of the above examples, despite the dissimilarity of a person’s perception of these situations, in both the first and second cases, no matter what stress is - positive or negative, it will always be a consequence of change, loss of balance.

Based on this, many people perceive the concept of “stress” as a negative factor in our life, which must be avoided in every possible way. The previously widespread phrase “all diseases are from nerves” has been transformed - “all diseases are from stress.” And it turns out that this phrase is not unfounded. “According to the World Health Organization, almost half of all diseases (45% to be exact) are fundamentally related to stress. Some experts, based on the most serious data, believe that this figure is underestimated by half, and almost all ailments of the human body, with a few exceptions, are caused by the stress of everyday life - interpersonal conflicts, betrayed trust, unfulfilled hopes, uncertainty, feelings of jealousy, guilt... Doctors operate on another important fact: they claim that from 30 to 50% of those visiting clinics are practically healthy people, and all they need is just some correction of their emotional state.”

This information makes us think deeply about the way we live. This begs the question: is it even worth living in big cities, where events have a dynamic dynamic of intensive development, because a person has to adapt to this pace, and if this cannot be done, then stress cannot be avoided. It is much easier to isolate ourselves from all events that, at least indirectly, can affect us negatively. A good example here there will be a pig in a brick house from the fairy tale “About the Three Little Pigs.”

However, reason dictates that it is impossible to isolate yourself from all life’s trials, it is impossible to sit all your life in your “brick house.” After all, not only external changes can influence us, changing our mood, varying our peace of mind. We ourselves, protecting ourselves from troubles, being in a “brick house,” can create for ourselves an ideal situation for the development of a stressful state.

“We ourselves create the world around us. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we be offended by the life we ​​have created for ourselves? Who to blame, who to thank, except ourselves! Who, besides us, can change it as soon as he wishes? .

Our life will always be filled with victories and defeats, and constantly avoiding stress clearly does not guarantee a calm existence, this is not a universal way. Everyone can remember people they know who are cheerful, healthy and full of energy, although they too have had to endure prolonged stress, most likely many times. And on the contrary, in memory there will also be acquaintances who are always too cautious, who live without much tension and still look sick and distrustful. Most likely, such cautious people have dissatisfaction with life; they may not even realize it, but this is the case.

“Stress should not be avoided. No matter what you do or what happens to you, there is always a need for energy to maintain life, fight off attack and adapt to constantly changing external influences. Even in a state of complete relaxation, a sleeping person experiences some stress. The heart continues to pump blood, the intestines continue to digest yesterday's dinner, and the respiratory muscles ensure the movement of the chest. Even the brain is not completely at rest during periods of dreaming.

Complete freedom from stress means death. Stress is associated with pleasant and unpleasant experiences. The level of physiological stress is lowest in moments of indifference, but is never zero (as stated above, this would mean death). Pleasant and unpleasant emotional arousal is accompanied by an increase in physiological stress (but not necessarily distress).”

Positive stress, negative stress. Causes of stress

Stress is the taste and aroma of life

G. Selye

There are many examples that stress has a beneficial effect on the body, significantly increasing a person’s performance. Short-term positive stress does not harm us, but on the contrary, “tempers” us for subsequent difficult situations.

More and more Russians are deciding to take the desperate step of baptism. And every year the ranks of such people, united by a common interest, are replenished. Some repeat this feat more than once. These people experience real stress, and double stress: psychological - it is very difficult to force themselves to jump into an ice hole when the thermometer reaches minus 20 degrees Celsius, and, of course, they experience physiological stress, because in such weather it is comfortable to wear warm clothes and insulated shoes , but not like not in swimming trunks. It becomes very interesting to understand what is happening to the diver’s body at these moments?

The answer to this question was found in laboratory conditions. A healthy subject, a forty-three-year-old man, took part in an experiment that was conducted by researchers at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Physical Education and Sports. The experiment looked like this: at the very beginning, the subject took a blood test, then, for a short time, he was immersed in a bath of ice water, after which his blood was taken again. Maxim Shkurnikov, Ph.D., senior researcher at VNIIFK, announces the result: “The test subject’s blood concentration of adrenaline increased by more than 7 times. At the level of the body, the blood supply to the skin of the subject sharply decreased, digestion processes practically stopped and, at the same time, the supply of glucose to the brain and blood to the muscles increased.” Classic cold stress, as experts describe it. The body has prepared to defend its life. In fact, we know that there were no threats to life, however, during the experiment, doctors knew about this, and the body, saving itself, used all its hidden reserves to combat stress.

In order to trigger internal reserves, some kind of signal is needed. It turns out to be a kind of stressful situation for the body: some relatively new impact is unusual for it. Protecting itself from a new influence, which is unknown how it will affect us, the body concentrates its main forces and suspends its usual processes. Sergey Sudakov, director of the Research Institute of Ordinary Physiology named after. P.K. Anokhina RAMS, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, says that short stress is beneficial for humans. If you train in this way, then in the future it will be easier for this person to cope with stressful situations, and prolonged stress will be overcome faster. In a word, stress does not kill, but it can even heal.

Another positive side of stress is the ability to effectively perform any activity. We are not talking about prolonged stress, but about its short-term manifestation. A good example here would be a test session for a student. Of course, this situation has an aggravating effect: the student, as a rule, worries, these are especially important days for him. It turns out that he feels psychological stress, which also transfers to the student’s physiology. As a consequence of this, the student, at the time of passing the session, ceases to be a person.

“...How long can a person stay awake? Well, a day, well, two... and it’s over! It's breaking! A student can take a test, not sleep for a week, not give up chess, and even manage to fall in love.”

From this we can conclude that stress can still affect a person positively. However, it should be noted that it is a short-term situation of stress that can have such an effect, but in the case of prolonged, chronic stress, the opposite effect is observed. Chronic stress negatively affects a person. If the pressure of the environment or internal environment lasts too long, then the body cannot maintain a constant heightened combat readiness. And at some point, if there is no relief from stress, a state of exhaustion and breakdown is already observed. It is this anxious state that we experience in everyday life and call it stress, and as it turns out, it is a mistake, since we associate this concept only with negativity.

Therefore, it is so necessary to understand the difference between stressful situations. People need to avoid or at least be conscious of possible “provocateurs” of negative, chronic stress. To maintain the integrity of your personality and your health - this is why you need to know about the causes that contribute to the development of stress.

The reasons that favorably influence the occurrence of emotional stress are often related to extreme situations that everyone encounters along the path of life. Here we can absolutely freely state that these situations can be associated with the influence of organizational aspects of activity, as well as social, environmental and technical ones. This stressful state is based on violations of the information-cognitive processes of activity regulation. Based on this, any life event, an integral part of which will be accompanied by mental tension, which is independent of the individual’s sphere of life, may turn out to be a source of emotional stress or have a beneficial effect on the development of this process.

It follows from this that a stressful situation can develop not only with the help of negative features of a person’s work process, but also with a wide variety of events in his life, with activities that can occur in any life topic, the same applies to communication and cognitive elements the surrounding world. Therefore, before pointing out the reasons for the appearance of emotional stress in a person’s life or in one’s life, one must first take into account the importance and peculiarity of the influence of various human life situations that can be a source of stress. Very often we are assigned certain requirements, we become responsible for fulfilling these requirements, we are assigned a certain role. It often happens that we can characterize several roles. For example, a woman who has a small child must “play” the role of a mother, that is, society has already set certain goals in relation to this status and she must achieve and implement them. But it is also possible that this woman is still studying at the university and another status is assigned here - the status of a student, which, like the status of a mother, has a certain pattern. It turns out that there is a pattern of certain actions attributed to status, but it is also necessary to be able to carry out what is expected of us, without disappointing the people around us and ourselves.

The famous American sociologist Robert Merton calls this social structure, and points out that it has two important components. The first is the essential goals set by society, the second is the means that are used to achieve the goal. But in life it is not always possible to find resources to achieve goals, to confirm one’s role status and, in such cases, role tension arises. Role tension does not have a clear beginning and a clear end. It can appear and disappear, and then reappear in a person, which leads to chronic stress.

Also, natural and man-made events in our lives can be a source of traumatic impact, especially if they become a disaster - war and the problems that accompany it (for example, famine), as well as individual traumas.

As interest in this topic grew more and more, it began to be studied and stressors that provoked a stressful state of the individual were identified. S. Razumov differentiated stressors directly or indirectly involved in the organization of an anxiety-stress reaction in a person into four groups:

Active activity stressors: a) extreme stressors
(combat, space flight, scuba diving, parachute jumping, mine clearance, etc.); b) production stressors (associated with great responsibility, lack of time); c) stressors of psychosocial motivation (competitions, contests, exams).

Evaluation stressors (evaluation of upcoming, present or past activities): a) “start” - stressors and memory stressors (upcoming competitions, medical procedures, memories of experienced grief, anticipation of a threat); b) victories and defeats (victory in a competition, academic success, love, defeat, death or illness of a loved one); c) spectacle.

Stressors of discrepancy between activities: a) disunity (conflicts in the family, at work, threat or unexpected but significant news); 6) psychosocial and physiological limitations (sensory deprivation, muscle deprivation, illness, parental discomfort, hunger).

Physical and natural stressors (muscular stress, injury, darkness, strong sound, pitching, height, heat, earthquake).

Anokhin P. identified anxiety as a concomitant component of stress and pointed out that either the impact of anxiety factors or their anticipation contributes to the formation of a stressful situation. The anxious desire that accompanies the desire to achieve a goal may intensify, and in this case, it will interfere with the person, influence his mood, cultivating in his soul doubt in his abilities and helplessness.

That is, it turns out that in our lives there are many factors that create a stressful state. Stress can be physical, it can be psychological, and the solution to the second type of stress for many people is not an easy task. Therefore, you need to be able to protect yourself from emotional stress and be able to overcome an anxious state.

Ways to correct the negative consequences of stress

“...we cannot avoid stress, but we can use it if we better understand its mechanisms and develop an adequate philosophy of life”

G. Selye

The experiment “Perceptual assessment of the type of stress resistance” shows that all people must respond to stress, they are susceptible to any changes. Consequently, it doesn’t really matter where a person studies: in a technical university or in the humanities, it doesn’t matter who he works for. Thus, experiencing stress and being susceptible to its consequences is normal for humans. The main task is the ability to cope with these consequences, overcome them in order to live a full life. The ability to control events, to be able to influence the outcome of a situation are those qualities that reduce the stress potential of the environment and its Negative influence per person. Also, in order to overcome the negative impact of unfavorable conditions on a person’s activities and his inner world, the volitional qualities of the individual play a significant role. The French writer and moralist Francois De La Rochefoucauld noted in his writings that more often, we justify ourselves in our own eyes, consoling ourselves and convincing ourselves that we were unable to achieve our goal, although in fact, the outcome of events is decided by our will. Considering the action of a person’s volitional qualities in a stressful situation, his emotional experiences will no longer be in the first place in his consciousness. It is also very important to recognize the differences in the individual – typical nature of the nervous system and the personality as a whole, since these indicators affect the processes of regulation of mental states and the individual’s reactions in a stressful environment. Interesting data was noted by Tony Mealey regarding people's reactions to the effects of stressors. He paid close attention to employees whose left hand dominated their activities and it turned out that more than 60% suffered from various stresses. At the same time, left-handers referred to many reasons from their personal lives (family problems, career failures, etc.), but did not name the only correct one. Indeed, the basis of such stressful situations, as a rule, is the difficulty of adapting to another world, since left-handers are “right-brained” individuals, but one needs to adapt to “a world that is “left-brained”.”

It is known that people who have a high strength of the nervous system are characterized by greater stability; they tolerate stressful situations better than those people who have a weak strength of the nervous system. It turned out that personality characteristics influence both the ability to deal with stress and the ability to resist diseases that have a stress basis. Psychologist Susan Kobasa notes that cheerful people are more resilient psychologically. There are three main characteristics that make up endurance: control, self-esteem and criticality. Control is defined and measured by locus of control. Self-esteem is the value attributed to one's capabilities, one's personality. Criticality is a quality that helps to evaluate one’s actions, makes it possible to understand mistakes and provides the opportunity to weigh the arguments for and against the hypotheses presented. The influence of all three factors is important. For example, the effect of self-esteem is that people with low self-esteem reflect higher levels of fear or anxiety in a threatening situation. Such people have a lack of confidence in their own abilities to overcome difficulties. Therefore, people are often less energetic, tend to obey the conditions of the situation, and try to avoid responsibility for their actions, because they are convinced that they do not have enough strength to cope with it.

Thus, it becomes clear that stress is largely an individual phenomenon.

The main aspect psychological assistance in overcoming the negative consequences of stress and preventing them is to teach a person certain techniques, increase self-confidence and self-acceptance, and develop skills to behave in stressful situations.

Selye in his works showed that the unpredictability and uncontrollability of a certain event is more dangerous than the predictability and the ability to control it. People's understanding of the consequences of the situation, their certain forecast with the assumption of influence on certain points, reduces the risk of strong exposure to stressors and provides some opportunity to protect themselves, to protect themselves from troubles.

There is a division of human reactions to stress:

1. Stress reaction.

It is characterized by the impact of an unfavorable factor and its influence on the creation of a stressful situation. A person adapts to these conditions and it can be either conscious or unconscious. Adaptation can be successful, or the so-called “bad adaptation” results, which causes mental or physical abnormalities.

2. Passivity.

When a person’s adaptive reserve is insufficient and the body has difficulty resisting a stressful situation, passivity occurs. It can manifest itself in the form of depression, helplessness, and apathy. But this stress reaction is usually transient.

The following two reactions are subject to the volitional qualities of a person and have the property of activity.

3. Active protection against stress.

When faced with a stressful effect on his body, a person changes his environment, finds positive moments that satisfy his mental needs and contribute to improvement. physical condition. This, for example, is the emergence of a new type of activity: a set of physical exercises, drawing, singing, gardening.

