Lesson 7.1: Understanding and Managing Stress
Overview
This lesson focuses on stress, what it is, how we respond to it, and common causes in teens. An emphasis is placed on how stress can affect health and ways stress can be managed.
Learning Targets
- Explain what stress is.
- Identify four examples of common stressors.
- Describe how negative stress can affect you.
- Identify three ways to manage stress.
Preparation
Chapter Opener: Complete the My Stress and Anxiety self-assessment to introduce the chapter before moving on to Lesson 7.1, or assign the worksheet as a homework task before starting this lesson.
For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:
For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 7.1 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 7.1 Note-Taking Guide.
For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 7.1 Setting Healthy Goals Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
Warm-Up Activity
Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on-task.
- Self-Assessment: Have students complete the My Stress and Anxiety self-assessment.
- Journal Question: What is something that often causes you to feel stress? Why do you think it is stressful? What do you do to try to manage or control the stress you feel in that situation?
- Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
- Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
- Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 7.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
- Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 7.1 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
- Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
- Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.
Lesson Content
Review the content from the textbook lesson.
- Option: Use the Lesson 7.1 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.
- Option: Have students use the Lesson 7.1 Note-Taking Guide to review the chapter content. Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.
Lesson Focus: Setting Healthy Goals
- Give each student a copy of the Lesson 7.1 Setting Healthy Goals Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
- Have students work individually to complete the worksheet.
- Ask students to pair up and share their responses.
- Ask for student volunteers to verbally share their short- and long-term SMART goals for stress management.
- Follow up with each student volunteer, and ask them one action step they will take to reach their goal.
Challenge Activity
Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.
Research how technology might be linked to higher rates of stress in people. Use your findings to write a short public service announcement that helps warn people of the dangers of technology when it comes to their stress and health.
Reflection and Summary
Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.
Can you…
- Explain what stress is?
Stress is the body’s reaction to a demanding or difficult situation. A person will experience stress when the situation they are in demands more from them than then they are able to handle.
- Identify four examples of common stressors?
- Acute (short-term) stressors are things that are very short (from minutes to a couple of hours). An example is taking a test.
- Chronic (long-term) stressors are things that keep reoccurring or that happen over a period of days to months. An example is feeling nervous and scared in a new school.
- Routine stressors are the small things you experience every day that you find annoying, scary, or frustrating. An example is getting homework done on time.
- Major life events can also be stressors. An example is having to move neighborhoods or to another state. Some major life stressors are positive experiences that still cause large amounts of stress because they often come with a lot of unknowns. An example is graduating from high school.
- Trauma can also be a cause of stress. An example is a terrorist attack.
- Describe how negative stress can affect you?
- The mismatch between the type of stressors we tend to experience and how our body responds is why stress can be so dangerous to health. When you have to sit there and solve the problem by working harder, all of the physiological changes you are experiencing have nowhere to go and nothing productive to do. We call this negative form of stress distress. Chronic negative stress can also contribute to a wide range of health problems, including
- type 2 diabetes,
- high blood pressure,
- heart disease,
- obesity,
- ulcers,
- irritable bowel syndrome,
- insomnia,
- skin conditions, and
- infections.
- The mismatch between the type of stressors we tend to experience and how our body responds is why stress can be so dangerous to health. When you have to sit there and solve the problem by working harder, all of the physiological changes you are experiencing have nowhere to go and nothing productive to do. We call this negative form of stress distress. Chronic negative stress can also contribute to a wide range of health problems, including
- Identify three ways to manage stress?
- Relaxation techniques are specific stress management strategies that reduce the intensity of the fight-or-flight response. People who are good at relaxation techniques are generally more able to keep themselves from overreacting to stressors. Stress management techniques include
- breathing deeply,
- using positive self-talk,
- reframing the situation,
- tending to yourself,
- removing yourself from the situation,
- being mindful,
- finding ways to relax,
- exercising, and
- learning time management.
- Relaxation techniques are specific stress management strategies that reduce the intensity of the fight-or-flight response. People who are good at relaxation techniques are generally more able to keep themselves from overreacting to stressors. Stress management techniques include
Assessment
Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.
- Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 7.1 Quiz.
- Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 7.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
- Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 7.1 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
- Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Setting Healthy Goals Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet, and use the Goal-Setting Holistic Rubric to evaluate their skill development.
- Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.
Take It Home
Write the words stress check on a piece of paper, and tape it next to the door inside your bedroom. Make sure it is somewhere you will easily see it when you leave your room. Every time you leave your room, do a quick stress check to evaluate how you are feeling. If you are feeling stressed, slap the piece of paper, and say, “I’ve got this.” If you aren’t feeling stressed, snap twice to acknowledge yourself. Remember that positive self-talk can help you manage your stress.
Option: Assign the My Stress and Anxiety self-assessment as a homework task if it was not used at the start of this lesson.