4. Active relaxation.

Relaxes the body, increases the ability to adapt most favorably to new conditions. Positively affects physical and mental state. Most effective.

As noted earlier, experiencing stress is an individual and even private process. Any event can cause stress. Scientists Reich and Holmes, based on many years of research, have compiled a list of the most pressing changes in life that provoke stress. This list contains both negative changes (Death of a spouse, imprisonment, divorce, injury) and positive ones (Wedding, birth of a child, reconciliation of spouses). All these events will definitely have an impact on a person and, as a result, stress may arise. This can always be felt, in addition to this, Schaeffer identified signs of stress:

1. The feeling of being unable to concentrate on something.

2. The appearance of frequent errors in activities.

3. Deterioration of memory processes.

4. An accompanying feeling of fatigue throughout the day.

5. Very fast speech.

6. Often a person forgets what he wanted to say.

7. Headaches, weakness, and cramps in the stomach may occur.

8. Possible increased excitability.

9. Loss of positive emotions and job satisfaction.

10. Loss of sense of humor.

11. Alcohol addiction may develop.

12. An addiction to tobacco products may develop.

13. Frequent feeling of hunger.

14. Loss of food taste, decreased appetite.

15. Feeling of difficulties preventing you from finishing work on time.

1. It is necessary to have sufficient information about the possibility of certain life situations that may negatively affect a person.

2. It is necessary to suggest how undesirable events can be prevented so as not to provoke a critical situation or, in extreme cases, find ways to mitigate it.

3. You need to draw conclusions in a state of emotional calm and avoid summing up rashly, before the expected events begin.

4. It must be remembered that most stressful situations can be resolved by a person himself, without the help of specialists.

5. It is very important to be determined to solve the problem, not to be afraid to spend energy and strength to solve the situation - this is one of the main conditions for active resistance to stress. You need to try not to give in to despair; on the contrary, strive to actively intervene in a situation that provokes stress.

6. It is necessary to understand that any changes, including negative ones, are an integral part of human life.

7. Relaxation techniques are effective and better help cope with stress.

8. An active lifestyle creates a protective background in the body against stress, thus improving the activity of adaptive organisms. And this helps create favorable opportunities for developing the ability to control one’s own behavior and one’s reactions to stress.

9. To reduce the negative impact of stress, the existence of certain emotional rear areas is necessary; they help to gain a sense of self-confidence and provide emotional and moral support.

10. Some public institutions can help in overcoming stressful life situations: for example, courses for expectant mothers, preschool institutions, consultations for young spouses and others.

Interesting way The Parchment Man suggests getting rid of stress; this method is called “Robinson’s List”. In his words, people quite often find themselves in situations when it seems that they have no strength to live on, and it seems that the world has “collapsed.” Not all people can turn to specialists or even their loved ones, since not everyone has them, and, once in a stressful situation, a person loses faith in himself and the desire to fight. “Robinson's List” will also be relevant for people who do not want or cannot turn to their loved ones for help. The main principle here is to write down on a piece of paper everything that is tormenting a person at the moment. The recording itself will help ease the soul. Next, after the most sorrowful thoughts have been recorded, opposite each entry you need to note some positive points. Thus, by laying out the path of distress, a person helps himself to set himself on the path to recovery. The effectiveness of this method lies in the fact that:

1. Discharge is achieved, as a person tries to stop his own torment, worries, and despair with his recording.

2. The effect of self-hypnosis is interrupted, when a person is haunted by obsessive thoughts about the hopelessness of the situation, about the impossibility of finding a way out, and the distressing situation is “increased.”

3. Having written down a traumatic event on paper, a person makes the first conclusions, the first conclusions, thereby stopping the process of narrowing consciousness, which is characteristic of a person in a situation of severe stress.

4. An act of accepting the misfortune is performed - having described his condition, the person comes to terms with what happened (stops sprinkling ashes on his head).

5. An analysis of the situation begins, which means a reduction in emotional tension due to the inclusion of the intellectual component of consciousness in the action.

6. Anyone in trouble can already begin to act - both his thinking and emotional apparatuses work evenly, and he can connect his activity apparatus.

Rational analysis, visualization of events, the voice of reason helped Robinson - he first came to terms with his situation, and then began to look for a way out of the current situation, the same will happen with any other person. This method motivates a person to take actions that will help solve problems and not give up.

conclusions

So, combining all of the above, we can conclude that stress is a necessary response of the body to constantly changing environmental conditions. Stress ensures human adaptation and flexibility.

It is important to understand that research into mental adaptation is necessary when considering such a topic as the effect of stress on a person. It is also necessary to take into account the conditions of the internal and external environment, the mental state of the individual. The analysis of these parameters is a significant part in the study of human psychology.

As it has already become clear to us, stress is an important element in the life of every person, and excluding this element or avoiding it is impossible. The creative, formative, stimulating influence of stress in the difficult processes of education and upbringing is also important. However, as they say, everything in moderation. Stressful influences should not exceed a person’s ability to adapt to them, as this can lead to a deterioration in well-being and various diseases - both neurotic and somatic.

It has now been proven that stress is not a disease. If we imagine that stress will not affect us, then people will not be able to understand: where is happiness and where is grief, where to laugh and where to be sad. Life, in such a manifestation, would be frozen and unnatural. Surprising as it may seem, it is stress that helps maintain the activity of the body’s systems in a normal state. The level of stress is some indicator of our life. You don’t need to overdo it or push yourself to the point of exhaustion, but you also shouldn’t constantly isolate yourself from everything new in order to preserve your nerves.

Unfortunately, few of us can find a way out of a stressful situation in time; not everyone knows how to maintain the body’s defenses against exhaustion. And losing in this fight affects our health, well-being, and mood.

Therefore, the main thing is to maintain faith in yourself, continue to value yourself as an individual and be able to face stress not as a turning point in life, but as a certain stage, a barrier, overcoming which will open up opportunities to move on.

This work helped me understand the following points:

Stress is an integral part of any human life

· Stress contributes to the formation of many processes, in particular, the adaptation process

· Stress does not always lead to negative consequences

· There are two types of stress, one is positive and the other is negative.

· In most cases, a person can cope with the consequences of a stressful situation on his own

Empirical part

“Perceptual assessment of the type of stress resistance”

Subject of study – resistance to stress as a personality characteristic

Object of study – there are two student groups, one of which is studying at the technical faculty (MSUP), the other at the humanities faculty (RGSU)

Target – identifying the type of stress resistance

Hypothesis – students studying at the Faculty of Humanities are more susceptible to stress

Tasks – *determining the degree of stress resistance

*identification of the supposed difference in the types of stress resistance of technical and humanities faculties

* determination of the difference in the results of male and female

Instructions – The technique consists of 20 questions, where three possible answers are allowed: “Yes”, “No”, “I don’t know”. The answer “Yes” is scored as 2 points, the answer “No” – 0 points, the answer “I don’t know” – 1 point. The sum of points reflects the type of stress resistance of the individual.

Analysis – Analysis of a student group studying at the Faculty of Humanities (RGSU)

Girls: 82% are people who show instability to stress and are highly sensitive to changes in life.

15% are the type of people who are also sensitive to stress, but their distinguishing feature is assertiveness and hyperactivity in achieving the desired result.

3% belong to the type that most often exhibits the properties of stress resistance and such people most often do not achieve mental imbalance.

Boys: 53% are people who show instability to stress and are highly sensitive to changes in life.

Analysis of a student group studying at the technical faculty (MSUP)

Girls:52% are the type of people who are also sensitive to stress, but their distinguishing feature is assertiveness and hyperactivity in achieving the desired result.

43% are people who are unstable to stress and highly sensitive to changes in life.

5% belong to the type that most often exhibits the properties of stress resistance and such people most often do not achieve mental imbalance.

Boys:58% belong to people who show instability to stress and are highly sensitive to changes in life.

42% are the type of people who are also sensitive to stress, but their distinguishing feature is assertiveness and hyperactivity in achieving the desired result.

Conclusion – Most students are exposed to stressful situations. Students studying at the Faculty of Humanities are less stress-resistant than students studying at the Faculty of Engineering. According to the data obtained, young men (faculty of humanities) are more assertive and active in achieving goals than young men studying at the technical faculty. Girls (Faculty of Humanities) are less stress-resistant than girls studying at the Faculty of Engineering. Students at the Faculty of Humanities, boys are more resistant to stress than girls. Students at the technical faculty, girls are more stress-resistant than boys.

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U Ralsky state economic university

RolestressVlifeperson

Ekaterinburg 2010

Introduction

1 The concept of stress. The main causes of stress

1.1 Concept of stress

1.2 Main causes of stress

1.3 Stress factors

1.4 Signs of stress

2 The role of stress in human life

2.1 Characteristics of the insurance company "Northern Treasury". Possible stresses of an insurance agent

2.2 Analysis of stress in the workplace using the example of employees of the Severnaya Kazna insurance company

Conclusion

List of sources used

Introduction

With the transition to comprehensive automation of production, the role of man as a subject of labor and management increases. The person is responsible for effective work all technical system and the mistake he makes can lead in some cases to very serious consequences.

The study and design of such systems created the necessary prerequisites for combining technical disciplines and sciences about man and his work activity, and led to the emergence of new research problems. These are tasks related to describing the characteristics of a person as a component of an automated system. We are talking about the processes of information perception, memory, decision making, movement studies, problems of motivation, readiness for activity, stress.

The fashionable and at the same time frightening word “stress” (“pressure”) came to us from the world of the Inquisition, where it meant the degree of physical pressure with the help of pressure in order to extract a confession from the victim during torture. And, although the Inquisition passed long ago, the psychological and psychophysiological torture that we experience during stress not only did not go away, but even intensified in the process of civilization development. There is hardly a person today who has not experienced stressful experiences to one degree or another. All those who work in business, in small and large companies, are especially familiar with it. - from simple performers to HR managers and company leaders. Stress knows no boundaries, it is international and permeates all states, civilizations and cultures, both the most highly developed and the poorest. According to American sociologists, approximately 20% of the costs and losses associated with staff turnover, absenteeism, resistance to organizational change and a drop in labor productivity are generated by professional neuroses and stress. American economists estimate the annual national damage from stress factors at $500 million! In Russia, according to sociological research, every third worker experiences severe stress at least once a week, and 13% of workers - almost every day.

Every, someone who works, sets goals for themselves, but achieves something completely different from what they wanted (and in business this is the norm), who communicates and periodically experiences any problems in communication can trace how in the process of work they go through three stages of stress. If the workload exceeds his capabilities, then the person begins to experience unhealthy excitement, anxiety, some kind of painful activity that does not resolve into healthy action, but remains at the level of unexpressed experiences. This is the first phase of stress, accompanied by a feeling of discomfort. It becomes more difficult for a person to work and communicate both with others and with himself. If we have a responsible person and a disciplined worker in front of us, then he begins to fight stress, resist excitement and discomfort and tries to extinguish excitement and anxiety. This struggle can be expressed in various forms- escape from stress in any activities and actions and irritated release of stressful experiences outside during work and communication. These two reactions (“fight” and “flight”) refer to the legacy left to modern man by his primitive counterpart. But if at the dawn of history a person did not need to comply with the norms of civilized behavior, and it was enough to act based on the balance of forces (i.e., attack in response or run away), then today you need to play a role, be politically correct and self-possessed.

All this determines the relevance of the topic of the work - the role of stress in human life.

The purpose of this work is to study the concept of stress and its role in human life.

The subject of the study is stress in human life. The object of practical research is the insurance company "Northern Treasury", which deals with insurance where occupational stress may occur.

Task course work carried out as follows:

Give a full description of the concept of stress;

Identify the causes of stress;

Study the causes and signs of stress;

Describe the effects of stress in the workplace and methods of preventing and “combat” it;

The course work includes an introduction, three chapters, each of which is divided into subchapters, a conclusion and references.

In preparing the course work, the literature of L. Jewell, L.V. Kartashova, as well as periodicals - articles by E.N. Kiryanov, V.G. Serdyuk, O. Vedenyapin and others were widely used.

1. The concept of stress. The main causes of stress

1.1 Concept of stress

One of the most common types of affect these days is stress.

In modern life, stress plays a significant role. They affect a person’s behavior, performance, health, relationships with others and in the family.

Stress is a state of excessively strong and prolonged psychological tension that occurs in a person when his nervous system receives emotional overload.

Any event, fact or message can cause stress, i.e. become a stressor. Stressors can be a wide variety of factors: microbes and viruses, various poisons, high or low temperature environment, trauma, etc. But any emotiogenic factors can be the same stressors, i.e. factors influencing the emotional sphere of a person. This is everything that can excite us, misfortune, a rude word, an undeserved insult, a sudden obstacle to our actions or aspirations. At the same time, whether a particular situation will cause stress or not depends not only on the situation itself, but also on the individual, her experience, expectations, self-confidence, etc. Of particular importance, of course, is the assessment of the threat, the expectation dangerous consequences, which the situation contains.

This means that the very occurrence and experience of stress depends not so much on objective as on subjective factors, on the characteristics of the person himself: his assessment of the situation, comparison of his strengths and abilities with what is required of him, etc.

Stressful situations occur both at home and at work. From a management perspective, of greatest interest are the organizational factors that cause stress in the workplace. Know these factors and pay special attention to them. This will help prevent many stressful situations and increase the efficiency of managerial work, as well as achieve the organization’s goals with minimal psychological and physiological losses to personnel. After all, stress is the cause of many diseases, and therefore causes significant harm to human health, while health is one of the conditions for achieving success in any activity. Therefore, the work also examines personal factors that cause stress. In addition to the causes of stress, the stressful state of the body is analyzed - stress tension, its main signs and causes.

Translated from English, stress is pressure, pressure, tension. According to G. Selye, stress is a nonspecific (i.e., the same to different influences) response of the body to any demand presented to it, which helps it adapt to the difficulty that has arisen and cope with it. Any surprise that disrupts the usual course of life can cause stress. At the same time, as G. Selye notes, it does not matter whether the situation we are faced with is pleasant or unpleasant. All that matters is the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. As an example, the scientist cites an exciting situation: a mother, who was informed about the death of her only son in battle, experiences terrible mental shock. If, many years later, it turns out that the message was false and the son suddenly enters the room unharmed, she will feel intense joy.

The specific results of the two events - grief and joy - are completely different, even opposite, but their stressful effect - the nonspecific demand for adaptation to a new situation - may be the same.

It is difficult to find a scientific term that is used as often as the word "stress". When people use this term, they usually mean that they are stressed, tired, or depressed. Meanwhile, stress is not a “painful” condition at all, but a means by which the body fights unwanted influences.

Sometimes stress can be beneficial, as it helps to use the body's resources when necessary. But excessive stress leads to exhaustion, which can cause physical and mental illness. Very often, people go to the doctor complaining of physical ailments, when the real cause of their condition is stress. Stress is one of the top ten causes of illness.

The most painful and dangerous is traumatic stress, which occurs as a result of life-threatening events such as wars, natural disasters, car accidents, criminal violence, etc.

1.2 Main causes of stress

Stress is a common and common phenomenon. We all experience it from time to time - maybe like the feeling of emptiness in the pit of our stomach when we stand up to introduce ourselves in class, or like increased irritability or insomnia during an exam session. Minor stress is inevitable and harmless. Excessive stress is what creates problems for individuals and organizations. Stress is an integral part of human existence, you just need to learn to distinguish between an acceptable degree of stress and too much stress. Zero stress is impossible.

Currently, scientists distinguish between eustress (positive stress, which is combined with a desired effect and mobilizes the body) and distress (negative stress with an undesirable harmful effect). With eustress, cognitive processes and processes of self-awareness, comprehension of reality, and memory are activated. Distress that occurs in the work environment tends to extend into non-work hours. It is difficult to compensate for such an accumulated consequence during leisure hours; it must be compensated during working hours. The most general and complete classification of life stress.

The inner square denotes the very essence of our existence, which is called “I am power,” “mental power,” psychic energy, or internal resources. This is what allows an individual to overcome life crises, which determines the intensity of resistance to stress. A decrease in resource increases vulnerability to various stress-related disorders, such as anxiety, fear, despair, and depression.

The next area is intrapersonal stress. Most of our demands on the outside world and its impact on us are associated with this type of stress. This area is like a centrifugal force that influences all areas of our lives. If we are not at peace with ourselves, then our inner turmoil and experience manifests itself in a negative attitude, impacts on the outside world and disrupts interpersonal relationships. This category of stress includes such events as unfulfilled expectations, unfulfilled needs, meaninglessness and purposelessness of actions, painful memories, inadequate assessment of events, etc.

The area of ​​interpersonal stress interacts with certain areas of life. Since each person has to constantly solve various social issues in his activities, interaction with other persons and its assessment have a significant impact on our perception, experience, attitude towards events and are problems of relations between people.

Personal stress has to do with what an individual does and what happens to him when he does not perform, violates certain prescribed social roles, such as the role of a parent, husband, employee, etc. It manifests itself in connection with such phenomena as health problems , bad habits, sexual difficulties, boredom, aging, retirement.

Family stress includes all the difficulties in maintaining a family and relationships in it - housework, marital problems, conflicts between generations, living with young people, illness and death in the family, alcoholism, divorce, etc. Work stress is usually associated with a heavy workload, lack of self-control over work results, role uncertainty and role conflict. Poor job security, unfair job evaluations, and disruption to job organization can become a source of stress. Social stress refers to problems that large groups of people experience, such as economic recession, poverty, bankruptcy, racial tension and discrimination.

Environmental stress is caused by exposure to extreme environmental conditions, the expectation of such exposure or its consequences - air and water pollution, severe weather, unfriendly neighbors, crowding, high noise levels, etc.

Financial stress is self-explanatory. The inability to pay bills, failure to provide income for expenses, difficulties in obtaining debt, discrepancy between the salary level and the results of work, the occurrence of additional and financially unsecured expenses, these and other circumstances can cause stress. Intrapersonal stress deserves detailed consideration not only because insufficient attention has been paid to it, but also due to the fact that it can be projected onto various life events and influence the individual’s attitude towards them and behavior.

1.3 Stress factors

Factors that cause stress, or so-called stressors, affecting workers today include:

- stress factors outside the organization;

- group stress factors;

- stress factors associated with the organization;

Take a closer look at them.

Stress at work should not be limited to events and conditions that occur in the workplace. Any organization is an open social system, and its elements - employees - are naturally influenced by external factors, such as changes in society, economic and financial conditions, changes in their personal lives (family problems, aging, death of a close relative, birth of a child, etc.). P.).

Thus, it can be said that an unsatisfactory financial situation can encourage people to take on additional work, resulting in reduced leisure time and increased stress. Family crises are also a serious stress factor for workers. There is also evidence that in families where both spouses work, a stressed husband can “transmit” his stress to his wife.

Group stress factors include the following:

1) lack of group cohesion - the lack of opportunity for an employee to feel like a member of the team due to the specifics of the workplace, due to the fact that the manager does not allow or limits this opportunity, or because other group members do not accept him into their ranks, can be a source severe stress, especially for workers with a high desire for affiliation;

2) the presence of intrapersonal, interpersonal and intra-group conflicts - the presence of serious contradictions or incompatibility of individual characteristics of the employee’s personality, for example, his personal goals, needs, values, with those socially approved in the group where he works, which means he is forced to constantly be, communicate, interact , is also a serious stress factor.

The causes of work-related stress have been studied for a long time, and the list of potential stressors is long. It contains physical factors that turn the workplace into a hostile environment (high temperature, noise, crowded conditions, etc.), as well as a host of psychosocial factors caused by a specific combination of labor, organizational and social characteristics of the workplace. The most well-established stressors associated with the work environment include:

Uncertainty about the future - for many workers, a constant stressor is the fear of losing their job due to layoffs, inadequate performance indicators, age or for another reason;

Inability to influence one's work - as many researchers note, the extent to which a person influences one's work may be associated with a stressful state. Repetitive, mechanical work and responsibility for things over which people have no control are particularly stressful for some workers;

The nature of the work performed - the complexity of the tasks performed, independence in work, degree of responsibility, working conditions: degree of danger when performing work, noise level, etc., as the results of numerous studies show, can also be attributed to factors that often provoke stress among workers ;

Role ambiguity and role conflict are both conditions that are perceived as stressors in most cases. Here, role ambiguity refers to uncertainty in relationships with the person playing a particular role, and role conflict refers to various incompatible expectations regarding significant people at work;

A specific organizational structure - for example, a matrix structure of an organization, which involves double subordination, is often a source of stress for an employee who is forced to simultaneously carry out the orders of two managers;

Stressful management style - frequent use of methods of unjustified pressure and threats is one of the strongest stress factors for subordinates;

Work schedule pressure - shift work, and especially flexible work, often creates the need for a number of psychological and non-work life changes that are potential stressors. On the other hand, a very busy work schedule that makes it difficult or impossible to simultaneously meet work and personal needs can also be a significant stressor for people in a variety of work situations.

All of the above conditions are potential stressors, not factors that automatically cause stress. Reactions to these stressors vary from person to person. Sensitivity (sensitivity) or stress resistance (tolerance) is influenced by a number of situational and personal variables.

The above-mentioned factors (extra-organizational and group) in a certain sense manifest themselves at the level of the individual. Research also shows that the development of stress is influenced by both individual situational factors and personality traits.

For example, for an individual who is unable to set clear priorities for himself, a severe stressful situation may be the need to reconcile the roles of an employee and a family member (when the time factor and the corresponding demands at work conflict with the demands made by the family and vice versa).

Researchers also cite factors that contribute to susceptibility to stress: personality traits character, such as authoritarianism, rigidity, imbalance, emotionality, excitability, psychological stability and the need for achievement, etc. However, most attention has been paid to the character of the so-called type A.

Cardiovascular disease specialists began studying different character types and corresponding behavioral patterns back in 1950 in order to predict the possibility of heart attacks. At the end of the 1960s. Friedman and Rosenman began studying polar character types A and B from the point of view of susceptibility to stress. They defined the Type A personality as “the combination of actions and emotions that can be observed in every person who is in a state of constant and tireless struggle to do more and more in the shortest possible time and even, if necessary, in spite of the efforts of other people and circumstances " Initially, based on research, it was believed that type A is most susceptible to stress and one of its most serious consequences - heart attacks.

However, some modern studies do not confirm these data. Such results may be due to the fact that people of type A, often “constructing” stressful situations for themselves, at the same time usually know how to give vent to their stress and cope with it better than people of type B. It is believed that susceptibility to stress contributes to not so much the impatience characteristic of Type A, but anger, hostility and aggressiveness.

Another important personality trait is the individual's perception of control over a situation. Although control over the situation in the workplace is often determined organizationally, phenomena such as the individual's predisposition to take responsibility and the so-called “learned helplessness syndrome”, the seminal research of which was carried out by Seligman, cannot be ignored.

Important factors are also:

The nature of the stressor is one of the most important situational factors determining people's reactions; the fear of losing one's job is likely a greater stressor than, for example, being assigned to an undesirable shift. But this factor does not represent some exceptional threat that causes stress; A combination of different factors can just as easily lead to stress. Small everyday troubles, overlapping each other, can lead to the same result as in the case of one serious event.

The combination of present and absent stressors is also important in determining individual responses. Poor relationships with coworkers and other people at work, for example, are a potential source of stress, but it has also been noted that good relationships can help reduce negative reactions to other stressors.

The duration of exposure to a stressor is another situational factor that influences individual sensitivity. The daily lack of opportunity to influence the demands of work is more likely to lead to stress than temporary overload at work, caused, for example, by the illness of a colleague. Finally, as the researchers point out, the predictability of the stressor is also important: unpredictable stressors are more likely to cause negative reactions.

1.4 Signs of stress

By reducing individual performance and well-being, excessive stress comes at a cost to organizations. Many employee problems that affect both their earnings and performance, as well as the health and well-being of employees, are rooted in psychological stress. Stress directly and indirectly increases the costs of achieving organizational goals and reduces the quality of life for large numbers of workers.

Signs of stress

1. Inability to concentrate on something.

2. Too frequent mistakes in work.

3. Memory deteriorates.

4. Feeling tired too often.

5. Very fast speech.

6. Thoughts often disappear.

7. Pain appears quite often (head, back, stomach area).

8. Increased excitability.

9. Work doesn’t bring the same joy.

10. Loss of sense of humor.

11. The number of cigarettes smoked increases sharply.

12. Addiction to alcoholic beverages.

13. Constant feeling malnutrition.

14. Loss of appetite - generally lost taste for food.

15. Inability to finish work on time.

Causes of stress.

1. Much more often we have to do not what we would like, but what is necessary, which is part of our responsibilities.

2. We constantly don’t have enough time - we don’t have time to do anything.

3. Something or someone is pushing us, we are constantly in a hurry to get somewhere.

4. It begins to seem that everyone around you is clamped in the grip of some kind of internal tension.

5. We constantly want to sleep - we just can’t get enough sleep.

6. We dream too much, especially when we are very tired during the day.

7. We smoke a lot.

8. We consume more alcohol than usual.

9. We don't like almost anything.

10. At home, in the family - constant conflicts.

11. There is a constant feeling of dissatisfaction with life.

12. We make debts without even knowing how to pay them off.

13. An inferiority complex appears.

14. There is no one to talk to about your problems, and there is no particular desire.

15. We do not feel respected - neither at home nor at work.

2 The role of stress in human life

2.1 Characteristics of the insurance company "Northern Treasury". Possible stresses of an insurance agent

In 1992, two graduates of the Sverdlovsk Law Institute, Yuri Sorokin and Konstantin Kozlov, created the CENTER insurance company, which, despite its loud name, did not take a leading position in the market due to its inability to compete with Gosstrakh. At the beginning of 1994, Mr. Kozlov received an offer from V.F. Frolov, chairman of the board of the Severnaya Kazna bank, which has existed since 1992, to purchase an insurance company. The amount of the deal is still kept secret. The insurance company acquired a new name “Northern Treasury” and joined the financial group of the same name.

At the beginning of the journey, the insurance company employed only seven people. There were few agreements. But already in the summer of 1994, the first employees of the insurance department were hired. The company's management decides on the development of personal types of insurance: property individuals(transport and household contents insurance). Since 1995, in parallel with the insurance company, there was a medical company "NORTH KAZNA - M". Its functions included the development of voluntary health insurance, promotion and lobbying of compulsory health insurance, as well as the provision of medical services. The general director of the company was Alexander Vladimirovich Merenkov.

In the fall of 1996, two companies merged - insurance and medical. A. V. Merenkov became the General Director of the Insurance Company "NORTHERN KAZNA". With the arrival of a new progressive-minded top manager, the life of Kazna became more active. There is a rapid growth in the percentage of contracts, especially that part of the insurance portfolio that concerns individuals.

The company is also expanding geographically: branches “UKTUS”, “Elmash” are being created, an office is located on the street. Sonya Morozova, 190. Geographic expansion is also taking place in the region: in the city of Polevsky, the local branch of the ASKO insurance company merges with Severnaya Kazna, and all the connections developed by employees are preserved. A branch is opened in Nizhny Tagil - an ASKO employee goes to work at Severnaya Kazna and organizes an agent network. A branch is opened in Kamensk-Uralsky.

In 1998, Severnaya Kazna Insurance Company ranked third in insurance after Gosstrakh and ASKO. But it happens DEFAULT. IC "Northern Kazna" also suffered: the situation especially affected the insurance of those traveling abroad, cars and household property. After all, the tariffs were calculated at one price, the prices increased, and payments had to be made at completely different prices. It was very difficult. And yet, the company not only survived, but also, having managed to rebuild in time, occupied a significant market share in Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region, and opened branches in other cities.

The year 2003 for IC "NORTHERN KAZNA" was marked by compulsory insurance motor vehicle liability (OSAGO). The efforts of the company's top management to join the Russian Union of Auto Insurers were not in vain; the company was the first of the regional insurers in the Sverdlovsk region to receive a license under OSAGO, and on June 10, before the Law came into force. (The law came into force on July 1). From July 1 to January 10, 2003, the company insured about 70,000 clients under compulsory motor liability insurance and paid out 10.57 million rubles.

In 2005, a branch was opened in Chelyabinsk. In addition, IC "NORTHERN KAZNA" successfully passed the reorganization stage, a matrix management system and business process management were introduced, a contact center was opened, a CRM system was installed and an internal website was created for company employees to maintain communication links.

In 2006, the company introduced new insurance products to the market: updated package transport insurance, “Season” (insurance of home contents during vacation), improved program “Antiklesch” and “Auto Reserve” (voluntary insurance of civil liability of car owners. In 2006, active reorganization took place divisions on the territory of the Sverdlovsk region so that the “enlarged” offices could provide clients with more qualified and high-quality assistance in case of insurance events. In Moscow and Perm, branches of the Insurance Company "NORTHERN KAZNA" were opened. The restructuring was carried out as part of the main strategy of the company - to maintain the policy fair payments and become a benchmark in customer service.

The main event of 2007 was the merger of IC "Gamma" with IC "NORTHERN KAZNA". Let us recall that the merger took place for the following reasons: in Gazprom (Uralgazinvest, which owned Gamma, is a structure of Uraltransgaz, which in turn is a structure of Gazprom), there was a campaign to get rid of non-core assets, so a decision was made sell the insurance company. During the negotiations, Severnaya KAZNA Insurance Company became the buyer. Gamma joined SEVERNAYA KAZNA with all debt obligations and assets. Also significant was the restructuring of assets: the insurance company KRONA, specializing in voluntary health insurance, was sold, part of the company MEDINKOM was acquired, and the medical center SK-Med was acquired.

The company continued its territorial expansion into the regions: a company representative office was opened in Magnitogorsk. A new sales office “Ural” (P. Tolyatti, 28 a) began operating in Yekaterinburg, as well as a division in Berezovsky. In 2007, there was a modification of existing insurance products. This year the company has been actively investing in automation. Now many processes are automated, and it has become easier for clients to work with us. The company has become more accessible on the Internet, both for customers through an external site and for employees through an internal site. We are working on a project to accept applications for insurance payments through our contact center, that is, clients can submit an application via the Internet, by phone, send a letter by mail or come to the company’s office. In addition, in 2007, a quality service appeared - a separate structural unit that controls business processes and the quality of service to external and internal clients.

In 2008, for the first time, the annual collection of IC "NORTHERN KAZNA" exceeded a billion rubles; the company collected 1,074.012 million rubles (of which 773.022 million rubles were for voluntary types of insurance; 300.990 million rubles for compulsory motor liability insurance). In 2008, IC "NORTHERN KAZNA" celebrated its 15th anniversary. Numerous events and promotions for customers were dedicated to this holiday, such as “Sale Days”, “Magic of Numbers” and “Business”. During these promotions, clients purchased insurance on very favorable terms.

It was in 2008 that IC “NORTHERN KAZNA” received the title “Best regional insurance company in the Urals Federal District in 2007” (“Golden Salamander”).

2.2 Analysis of stress in the workplace using the example of employees of the Severnaya Kazna insurance company

Insurance company employees often have to deal with difficult situations related not only to personal circumstances, but also the forced need to daily withstand the burden of information and problems of their clients, which often ultimately leads to stressful situations. Based on this, let’s consider professional stress, the problems that arose at the initial stage of development of this insurance company “Northern Treasury”.

To determine the impact of stress on a person, we will analyze two employees of an insurance company: insurance agent Kuznetsov O.Yu., accountant Baranova E.P.

In order to withstand the psychological stress and not become a victim of professional stress (this is what experts call the condition associated with situations that arise at work), it is necessary, first of all, to “know the enemy by sight.” After all, the consequences of stress can be very serious. The tension that arises spoils life and harms health, affects professional success and interpersonal relationships. Of course, you are unlikely to be able to completely avoid stressful influences, but you can minimize them, learn to react to them correctly and not allow them to significantly influence your life.

Working as an insurance agent involves daily exposure to stressful situations. The reasons that can cause stressful situations in the professional life of an insurance agent can be divided into several groups. The first of them includes internal experiences: fear of failure, self-doubt and others. Of course, novice insurance agents most often face such problems, but even for experts they do not lose their relevance. “Will you be able to find clients?”, “Will you be able to get a meeting with him?”, “What to do if the deal doesn’t go through?” As a result, the concentration of mental strength occurs around the solution of far from the most important tasks. Psychologists believe that the correct formulation of the question already helps to cope with self-doubt.

The second group of reasons that cause stressful situations is due to the fact that the work of an agent involves constant interaction with a variety of people. The main character, and therefore the main source of stress, for an agent is the client. There are many situations that can cause stress. First, an agent's job often involves meeting with clients one-on-one. In this situation, the agent has no one to share responsibility with and it is impossible to get support from colleagues. Secondly, the agent must adhere to standards of conduct, no matter how polite and considerate the client is. Obviously, not every client is the standard of politeness. Numerous sociopsychological studies show that unfounded and unfair accusations from clients are one of the most powerful stress factors.

Other problems also arise, and among them one of the most common is the emergence of emotional attachment to the client. You can, for example, “get used” to regular clients and become upset and “bored” if such a client does not appear at the company for a long time or does not agree to a meeting. Of course, this happens unconsciously, but psychological research shows that such emotions can be quite strong and interfere with communication with other clients.

The agent’s involvement in the client’s emotional state is also a stress factor. The client may be worried about many serious and not very serious problems, starting with a broken heel and ending with his son’s wedding or the illness of a relative. And very often he does not hide the reasons for his anxiety at all. On the contrary, most clients willingly share their problems and experiences with agents. But you need to be able to defend yourself from other people’s problems.

Even more stressful, but also inevitable in being an agent, are situations that can lead to frustration. For example, you spent a lot of effort, introduced the client to your proposals, and he expressed his readiness to conclude a deal. You call at the appointed time and find out that the deal has already been concluded with your competitor. It’s unpleasant, but the disappointment will become much less if you try to use this situation for work.

And one more important stress factor. Often, an agent has to experience disappointment and receive refusals. Reacting calmly to many refusals is also part of professionalism.

To determine the psychological state of the tested company employees, testing and analysis of their behavior were carried out. The test contained the following questions:

1. Try to determine how much you worry about the following events. Rate each event using a 10-point system, putting any number from “1” (does not bother you at all) to “10” (very disturbing and annoying):

1.1 High prices (for transport, food, clothing)

1.2 Sudden bad weather, rain, snow

1.3 The car that splashed you with mud

1.4 Strict, unfair boss (teacher, parent)

1.5 Government, deputies, administration

2. Using a 10-point system, mark which of the qualities listed below are inherent to you (10 points - if this property is very pronounced in you, 1 - if it is absent).

2.1 An overly serious attitude towards life, study, work

2.2 Shyness, timidity, self-consciousness

2.3 Fear of the future, thoughts about possible troubles and problems

2.4 Poor, restless sleep

2.5 Pessimism, the tendency to note mainly negative features in life

3. How does your stress manifest itself on your health (rate the signs on a 10-point scale):

3.1 Rapid heartbeat, heart pain

3.2 Difficulty breathing

3.3 Gastrointestinal problems

3.4 Muscle tension or tremors

3.5 Headaches, increased fatigue

4. How typical is it for you to use the following stress relief techniques (mark on a 10-point scale, where “1” is not at all typical, and “10” is almost always used).

4.1 Alcohol

4.2 Cigarettes

4.3 TV

4.4 Delicious food

4.5 Aggression (taking out anger on another person)

5. How typical is it for you to use the following stress relief techniques (mark on a 10-point scale, where “1” is not typical at all, and “10” is almost always used)

5.1 Sleep, rest, change of activity

5.2 Communication with friends or loved one

5.3 Physical activity (running, swimming, football, rollerblading, skiing, etc.)

5.4 Analysis of your actions, search for other options

5.5 Changing your behavior in this situation

6. How has your level of constant stress changed over the past three years? (mark V).

Significantly decreased -20

Decreased slightly -10

Has not changed 0

Slightly increased +10

Significantly increased +20

Calculation of results:

In fact, this stress assesses the level of stress sensitivity - an indicator that is the opposite of stress resistance. Therefore, the higher the performance of this test, the lower the person’s stress sensitivity.

Sum up the results for the first 4 scales. You will receive an amount that will vary from 20 to 200 points. This is a basic indicator of stress sensitivity. The value of this indicator ranging from 70 to 100 points can be considered satisfactory.

Then the indicator of dynamic sensitivity to stress is calculated. To do this, the sum of the results on point 5 is subtracted from the base result (it shows the ability to resist stress through adequate behavior).

Then the indicator of the 6th point (with + or -) is added to the result obtained, depending on the choice of the subject. If stress has bothered a person less recently, then the result will be negative and the final result will decrease, and if stress increases, then the final indicator of stress sensitivity will increase.

Table 1. - Average test results:

Interpretation on individual scales:

The first scale defines an increased reaction to circumstances over which we cannot influence. Average scores are from 15 to 30 points.

The second scale shows the tendency to overcomplicate everything, which can lead to stress. Average scores are from 14 to 25 points.

The third scale is predisposition to psychosomatic diseases. Average scores are from 12 to 28 points.

The fourth scale defines destructive ways of overcoming stress. Average scores are from 10 to 22 points.

The fifth scale defines constructive ways to overcome stress. Average scores are from 23 to 35 points.

As a result of testing by insurance agent Kuznetsov O.Yu. The following signs of stress were identified:

1. Inability to concentrate on something specific;

2. Too frequent errors in work;

3. Memory impairment;

4. Frequent feeling of fatigue;

5. Frequent pain (head, back, stomach area);

6. A sharp increase in the number of cigarettes smoked;

7. Lack of appetite;

8. Inability to finish work on time;

9. Changeable mood.

An analysis of stressful situations and the psychological state of accountant E.P. Baranova was also carried out.

Stressful situations for an accountant arise primarily during the reporting period. You need to prepare documents, fill them out correctly, and finally submit them. In addition, daily shocks during work.

The reasons for stress for the accountant were also: incorrectly executed documents, delays at work, which leaves no time for personal life, conflicts with the chief accountant and other specialists.

As a result, the following signs of stress were identified:

1. A feeling of loss of control over what is happening.

2. Lack of concentration.

3. Lethargy, apathy.

4. Insomnia.

5. Too frequent mistakes in work;

6. Memory impairment;

7. Frequent feeling of fatigue.

3 Tips for Relieving Stress in the Workplace

Stress disorganizes a person’s activities and disrupts the normal course of his behavior. Stress, especially if it is frequent and prolonged, has a negative impact not only on a person’s psychological state, but also on a person’s physical health. They represent the main “risk factors” for the manifestation and exacerbation of diseases such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

Some life situations that cause stress can be foreseen. For example, a change in the phases of development and formation of a family, or biologically determined changes in the body that are characteristic of each of us. Other situations are unexpected and unpredictable, especially sudden ones (accidents, natural disasters, death of a loved one). There are also situations determined by human behavior, acceptance certain decisions, a certain course of events (divorce, change of place of work or place of residence, etc.). Each of these situations can cause mental discomfort.

In this regard, a person needs good adaptive abilities that will help him survive the most difficult life situations and withstand the toughest life trials. We ourselves can cultivate these adaptive abilities and improve them with the help of various exercises.

It is very useful to prevent work-related stress by creating favorable working conditions, including good lighting, fresh ventilated air, unobtrusive and soft color of wallpaper, and the maximum possible reduction in background noise. Where the manager does not neglect ergonomics, labor productivity and work efficiency are always higher. To prevent conflicts that lead to stress, it is useful to seat employees wisely, placing them in different corners of the room or placing those who are in a relationship of antipathy and antagonism with their backs to each other. At the same time, events that bring together a disparate team are good, for example, organizing children's drawing competitions among the children of employees with subsequent discussion. In general, improving the microclimate in a team is one of the most important and serious methods in a company’s anti-stress strategy. The first violin here is rightfully played by the head of the company, who must master the democratic style of communication. An authoritarian leader almost always becomes a source of stress for his employees. I have had to consult dozens of times with people who got into trouble with their boss. Almost all of them received mental trauma of one degree or another, from which it was not so easy to free themselves later. Psychologists consider the most effective option for criticizing a subordinate to be one that is made according to the “plus-minus-plus” formula. It begins with recognition of the employee’s past achievements and with a statement of the positive attitude towards him on the part of the boss. Then critical remarks are made on a specific issue, after which the manager expresses confidence that the subordinate will cope with the problem. If another formula is used, for example, “minus-plus-minus,” then stress is guaranteed for many subordinates. According to psychologists, 1 minute of conflict with a manager knocks out a subordinate for, on average, 15-20 minutes. A democratic management style with resort to an authoritarian style only in extreme cases reduces stress in organizations.

A very important element of the company's anti-stress strategy is pre-employment testing. It allows you to filter people who are not resistant to stress and prevent the team from gathering big number similar workers. In my memory, there were several companies where the required proportion turned out to be shifted. As a result, the leaders found themselves hostage to the situation and emerged from it with huge losses. Nowadays, there are many stress resistance tests that are actively used by HR managers during interviews with job seekers. As practice shows, it is important not only to identify a person’s tendency to stress, but to determine his psychotype. A schizoid will experience stress in a completely different way than an epileptoid. And a hysterical and hyperthymic person will find fundamentally different ways to get out of a stressful experience than an asthenic person. However, there are extremely few tests that determine a person’s stress psychotype and help correctly distribute people with certain character accentuations next to people with weakened stress resistance.

To combat stress, insurance agent Kuznetsov O.Yu. and accountant Baranova E.P. The following methods can be suggested:

1. Physical activity . Exercise helps the heart and lungs do their job better. Nutrients and oxygen penetrate more easily into different parts of the body. Waste products are easier to remove. The enzyme system is better balanced, therefore the muscles can be relaxed more completely. The body recovers better during sleep. Increases endurance. In short, the whole body is significantly strengthened. In addition, under the influence of physical activity, a significant part of emotions simply “burns out.” You can recommend yoga and swimming.

2. Food . It is necessary to eat more vegetables and fruits, quality cereals and less animal products. It is better to replace coffee with tea.

3. Water procedures .

4. The more relaxed the body is, the more fully it is restored. He relaxes best in his sleep, which means he needs to get a good night's sleep.

5. Suppression of negative emotions.

6. Don’t get irritated when communicating with others .

7. Learn to say no. Many people don't know how to say no. They are afraid that people will think badly of them. A clear reluctance to comply with constant requests, and at the same time the inability to say “no” can lead to stress. Think about it, there are people to whom almost no requests are made, but this makes them loved and respected no less. They ask you precisely because you always agree. If you calmly but decisively say that you are busy today, then it will not even occur to anyone to doubt it. Speak as if you really need, for example, to see a doctor. And there is no need to apologize several times.

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Characteristics of the concept, varieties and forms of manifestation of stress. Familiarization with the content of Hans Selye's theory of stress. Determining the factors causing severe nervous tension in the workplace; methods and means of dealing with it in the organization.

Stress is a special way the body reacts to extreme stress. Stress was first described by Hans Selye as a general adaptation syndrome. The term stress was proposed by him later.

In medicine, physiology, psychology, positive ( eustress) and negative ( distress) forms of stress.

Eustress. The concept has two meanings - “stress caused by positive emotions" and "mild stress that mobilizes the body."

Distress. A negative type of stress that the human body is unable to cope with. It destroys a person’s moral health and can even lead to severe mental illness.

Depression occurs as a result of stress. The immune system suffers from stress. People under stress are more likely to become victims of infection, since the production of immune cells drops markedly during periods of physical or mental stress.

Extreme situations are divided into short-term ones, when response programs are updated, which are always “ready” in a person, and long-term ones, which require an adaptive restructuring of a person’s functional systems, sometimes subjectively extremely unpleasant, and sometimes unfavorable for his health.

There are physiological and psychological stressors. Physiological stressors have a direct effect on body tissue. These include: painful effects, cold, high temperature, excessive physical activity. Psychological stressors are stimuli that signal a biological or social significance events (alarms, dangers, grievances, etc.). According to two types of stressors, they distinguish physiological and psychological stress. The latter is divided into informational and emotional.

Information stress occurs as a result of information overload, when a person cannot cope with a task and does not have time to make decisions at a given pace. If the information load exceeds the capabilities of a person with high interest, they speak of information overload.

Emotional stress caused by signal signals. It manifests itself in situations of threat, resentment, and in conflict situations. Verbal stimuli are universal psychological stressors.

Psychological stress is of particular importance for a person, since many events lead to stress in a person not because of their objective characteristics, but because a particular person perceives the event as a source of stress. This leads to an important principle for overcoming psychological stress: it is easier to change a person’s idea of ​​the world than the world itself.

Biological function of stress– adaptation. It is designed to protect the body from threatening, destructive influences of various kinds: physical, mental. Therefore, the appearance of stress means that a person engages in a certain type of activity aimed at counteracting the dangerous influences to which he is exposed. This type of activity corresponds to a special functional state and a complex of various physiological and psychological reactions.

G. Selye identified three phases of stress:

1. The anxiety stage consists of mobilizing the body’s adaptive capabilities, during which resistance to stress falls below normal. It is expressed in the reactions of the adrenal glands, the immune system and the gastrointestinal tract. If the stressor is severe (severe burns, extremely high or low temperature), death may occur due to limited reserves.

2. The stage of resistance occurs if the action is compatible with the possibilities of adaptation. At the same time, signs of anxiety practically disappear, and the level of resistance is higher than usual. Most illnesses or injuries direct antibodies to the affected area. During psychological stress, the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for fight or flight.

3. Stage of exhaustion. Every person goes through the above stages many times. When resistance is successful, the body returns to normal. But if the stressor continues to act, the body's resources may become depleted. Then comes the stage of exhaustion, in which signs of an anxiety reaction appear, but now they are irreversible and the individual dies. In cases of psychological stress, exhaustion takes the form of a nervous breakdown.

The influence of stressful conditions on activity in general and on its individual processes is ambiguous. The differences are due to the existence of three main phases of stress development, which have different effects on activity.

Mobilization phase . The first stages of development of a stressful state are characterized by the fact that general emotional tension has not yet reached its maximum. Therefore, it has a predominantly positive (sthenic) effect on both mental processes and the general organization of activity. Here, emotional activation increases the productivity of basic management functions. External stressors act as unique stimuli for the intensification of mental processes and for the full involvement of the individual’s potential in activities. This phase is designated by the concept productive stress or “eustress” (eustress is a compound word for “heuristic stress”). The volume of perception and attention increases, flexibility and lability increase random access memory. Information from past experience is transferred to a state of “high alert”; originality, productivity and creativity of thinking increases (phenomenon hyperactivation of thinking). The ability to formulate alternatives and analyze them increases, which increases the efficiency of decision-making processes. Ways and methods of organizing activities are also becoming more adequate, diverse, and effective. In general, this phase should be considered as an adequate – mobilizing reaction of the psyche and the body as a whole to the complication of the external situation.

Disorder phase . Due to the limitations objectively inherent in the mental and physiological organization of a person, there is a certain limit of resistance to the intensity of stressful influences. Until it is achieved, the mobilization of available capabilities occurs. However, then the psyche “begins to malfunction”; from a positive (mobilizing-energy) factor are transformed into a predominantly negative – destructive factor. First of all, changes occur in the cognitive sphere. The scope of perception narrows, the volume and quality of RAM decreases, and it becomes difficult to update information from (the phenomenon blockades of past experience). Particularly significant changes are characteristic of thinking. His stereotypicality increases, productivity and ability to adequately process information sharply decrease. The search for a solution is replaced by an attempt to remember solutions encountered previously (reproduction of thinking); originality of thinking decreases (phenomenon flattening of thinking).

For activity as a whole, attempts to organize it become characteristic not by the type of creating a method adequate to the situation, but by the type of finding a normative method in past experience (the phenomenon over-algorithmization of activities). In management decision-making processes, a phenomenon arises global reactions. It consists of a tendency to choose too general and imprecise options for action; decisions lose specificity and feasibility; in addition, they become either impulsive or overly drawn out - inert. The phenomena that arise and increase during this phase thus characterize unproductive stress, denoted by the concept distress(distress is a compound word for “dysfunctional stress”).

Destruction phase characterized by maximum distress - a complete collapse of the organization of activity and significant disturbances in the mental processes that ensure it. There may be a phenomenon blockade of perception, memory, thinking(phenomena such as “I don’t see anything”, “it’s dark in my eyes”, the phenomenon of a “white veil”, as well as memory loss, “switching off thinking”, “intellectual stupor”, etc.). The main regularity of the destruction phase in terms of the general organization of activities is that they take on one of two main forms: destruction by type hyperarousal and destruction by type hyperinhibition. In the first case, it becomes completely chaotic, constructed as a chaotic sequence of unorganized actions, actions, impulsive reactions - the person “does not find a place for himself.” In the second case, on the contrary, there is a blockade of activity and behavioral activity; a state of lethargy and numbness, “disengagement” from the situation arises. The destruction phase is characterized not just by a decrease in performance indicators, but by its general breakdown.

The three marked phases have general character. However, along with them there are also quite pronounced individual differences in response to stress influences. They are expressed in the comparative duration of the indicated phases; in their general dynamics; depending on performance indicators on the strength of stress influences. To denote the “measure of a person’s resistance to stress”, the concept is used stress resistance personality. This is the ability to maintain high levels of mental functioning and activity under increasing stress loads. An important aspect of stress resistance is the ability not only to maintain, but also to increase indicators of efficiency and productivity under stressful conditions. In other words, this ability depends on how strongly the first phase of stress development is represented in a person - the mobilization phase.

Depending on the degree of stress resistance, as well as the ability to withstand stress for a long time, there are three main types of personalities. They differ in how for a long time a person can maintain stress resistance (resistance) to the temporary pressure of chronic stressful conditions, characterizes his individual threshold of stress resistance. Some managers can withstand stressful loads for a long time, adapting to stress. Others, even with relatively short-term stress, already fail. Still others can only work effectively under stress. Accordingly, these three types are referred to as “ox stress,” “rabbit stress,” and “lion stress.”

Basic mechanisms of stress- hormonal. The main morphological sign of developed OSA is the so-called classic triad: proliferation of the adrenal cortex, reduction of the thymus gland and gastric ulceration.

Selye believed that stressors cause a stereotypical, automated response, starting with the activation of the hypothalamus, increased activity of the pituitary gland and adrenal glands with the simultaneous activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.

There is no consensus on how a stress factor reaches the hypothalamus. Some authors believe that the stressor affects the cerebral cortex through the corresponding analytical structures. Next, through the thalamus, the signal goes to the hypothalamus and, in parallel, to the hypothalamus, which is the “link” between consciousness and body. In this case, a stressor that is physical in nature, as well as a psychological stressor, can influence cognitive processes by triggering the same psychophysiological mechanisms, regardless of the nature of the stressor. At the same time, there is evidence that information about stressors perceived by vision goes directly to the hypothalamus through a special visual tract. In any case, no one doubts that the reticular formation, hypothalamus and limbic structures are directly involved in the development of the stress response; The entire brain, including the autonomic nervous system, takes part in recognizing the stressor and forming the necessary adequate response. It is always necessary to remember to understand the brain as part of an integral neuroendocrine system that controls our psyche and behavior. In many contemporary works New ideas are being developed about hormonal mechanisms and peptide regulation of distress states, up to the molecular mechanisms of stress and the involvement of certain mediator systems.

So, apparently, under the influence of Selye, who underestimated the role of the central nervous system, the main emphasis in the study of stress was placed on research into the mechanisms of distress, autonomic and hormonal regulation. At the same time, the role of the central nervous system in the occurrence of stress reactions was either underestimated or completely ignored.

After the work of W. Cannon, in the 20s of the 20th century, it was gradually understood that the controlling organ is the neuroendocrine system, in which some central nervous systems perform neuroendocrine functions. Anokhin P.K., Simonov P.V., Sudakov K.V. and many other researchers began to pay attention to the important role of the central nervous system in the development of both stress and distress and associated psychosomatic diseases.

The main brain structures involved in stress: frontal cortex; limbic structures; autonomic component, realized through the hypothalamus and centers. Simonov's works emphasize the role of the anterior cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus in the occurrence. Such similarity of structures involved in the genesis of stress and emotions that differ in function should not be confusing. All these structures are extremely heterogeneous and multifunctional. If the functional unit of the brain is a distributed system, then closely related functions may be provided by different systems of modules through interacting integrative zones in the same structures. Thus, the functions of the hypothalamus are not limited to regulating the activity of the endocrine system. Being the main subcortical center for controlling the autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamus takes part in regulating the activity of the cardiovascular system, thermoregulation, metabolism, and controls the functions of wakefulness, stress and emotional systems.

But let's focus on mechanisms that are well studied. When an individual encounters a stressor, the hypothalamus activates the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system. This activation can occur both through neural pathways and humoral pathways. From the anterior lobe of the hypothalamus along the direct nerve pathway, the pituitary gland is activated, which produces oxytocin and vasopressin. In addition, this lobe of the hypothalamus produces thyroid-stimulating releasing hormone. This hormone, in turn, acts on the pituitary gland in such a way that thyroid-stimulating hormone begins there. The latter humorally activates the thyroid gland, which begins to produce thyroxine, which is released into the blood.

The posterior lobe of the hypothalamus, through the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, activates the adrenal medulla, which begins to produce large doses of adrenaline and norepinephrine that enter the blood. The latter hormones are combined into the group of metabolic hormones, as they directly activate cellular metabolism.

The anterior lobe of the hypothalamus, when the stressor continues to act, in addition to the neural pathway, has a humoral effect on the pituitary gland - it produces corticotropic releasing hormone, which acts on the pituitary gland, causing it to produce adenocorticotropic hormone. It, in turn, acting on the adrenal cortex, leads to the release of corticoid hormones, one of the representatives of which is cortisol - the “stress hormone” and aldosterone. The main function of cortisol is to increase blood sugar levels by dramatically increasing cellular metabolism, preparing us to deal with stressors. Aldosterone raises blood pressure, ensuring the fastest supply of oxygen and nutrients to the active structures of the body.

Research in recent years has made it possible to identify anatomically independent structures of the stress system, which include the locus coeruleus in the hindbrain. This area is rich in neurons that produce norepinephrine. The second structure is the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (the main producer of corticoliberin). The hypothalamic neurons that produce corticoliberin are regulated mainly by neurons that contain norepinephrine and are located in the hindbrain. These corticoliberin and norepinephrine neuron systems are the “nodes” of the stress system. They connect to the large brain through connections involving dopamine-releasing neurons and project to the meso-limbic dopamine tract, allowing them to participate in the regulation of brain systems and reinforcement. The discovered connection of neurons that secrete corticoliberin with the amygdala and hippocampus is important for retrieving from memory and emotional analysis of information about those external events that caused changes in stress levels.

The influence of stress on human behavior and activity

We have already noted that the objective signs by which stress can be judged are its physiological manifestations (increased blood pressure, changes in cardiovascular activity, muscle tension, changes in breathing rhythm, etc.) and psychological (anxiety, irritability, feeling of restlessness). , fatigue, etc.). But the main sign of stress is a change in the functional level of activity, which is manifested in its tension.

Stress disorganizes a person’s activity, his behavior, leads to a variety of psycho-emotional disorders (anxiety, depression, emotional instability, low mood, or, conversely, overexcitation, anger, memory impairment, insomnia, increased fatigue, etc.). As a result, a person can mobilize his strength or, conversely, the functional level decreases, and this can contribute to the disorganization of activity in general.

With demobilizing stress (distress), the entire motivational sphere of the individual and his adaptive behavioral skills are deformed, the appropriateness of actions is disrupted, and speech abilities deteriorate. But in some cases, stress mobilizes the adaptive capabilities of the individual (this type of stress is called austress).

For a legal assessment of a person’s behavior under stress, it should be borne in mind that in a state of stress, a person’s consciousness may not be narrowed - a person may be able to mobilize his physical and mental capabilities to the maximum to overcome extreme impacts in reasonable ways.

Human behavior under stress is not completely relegated to an unconscious level. His actions to eliminate the stressor, the choice of tools and methods of action, speech means retain social conditioning. A narrowing of consciousness during affect and stress does not mean its complete disorder.

Mailychko Olga Nikolaevna. Grade 11

1. Introduction

2. Main part

3.Conclusion

4. Application

5. List of references.

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Tver region Bologovsky district

MBOU "Kuzhenkinskaya secondary school"

Essay

on the topic of:

“Stress and its significance in human life”

Checked: Done:

teacher, 11th grade student

Kozlova N.I. Mailychko O.N.

With. Kuzhenkino 2005

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..3
2. Main part………………………………………………………7
3. Conclusion……………………………………………………….42
4. Appendix………………………………………………………45
5. References……………………………………………………………51

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Each time has its own illnesses. Nowadays the most talked about thing is stress.

Doctors warn that chronic stress can lead to serious illness. And they give recommendations on how to deal with it. Many drugs are advertised to help overcome stress.

However, it has been noticed: some people meet life’s adversities with a smile, while others experience even the most insignificant trouble as a world tragedy. Maybe the whole point is that some are exposed to negative factors(stressors), while others are more resistant to? This is exactly what people who are not familiar with the theory of stress developed by Hanson Seigner think.

This famous Canadian scientist argued that the stress response is not a disease at all, but a protective mechanism specially created by nature.

Our distant ancestors survived thanks to the existence of a natural stress mechanism - their strength increased, which helped them win a battle with the enemy or escape from him.

Now, stressors most often become not fear of wild animals or wild natural disasters, but a person’s dissatisfaction with his life, his negative internal attitudes or anxiety about the future. A very common cause of stress in modern people is the contradiction between expectations and life reality. The mechanisms of stress are the same as those of our ancestors, but now they often serve not for protection, but for destruction. And the greater the difference between what was expected and what happened, the more pronounced the destruction.

They say there is no progress without stress. Stressors, both global and “local”, rain down on our heads as if from a cornucopia:

• social and political instability;
• chronic lack of money;
• unemployment;
• environmental pollution;
• inability to receive qualified medical care in full;
• disasters;
• Act of terrorism.

All this does not contribute to the promotion of health; on the contrary, it undermines it and leads to various diseases.

Why did I take the topic “Stress?”

For me this topic is important mainly for practical reasons.

This year (2005) I am finishing eleventh grade.

Very soon I will have to take exams at school, and then when entering another educational institution.

Preparing for and passing exams involves extremely high stress on the body, which subsequently leads to a state of stress.

Therefore, I need knowledge about how to behave correctly in a stressful situation in order to avoid the negative consequences of stress.

The purpose of my work: to reveal the topic of “Stress”.

To explore this topic, I set myself the following tasks:

1. Study the mechanism of stress development.
2. Explore the causes of stress.
3. Explore the symptoms that occur during stress.
4. Study the types and types of stress.
5. Study diseases that arise as a result of stress.
6. Explore the prevention and treatment of stress.

To solve the problems, I studied the following literature:

1. Scientific and methodological journal “Biology at school” M. 1999. In this magazine I took material about the mechanism of development of the stress response.
2. V.B. Rosen “Fundamentals of Endocrinology” 1984 This book popularly describes the physiological characteristics and external factors that contribute to the development of stress.
3. Medical encyclopedia "Home Doctor". In this book, I used information about diseases that arise as a result of stress.

In my essay, I used the following tests: “Your stress level” and a mini test for symptoms of a stressful state of the body, developed by psychologists. They allow everyone to assess the degree of psychological stress they are experiencing.

Main part

The concept of stress and types of stress

I. 1) TYPES OF STRESS

Stress – a state of negative neuropsychic tension that occurs in response to difficult life situations.In a generalized form toSituations that cause stress include the following:

• the need for accelerated information processing under time pressure;
• harmful environmental stimuli;
• a perceived threat to values ​​and goals that are significant to a person;
• violation of physiological functions;
• isolation from the team, ostracism, boycott;
• lack of control over events and the inability to change anything in the situation.

Among the many difficulties of life in the Big City, according to the classification of A.S. Razumov, availableStress factors can be divided into the following four groups:

1. Stressors of vigorous activity.Their effect on the body is carried out in the process of a person performing some purposeful act. They can not only disrupt the flow of activity, but also strengthen and mobilize it. It can be:

A) extreme stressors– participation in combat operations and all other situations involving risk;

b) work stressors– work with a high degree of responsibility, time pressure, etc.;

V) stressors of psychological motivation– various kinds of competitions and competitions.

2. Assessment stressors.They are characterized by emotional overtones of present or upcoming activities. Evaluation stressors can affect a person long ago or immediately before performing an activity, immediately after completion, or after a long period of time after performing an activity. Thus, many adults remember the offensive nicknames that teachers gave them at school. This also includes:

A) start stressors and memory stressors– upcoming competitions, thesis defense, performance in a concert, a sudden memory of the grief experienced.

b) stressors of wins and losses– success in career, art, sports. Love, marriage, birth of a child, defeats, failures, lack of recognition in activities, illness of a loved one.

V) entertainment stressors– sports shows, films, theatrical performances, fine arts, etc.

3. Stressors of activity mismatch.

A ) disconnection stressors; conflict situations, threat, unexpected but significant news, etc.

b) constraint stressors– psychosocial and physiological - diseases that limit normal areas of activity, isolation, discomfort, sexual disharmony, hunger, thirst, etc.

1. Physical and natural stressors:

a) muscular loads, surgical interventions, medical procedures, injuries, darkness, bright light, strong unpleasant sound, vibration, pitching, height, cold, heat, earthquake, etc.

2) TYPES OF STRESS

It is known that stress is inherent in all biological objects. Of course, as the level of organization of living beings becomes more complex and higher, its mechanisms become more perfect. The formation of a nonspecific reaction depends on the primary perception of the stimulus (thermal, mechanical, chemical, etc.) to the corresponding receptors that cause temperature, pain, taste and other sensations in the body as signals of possible damage. These stresses are the most common type -somatic stress.

In highly organized animals, including humans, with the advent of the central nervous system, another perception of the external environment arose through the receipt of emotional stress, for example, when expecting some kind of danger. This type of stress is called emotional. In humans, emotional stress is often associated with conflict situations, neuropsychic and psychosocial stress, which develop under the influence of industrial and social activities. The danger of a long-term or acute negative emotional state lies in irreversible changes in individual parts of the neurohumoral regulatory systems. Emotional stress is one of the most important causes of diseases of the cardiovascular system (coronary heart disease, angina, hypertension, heart attack, etc.), cancer, hormonal and mental diseases.

Pathologies of somatic and emotional stress have similar manifestations, so it is sometimes difficult to find out the reasons that cause them. Thus, there is still ongoing debate about what predominates in the diseases of Chernobyl victims - radiation or emotional factor (the so-called “radiophobia”).

In addition, the question is being debated whether there is another type of stress - ray.

Mechanism of stress development

1. 1) STAGES OF STRESS DEVELOPMENT

Environmental factors that can cause homogeneous responses of the body are called stressors. Consequently, stress is a specific syndrome in nature, but nonspecific in origin. The non-specificity of stress formation is determined by the fact that it occurs when the body is exposed to various stimuli - mechanical, physical, chemical, biological and psychological.

Taking into account the specificity of the general adaptation syndrome, G. Selye divided the body's response to the influence of environmental factors into 3 stages.

Mobilization stage (alarm reaction). It is characterized by involutional processes in the lymphatic system, a decrease in muscle tone, body temperature and blood pressure, the development of inflammatory-necrotic processes, and the disappearance of secretory granules of the adrenal glands. At the same time, adrenaline is intensely released - a hormone of the adrenal glands, under the influence of which the body's energy resources are mobilized. Changes occur in the blood - lymphopenia and eosinopenia are recorded. At this stage, there is a general mobilization of protective mechanisms to counteract negative environmental factors. This stage is accompanied by some thickening of the blood, increased permeability of the walls of blood vessels, hemorrhages in the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, which subsequently spreads to the tongue.

Stage of resistance (adaptation). It develops with continued exposure to the stressor and is characterized by a significant enlargement of the adrenal glands, an increase in their function, and an increase in the general and specific resistance of the body. At this stage, metabolism is normalized, changes that occurred at the beginning of the adverse effects of the stressor are leveled out.

Exhaustion stage. This stage occurs when the stress factor continues to act on the body, when the adaptive activity of the adrenal glands, despite hypertrophy, and other body systems is inhibited. It is characterized by a decrease in blood pressure, body temperature and glycogen reserves, the content of lactic acid and amino acids in the blood increases, the permeability of blood capillaries increases, and metabolism is disrupted.

2) UNIVERSAL MANIFESTATION OF NON-SPECIFIC REACTION

So, for the development of a stress response, it is necessary that the complex, multidisciplinary neurohumoral regulatory system of humans and other higher animals be activated. The question arises: are other organisms that have different regulatory systems capable of a nonspecific reaction. In other words, is the stress response itself a universal general biological mechanism of response of a living system to any external influence.

It is known that such a response exists for plant organisms. It is called “phytostress,” which also occurs in three stages of successive structural and metabolic changes. The first two stages are reversible (the stages of “primary reaction” and “restitution”, i.e. restoration) and can lead the plant to a state of increased resistance to irritants; the third stage – irreversible changes and death.

Single cells with even more simplified morpho-physiological regulation are also capable of a triadic standard response to physical and chemical influences. Thus, the “pre-paranecrotic state” (a reversible state preceding damage) is replaced by “paranecrotic changes” (cell restoration processes develop) and ends with the stage of “irreversible alteration” (irreversible damage). This concept of paranecrosis, put forward by D.N. Nasonov and V.N. Aleksandrov, was subsequently called “nonspecific cell adaptation syndrome.” The new name seems to recognize the universal general biological nature of the nonspecific stress reaction.

Currently, there is reason to believe that the elementary biophysical process of a cell’s nonspecific response to stimulation is the free radical processes of lipid peroxidation in biological membranes.

Physiological characteristics of the body and external factors contributing to the development of stress

III. 1) EXPERIENCE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, for an adult, even one who pays a lot of attention to his appearance, to feel everything that happens to a teenager during the course of physical development. Often, when faced closely with the tension of a teenager’s experiences, it is explained by the characteristics of the teenage psyche, without seeing specific psychological problems behind them.

These problems first make themselves felt at the end of the prepubertal – early puberty period and remain relevant until the peak of the rapid process of growing up has passed. The disturbing novelty of interoceptive sensations, changing bodily forms, the appearance of unusual angularity and awkwardness, the difficulty of controlling a “breaking” voice - all this risks becoming a problem, and largely unconscious, and therefore even more disturbing and leading to stress. The problem of experiencing physical development occurs in adolescence for girls (12-15 years old) and boys (15-18 years old).

2) PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES DURING ADAPTATION TO ALTITUDE.

The functional state of the central nervous system, higher nervous activity, and mental performance of a person in the mountains was studied using various methods.

Over many years of studying adaptation to mountain conditions, a large amount of data has been obtained on changes in the highest nervous activity.

The ability to adapt is also necessary in mountain conditions. The climber must overcome fear and fatigue in order to reach the summit despite previous failures. It was revealed that at an altitude of 2000-300 m an excited state occurs, the excitatory process predominates over the inhibitory process, internal inhibition weakens, the number of intersignal reactions increases, and the latent period decreases. At an altitude of 400 m, internal inhibition weakens, instability in the magnitude of conditioned reflexes, stagnation of excitation processes, and a phase state are observed, i.e. Disorders of higher nervous activity are already noted. At an altitude of 5000 m and above, general mobility decreases, the number of intersignal reactions decreases, and diffuse general braking occurs.

3) TRANSMERIDIONAL FLIGHTS

Restructuring of the circadian rhythm with a shift in standard time was observed both under conditions of flights and during their simulation. The greater the time zone shift, the more the daily pattern is disrupted. Changing already 2-hour zones affects the functional state of the body. In the first days after moving to the new standard time, the body continues to work according to the old stereotype.

To assess the state of the nervous system, the following parameters were taken into account: general well-being, performance, sleep, condition of the pupils, coordination of movements. The state of the autonomic nervous system was assessed using the following parameters: blood pressure level, demographics.

The adaptation process is a function of time, therefore, at different stages different physiological mechanisms can be activated. At the beginning of the adaptation process in an emergency situation, nonspecific mechanisms are triggered, including the mechanisms of emotions and Senier’s adaptation syndrome, in which the body, spending a lot of energy, adapts its activity to the urgently changed conditions. The involvement of this syndrome in adaptation mechanisms is indicated by its very name. G. Senier emphasizes that life does not exist without stress. He believes that a farmer working hard while harvesting, an administrator making a difficult decision, an athlete striving for victory - they all experience stress. These are distress – “bad stress” and eustress – “good stress”. For both types of stress, nonspecific reactions are the same. Thus, stress can be without suffering, without grief, without troubles and illnesses; it can arise from any stress - physical, emotional, intellectual; the degree of stress and the limit of an individual's capabilities.

4) GENDER AND STRESS

In family relationships, situations very often arise that cause stressful reactions.

The family forms an intimate, private world of a person; it is a social environment that directly touches a person. In it he begins his life, in it he shares it with other people, in it he continues himself in children. The family can be a lifeline in the stormy sea of ​​life and a fatal underwater reef; capable of stealing life and crippling it. All possible emotions, passions, and affects converge and focus in it.

The science of the family began to be recognized in the 60s, when it became clear that the modern family was largely unable to cope with its social functions, and then they started talking about a “family crisis.” Researchers and publicists have noted a number of alarming signs of family disorganization: a decline in family values, an increase in the number of divorces, a decrease in the birth rate, a weakening of the family's pedagogical potential, an increase in domestic crimes, an increase in family dramas, and neuroses. The listed objective reasons lead to changes in the nature of the family, as well as to stressful situations.

There are two models of relationships: from the perspective of social psychology and psychological variability associated with a person’s past experience.

The “pessimistic” model emphasizes dependence on the object of love and the connection of this feeling with negative emotions; primarily with the fear of losing a loved one or his affection. The “pessimistic model” is anxious and dependent, it gives marriage an anxious neurotic coloring and can turn the family into competition and disunity.

The “optimistic model” is based on independence from the object of love with a positive attitude toward it; creates conditions for personal progress and psychological comfort in a couple. Social progress With its democratization of gender relations, the blurring of boundaries between “male” and “female” professions, joint education and work also change normative ideas about male and female gender roles. These changes occur quite quickly and cause adaptive stress in many people, accompanied by psychological discomfort. In the tone of discussions about the feminization of men and the muscularization of women, there is concern almost for the biological degeneration of both.

5) EXAMINATION STRESS AND ITS PREVENTION

Examination stress ranks high among the many causes of mental stress in schoolchildren. For most students, an exam is a kind of critical situation that determines their position in school and their future fate. Among the factors associated with examination activities and which are likely causes of increased emotional stress, one can mention such as the need to fit the answer within a relatively strict time limit and the system of random selection of tickets highlighting individual sections of the academic discipline, which introduces an element of some unpredictability of the results, etc.

Preparing for and passing exams involves extremely high stress on the body of schoolchildren. Intense mental activity and increased static load caused by prolonged forced posture, extreme limitation of motor activity, disturbances in rest and sleep patterns, emotional experiences - all this leads to overstrain of the nervous system, negatively affecting the general condition and resistance of the growing organism.

Adolescent girls under stress sometimes develop hirsuitism and acne, apparently caused by the production of adrenal androgens under conditions of adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation associated with stress. This situation can also arise under the influence of exam stress, as a result of which many skin diseases become aggravated. The appearance of hirsuitism, acne and other cosmetic defects or the exacerbation of these conditions during preparation for exams can psychologically further aggravate the stressful situation.

Emotional stress is characterized by various disorders of autonomic functions: changes in the electrical resistance of the skin, narrowing or dilation of blood vessels, changes in the speed, amplitude and rhythm of breathing, skin temperature, sweating, pupil diameter, saliva secretion; there is a disorder digestive system, contraction and relaxation of the sphincters, changes in the electrical activity of the brain, the chemical and hormonal composition of blood, saliva, and basal metabolism. Schoolchildren often experience various reactions to stressful situations associated with examination tests, for example, somatic manifestations of depression and anxiety. Teenagers especially often go to the doctor with complaints of headaches and gastrointestinal pain.

However, primary changes in the body under conditions of examination stress, generating “stagnant” emotional arousals of a negative nature, primarily change the function of the central nervous system.

One of the most important psychohygienic aspects of studying exam stress is the analysis of mental manifestations of the stress reaction. Most often, excessive stress is associated with pointless anxiety, manic behavior, sleep disorders and depression. Excessive nervous excitation, ascending through the reticular activating system to the limbic region and neocortex, possibly leads to the emergence of disorganized, non-functional nervous impulses, manifested in the individual by sleep disturbances, vague anxiety and manic behavior.

Stressful reactions to various psychosocial stimuli in the examination environment are not so much a consequence of the stimuli themselves, but rather the result of cognitive interpretation of the stimulus, as well as emotional arousal.

In most cases, examination stress is initiated by the student himself, since it is he who attributes a stressful nature to many factors of the examination situation. He reacts to school exams in accordance with his interpretation of external stimuli. This depends on such parameters as personal characteristics, social status, social-role behavior of the student, etc.

There are indications in the literature that some individuals are predisposed to exhibit emotional stress, as well as a predisposition to exhibit certain stress effects. For example, a study of students’ adaptation to various learning situations showed that 80% of them, belonging to the so-called hyper-accurate individuals, showed anxiety and neurasthenic disorders during the examination session. Young people in this category were characterized by low endurance to session load due to their characteristic combination of anxious suspiciousness with a high sense of responsibility and a positive attitude towards learning.

A particularly strong stressful effect of exams should be expected on students suffering from nervous and mental illnesses.

Currently, there is every reason to talk about a pronounced risk of neurotic disease under the influence of stress factors, even in those children whose parents suffer from a chronic nervous disorder. Obviously, this is associated with the development of a neurotic personality profile, which interferes with high exam results and contributes to the emergence of high levels of anxiety and fear.

6) MANIFESTATION OF RADIATION STRESS. MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF RADIATION STRESS.

All living things are constantly in the world of radiation. The passing century, often called the century of atomic radiation, has led humanity to a radioecological crisis, to the risk of exposure to doses of ionizing radiation that are higher than the natural background radiation. In this regard, the question arises: is ionizing radiation capable of initiating a nonspecific stress response, or does it only cause radiation pathology? More precisely, will radiation sickness bypass the stages of anxiety and adaptation that are so characteristic of the classical stress reaction?

This question is relevant due to the fact that ionizing radiation and the way the body perceives it have no analogues with the effects of other known physical and chemical stresses. It is known, for example, that the body is not able to feel the direct effect of radiation on it, even an absolutely lethal dose of radiation, since there are no receptors capable of directly perceiving it. Because of this, in living organisms the primary stage of radiation exposure is fundamentally different from the onset of somatic or emotional stress. Radiation has the unique ability to simultaneously penetrate directly into all structural elements of a living system and directly influence the vital processes of the body.

Considering the uniqueness of the primary radiation effect, it should be noted that the launch of the radiation reaction begins with molecular changes occurring in the cells and biological membranes of any organs. Subsequently, as under the influence of a normal stressor, within a few minutes after acute irradiation, the cascade hormonal system is activated - an increased release of adreno-corticotropic hormone is also noted, lasting several hours. However, there is also an originality in the morphophysiological manifestations of radiation stress: it occurs against the background of other radiation changes in the irradiated body, for example, damage to the unique structures of the cell nucleus, disruption of cell division, leading to cell death in “critical” (sensitive) organs.

At the height of acute radiation sickness, there is a repeated surge in hormonal activity, which is accompanied by an increase in the total amount of hormones of the adrenal cortex, which occurs in accordance with the standard nonspecific stress response described above: activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex system and excitation of the simatic nervous system. Time of occurrence secondary reaction in the adrenal cortex depends on the magnitude of the radiation dose - as it decreases, the onset is delayed and the degree of manifestation of the reaction decreases.

Single exposure to low doses or chronic exposure to low-intensity radiation (only several times higher than the average natural background radiation) is likely to stimulate cell division and other vital functions in the body, increasing resistance to radiation and other influences, i.e. so-calledradiation hormesis. However, the question of the beneficial beneficial or training effect of radiation hormesis remains controversial.

The first stage of the stress reaction (alarm stage) is characterized by the mobilization of antioxidants (vitamins E and A and other carotenoids localized in membranes, vitamin C, carnosine, anserine, biogenic amines, thiols located in the cytoplasm), antioxidant enzymes, as well as membrane mechanisms preventing one-electron reduction of oxygen. The capacity of the antioxidant buffer begins to increase, preventing the formation of lipid peroxidation products harmful to life.

By the beginning of the second stage (adaptation stage), the level of the antioxidant buffer increases significantly, still restraining the accumulation of toxic peroxides. It is at this moment that a short-term increase in the resistance of the irradiated mechanism can occur. The process of increasing resistance is associated with the activation of cell restoration of radiosensitive, “critical” organs. A distinctive feature of radiation stress is the short duration and weak severity (compared to other stresses) of the adaptation stage. The probability of its detection during acute irradiation is low, which is simultaneously associated with a significant development of radiation damage.

At the last, third stage of radiation syndrome (exhaustion stage), the antioxidant buffer is gradually consumed, until it decreases below the normal level. At this stage, the dissociation and imbalance of oxidative and regulatory mechanisms is most marked. Long-term activation of lipid peroxidation with a decrease in the capacity of the antioxidant buffer leads to disruption of the structure and function of biological membranes, damage to the structure and function of cells and cellular devastation of tissues. Thus, cells that have not coped with oxygen expansion and the task of protecting them from the resulting peroxidation products turn on the mechanism of the “death program” - apoptosis, dependent on the excess concentration of reactive oxygen species. According to the figurative expression of Academician V.P. Skulachev, damaged cells commit suicide.

Changes at the molecular and cellular levels lead to the physiological manifestation of stress, described by G. Selye: lethargy, weakened response to external stimuli, decreased resistance to them, body aches, ulceration of the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines, inflammation, weight loss, suppression of the immune system and etc.

Irradiation, like any other exposure factor, causes a stress response in any living organism, depending on the dose and duration of irradiation. The initial stages of the radiation reaction are reversible; cells are able to enter a state of radioresistance. The elementary nonspecific stress reaction of lipid peroxidation is responsible for damage to biological membranes and cells. Radiation processes of non-enzymatic lipid oxidation, passing through the stages of a nonspecific reaction, can escape the control of the antioxidant buffer. This is observed with a significant degree of change, accumulation of lipid peroxides and depletion of antioxidants. The damage that occurs can lead to the death of the cell and the organism.

The destructive effects of stress

IV. 1) THE MOST COMMON MANIFESTATIONS OF STRESS AT THE PHYSIOLOGICAL LEVEL.

Here are the most frequent and most striking manifestations of stress at the physiological level:

1. An abrupt increase in blood pressure, accompanied by a feeling of heat - as if blood rushed to the head. Such emotional reactions can cause an erroneous diagnosis, and the person will be treated for hypertension for a long time and without success.

1. Pain in the head (resembling a migraine, sometimes accompanied by dizziness) and neck (often associated with cervical osteochondrosis), in the heart (mistakenly regarded as heart disease, especially if there is increased heartbeat or irregular rhythm) and in the abdomen (similar to pain in peptic ulcer, cholecystitis or pancreatitis, in women - andexitis, etc.) As for conditions accompanied by painful attacks, such as biliary dyskinesia, experience shows that they are mainly associated with stress and serve as a bodily expression of negative emotions.

1. Shortness of breath (usually “dissatisfaction” with the depth of inspiration, a feeling of “lack of air”) in the absence of any serious diseases of the cardiovascular or respiratory system. This may be a reason to see a GP about asthma. As a rule, this shortness of breath is caused by factors that usually provoke its occurrence during therapeutic diseases (physical activity, inhalation of polluted air, exposure to outdoors in cold weather). But its close connection with emotionally acute everyday situations is often discovered. In addition, such shortness of breath is accompanied by anxious feelings of varying severity - from mild anxiety to panic attacks.

1. Choking of the voice, sensation of a lump in the throat, sometimes accompanied by difficulty swallowing. These symptoms usually lead to an appointment with an otolaryngologist.

1. Loss of appetite - from complete aversion to food to attacks of “ravenous hunger.” If he is also losing weight, then doctors begin to look for various diseases - from endocrinological (thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus) to oncological ones.

1. Sleep disturbance – insomnia or, on the contrary, drowsiness. In this case, sleep is either accompanied by unpleasant dreams, due to which it becomes anxious, restless, or, conversely, there are no dreams at all. In the latter case, sleep becomes superficial and does not bring rest: the person wakes up feeling tired and exhausted.

1. Various sexual problems. Stress is a common cause of impotence in young men and decreased sexual desire in women.

2) MANIFESTATION OF STRESS AT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LEVEL

If the state of stress drags on, then no matter how much a person controls himself, he accumulates unreacted negative emotions, which manifest themselves in various symptoms. I will name the characteristic ones.

• Worry, anxiety. Particularly characteristic is unmotivated, causeless anxiety. In other words, unfounded fears about unlikely events.

• Depressed mood (even depression) or sudden mood swings - from apathy to violent outbursts of emotions, even aggressiveness.

• Irritability and conflict caused not by external reasons, but by the internal state of a person who simply transfers his internal dissatisfaction to others.

• Violation of habitual emotional contacts with loved ones - from emotional coldness, insensitivity to open hostility.

• The desire to isolate yourself from a reality that does not meet expectations.

3) ANCIENT AND MODERN MEDICINE ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS

It would seem, what is the connection between negative emotions and organ pathology?

Let us trace the chain of influence of the experience that causes stress. It triggers a traditional cascade of reactions in which biologically active substances are released into the blood:adrenaline, kinins, prostaglandins, which is aimed at carrying out muscle activity. But it turns out that the fuse was lit, but no shot was fired - the man did not engage in battle with the enemy and did not run away from him. As a result, “the gun shoots inward,” causing dilation of the blood vessels in the brain and spasm of the blood vessels in the internal organs, disrupting their blood circulation.

As a result, a person complains about his heart or liver, and the real reason for his poor health is that in the muscles, as a trace of unreacted emotions, areas of “frozen” tension are formed - painful compactions. And they, in turn, depending on their location, affect internal organs, disrupting blood circulation and causing dysfunction, which is manifested by heart rhythm disturbances, chest pain, heartburn, etc.

Some researchers find connections between specific stress-producing problems and specific body systems. Most often, in this regard, they talk about stomach ulcers: it is believed that its appearance is usually provoked by fear and low self-esteem.

The origins of this concept go back to the ancient Chinese teaching of Wu Xing, which explained, in particular, what effects can be negative for a particular organ. In other words, what is he “afraid of” or “doesn’t like” in frightening situations. Anger and disorder in business are destructive to the liver. The heart suffers from moral division, conflict with itself.

Ancient medicine was based on observations, scientific medicine is based on research. But they often agree in their conclusions. Modern researchers have noticed that stress leads to a deficiency of some vital minerals - magnesium, potassium, zinc, chromium. In particular, it was established in the laboratory that as a result of even short-term stress, 80% of daily norm magnesium (Mg). Therefore, often people exposed to chronic stress experience magnesium deficiency, which predisposes to the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system. A low potassium (K) content usually indicates exhaustion (physical and mental), dysfunction of the kidneys and adrenal glands, the development of erosive processes in the mucous membranes (peptic ulcer), etc. Lack of zinc (Zn) contributes to a decrease in immunity, and chromium (Cr) - disruption of the activity of the heart muscle and blood vessels, often this is the first sign of diabetes mellitus and cataracts. Therefore, when experiencing severe stress, take care to replenish the content of these valuable substances in the body.

Stress diseases

V. 1) CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

The consequence of all the above stresses, which are abundant in the Big City, has become the so-called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which doctors have already dubbed the new plague of the 21st century.

According to American researchers, from 3 to 10 million people suffer from this disease in the United States. According to German scientists, in Germany three percent of the population suffers from this disease, and about 90 percent of the population are potential carriers of this disease. We have approximately the same data in our Big Cities.

Initially, it was hypothesized that the causes of CFS were caused by special types of viruses and unfavorable environmental conditions. But in the end, most researchers came to the conclusion that V The basis of the disease is excessive stress on the body, simply put – stress.

The disease begins like a common flu, and itsymptoms at the physiological level are:

• slight increase in temperature;
• pain and sore throat;
• enlarged lymph nodes on the back of the head and armpits;
• muscle and joint pain;
• sleep disorders.

At the psychological level there are:

• feeling of persistent fatigue and weakness;
• depression;
• decreased intellectual capabilities;
• fast fatiguability;
• irritability.

All these signs are very similar to colds and infectious diseases. Therefore, another name for chronic fatigue syndrome is“flu of young careerists.”

2) NEUROSES – CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

A psychological consequence of constant neuropsychic stress, i.e. stress, neurosis becomes, which can be described in general terms as a loss of taste for life and the moral inability of the sick person to successfully cope with his social responsibilities - professional, family, interpersonal.

Depending on the character and personal accentuation, this may beneurasthenic neurosis, hysterical neurosis, fear neurosis, obsessive-compulsive neurosis.

At neurasthenic neurosisa person, as a rule, who wants to make a name for himself and make a career, cannot cope with the amount of work and the overwhelming tasks that he has taken upon himself. The result is fatigue, depression and irritability. An Eastern proverb can be said about such people: “The little bird destroyed itself when it decided to lay a big egg.” Too strong a motivation to become better or to surpass others in some way does not lead to good things.

At hysterical neurosisthere is a predominance of the individual’s demands on others over the demands on himself. The hysteric wants too much from others and too little from himself. Possessing little merit, he nevertheless imagines himself to be the navel of the earth, around which everything should revolve. Looking at the meager merits of the hysteric, those around him do not want or simply cannot give him what he wants. An unfulfilled desire causes hysteria. In children, it manifests itself in enuresis, stuttering, and anorexia (refusal to eat). In adults - in the form of vomiting, diarrhea, hysterical blindness or deafness.

Anxiety neurosis develops after severe traumas and losses, most often including separation from loved ones, their illness or death. Obsessive states of fear of certain situations are called phobias. These may be fears of open and closed spaces, fear of blushing or being crushed by a crowd. Recently, in connection with well-known events in the Big City, its residents have begun to fear bandit attacks and terrorist attacks.

At obsessive-compulsive disordera person finds himself torn apart by internal contradictions between feeling and duty, between immediate desires and moral principles. An unresolved contradiction leads to doubts, hesitations, indecision, a severe psychological split personality, in which one part wants one thing, and the other wants the opposite. The reasons for such hesitations and doubts are issues related to marriage or divorce, changing jobs, hiding the truth and fear that they will find out about it, etc. In a state of such conflict, all sorts of obsessive thoughts and ideas arise.

Methods for dealing with stress

VI. 1) PREVENTION OF URBAN STRESS AND NEUROSIS

Each person should be the builder of his own health and not rely on someone elsemore. The idea that developed medicine does little to effectively preserve and increase public health is, in general, not new. In the 70s, the famous doctor N.M. Amosov spoke about this in his informative book “Thinking about Health.” In it, he expressed his wishes and recommendations, which formulated the mainprinciples of health psychologyand with which one cannot but agree:

1. For most diseases, it is not nature or society that is to blame, but only the person himself. Most often he gets sick from laziness and greed, but sometimes from unreasonableness.
2. Don't rely on medicine. It cures many diseases quite well, but cannot make a person healthy. Moreover, be afraid of being captured by doctors! Sometimes they tend to exaggerate the weaknesses of man and the power of their science. As a result, they create imaginary diseases in people.
3. To become healthy, you need your own efforts, constant and significant. Nothing can replace them. Man, fortunately, is so perfect that it is almost always possible to regain health. The required efforts increase with age and the severity of illnesses.
4. The magnitude of any effort is determined by incentives; incentives are the significance of the goal, time and the likelihood of achieving it. Unfortunately, health as an important goal confronts a person when death becomes a close reality.
5. Four conditions are equally necessary for health: physical activity, dietary restrictions, hardening, time and the ability to rest. And also – a happy life! Unfortunately, without the first four, it does not ensure health.
6. Nature is merciful - 20-30 minutes of physical exercise a day is enough, but enough to make you choke, sweat, and make your heart rate double. If this time is doubled, it will be great.
7. You need to limit yourself in food. Maintain weight at least height in cm minus 100.
8. Knowing how to relax is a science, but it also requires character. If only he were!
9. They say that health is happiness in itself. This is not true: it is so easy to get used to health and stop noticing it. However, it helps to achieve happiness in family and work. Helps, but doesn't define. True, illness is certainly a misfortune.

These statements by a wise, experienced doctor, who has experienced thousands of destinies, who created his own health system and, with its help, cured not only himself, but many of his patients, contain all the basic principles of modern preventive medicine.

Overcoming the negative consequences of stress based on the achievements of modern psychological science is an important practical task.This overcoming is carried out in the process of prevention, which has social, psychological and medical aspects.

Social aspectprevention includes the creation of environmental social conditions that prevent mental trauma. This includes, first of all, the elimination of material difficulties and deprivations associated with living conditions, unemployment, and non-payment of wages. Improving the environmental situation is included in the social tasks of preventing neuroses.

Medical preventionincludes: promotion of a healthy lifestyle; psycho-hygienic education of the population, taking into account the age and gender characteristics of its individual groups; hardening of the body in childhood; regular exercise, mastering the skills of self-regulation and breathing exercises; development of healthy lifestyle skills by each person.

Psychological preventionstress includes: developing a clear concept of your own life; setting socially significant life goals; streamlining interpersonal relationships in the family at work; creating an optimal psychological climate based on group compatibility; training in proper interpersonal communication skills; fostering psychological readiness to deal with stress and neutralize it; scientific organization of labor; creating conditions for personal growth both in the work team and in specially organized psychotherapeutic groups.

Conclusion

CONCLUSION

In my essay, I tried to comprehensively study the topic and reveal it, solving the assigned problems. I examined in detail the mechanisms of development of stress reactions from a physiological and psychological point of view.

I was able to illuminate the issue of the impact of various life factors that cause stress, and came to the conclusion that stress began to exist many years ago. At each stage of human development, new factors appear that contribute to the development of stress.

Quite often we hear the expressions: “diseases of stress”, “harmful effects of stress”. But today all life is full of stress. So how can you determine whether it has begun to destroy the body or not? At what symptoms is it time to sound the alarm? I found answers to all these questions by revealing the topic of stress symptoms.

People often think that stress is not a problem for them. But as soon as it comes to the physiological manifestations of stress, it turns out that this is not so. People simply mistake stress-related discomfort for symptoms of disease and seek help from cardiologists, pulmonologists and other specialists. This happens quite often. At best, this serves as the reason for fruitless visits from one doctor (who does not find any serious illness) to another (in order to finally dispel the fears that still remain). At worst, this can lead to a person going into an imaginary illness. Therefore, I focused on the point “Symptoms and illnesses” of stress.

Having also studied in detail the mechanism of stress development, I came to the conclusion that stressful situations are inevitable and stress is biologically necessary for humans. Our psyche is structured in such a way that it needs periodic shocks and changes in emotions: joy, sadness, displeasure, pleasure, love, hatred. The body reacts, which means it lives.

But no matter how much a person avoids stress, he still will not succeed. At some point, he will subconsciously begin to provoke them. And in order for stress to be less painful and not bring greater consequences, a person must train the ability to adapt.

The concept of stress, substantiated by G. Selye and developed by other scientists, had a great influence on various areas of medicine. A large number of reports have been published on the influence of stress factors on the human body. However, this information is contained in various literary sources; they are scattered and sometimes contradictory. Therefore, in my abstract I tried to collect and, to some extent, analyze and summarize the available materials.

Thus, we can conclude that only knowledge of the causes of stress, the patterns of its course, and its consequences can reduce the adverse effects of stress factors on the human body and help it respond correctly to stress.

Application

APPLICATION

1. Anti-stress diet.

To escape from the depressing state of stress, many resort to sedatives. But often, instead of the desired release, lethargy, lethargy, and drowsiness come. But you can regain your good mood and recover from stress in a simple and even pleasant way - by slightly changing your diet.

First of all, this applies to vitamins A, C, E and group B. When under stress, you should include foods containing these vitamins in your diet. There is a lot of vitamin A in green leafy vegetables, carrots, apricots, pumpkin, and vitamin C in citrus fruits, black currants, kiwi, cabbage, and rose hips.

To compensate for the lack of B vitamins, you need to eat cereals, yoghurts, liver, pumpkin, bread, lean meat, fish, and nuts. And vegetable oil, especially unrefined oil, is an excellent source of vitamin E.

Under stress, minerals - magnesium, calcium, zinc - are rapidly consumed. Magnesium deficiency can be compensated for with green vegetables and herbs, dates, carrots, tomatoes, nuts; calcium - milk and dairy products. Zinc is found in lean meat, beef liver, and sprouted wheat grains.

When stressed, the body needs glucose. So you can treat yourself to sweet fruits and honey.

Lettuce, spinach, kale and paprika, for example, are rich in cytofin, a substance that improves mood. Milk contains casomorphine. Bananas contain serotonin, which gives you a feeling of lightness and fun.

To adhere to an anti-stress diet, you need to drink less coffee, black tea, eat less red meat, fatty foods, and give up hot spices.

Tea can be replaced with decoctions of herbs that have a sedative effect, for example, knotweed or spearmint.

1. Infusion of knotweed herb. Pour half a tablespoon of dry herb into 2 cups of boiling water. Infuse and drink before meals.
2. Decoction of transverse mint leaves. 1 tbsp. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over a spoonful of leaves and boil for 10 minutes. Drink half a glass in the morning and at night.

1. Soothing music.

Nothing calms you down like music. Music is an extremely powerful tool for dealing with stress. It can be used in two ways - for relaxation and stimulation.

1. Hot bath.

A hot bath relieves stress. Cold water has the opposite effect, diverting blood from the extremities. You can also hold your hands under running hot water.

1. Massage the target muscles.

Stress causes the production of adrenaline, which causes muscle tension, causing even more adrenaline to be produced. A good way to break this cycle is to discover which muscles are targeted, that is, contract under tension. These are usually the muscles at the back of the neck and upper back. They need to be massaged for a couple of minutes.

1. Relaxing scents and colors.

Essential oils help relieve stress: orange, lavender, fir, rose or sage.

You can take baths with special soothing foams, gels and aromatic salts. If you don’t have any of the above at hand, you can use the usual table salt. A bath will require 1-1.5 cups of salt. The water temperature should be 37 degrees, and the duration of the procedure should be 15-20 minutes.

The healing properties of color have been known since ancient times. They are based on the fact that wave vibrations of primary colors have a restorative effect on the body and its functions. Thus, green color harmonizes the activity of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, yellow tones the body, white relieves stress.

Test No. 1.

This mini-test is designed to help detect symptoms of stress in the body.

You must answer “yes” or “no” to 9 questions:

1. Do you get irritated easily?
2. Do you feel that even your closest colleagues treat you unkindly?
3. Do you feel like you have a bad memory?
4. Do you think your boss underestimates you?
5. Do you ever wake up 2 hours early?
6. Do you ever have unreasonable fear?
7. Do you ever feel an urgent need for alcohol, nicotine or... chocolate?
8. Does it happen that you only feel the urge to work at the end of the day?
9. Do you notice an increased or, conversely, decreased appetite?

If you have given a positive answer to these questions in at least two cases, you can already consult a doctor

Test No. 2.

Stressful situation	Stress level (points)
Death of a family member
Injury or illness
Dismissal from work
Deterioration in the health of a family member
Pregnancy
Change of official position
Change in financial position
Death of a friend
Job change
Increased responsibility at work
Graduation
Changing living conditions
Moving
Changing sleep duration
Changing eating habits
Changing relationships with friends
Holidays
Minor violations of the law

Add up the points that are used to evaluate the events that happened to you over the past year. If the total is 300 points, then you have a risk of becoming seriously ill (80% chance). A score of 200-300 points reduces the risk of disease by up to 50%, and if less than 200 points, then the probability of disease is low.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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