Stress and Positive Thinking Essay Example

Stress and Positive Thinking Essay I grew up in a very strict and traditional family, where the highest of expectations had to be met for ones talents and accomplishments to be noticed. Striving for the best while being courageous and just hoping that one-day I would be able to make my parents proud was one of the most stressful things on my mind. My father always told me that there are only two paths in life that a person can take. He said that one will be a very tough and challenging road with many obstacles but in the end we will find peace and love. The other one will be extremely easy to reach but you will only find pain and poverty. My whole life Ive been struggling to be a good daughter, a better student, and a humble individual. Ive always been independent and have managed many things on my own and one of my main goals was to always be stress free. Stress is a serious problem that every individual encounters in his or her lifetime. It can be anything from simple stress from school or something major as to huge stress due to a death in the family. Stress can be described as a force from the outside world that affects an individual along with the environment. It can be very hard to cope with stress since it can lead to depression or even suicide along with many other health conditions. Another way to define stress is that it is a physical response around you that can be due to a threat or just being upset in some way. (Looker, and Gregson pg. 23) When our body senses danger it goes into a response mode that is known as the fight-or-flight response. When you perceive a threat, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones rouse the body for emergency action. Stress can be a positive thing or a negative thing. When a certain individual is speeding and seeing a car in front of them they have to slam on the breaks. The slamming on the breaks is due to the stress response and in these situations stress is known as a positive thing. (Looker, and Gregson, pg. 24) Putting these situations aside, we all know that most stress is negative stress. Some things that contribute to negative stress are too many bills, arguments with friends, bad relationships’ with loved ones, or even a very busy schedule. We will write a custom essay sample on Stress and Positive Thinking specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Stress and Positive Thinking specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Stress and Positive Thinking specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer These small things in basic lifestyles can cause a lot of stress and can lead to serious health problems such as heart attacks, obesity, and even depression. -Looker, Terry, and Olga Gregson. Teach Yourself Managing Stress. Teach Yourself, 2007. Print. There are many causes of stress such as a major life change, work, financial problems, negative self-talk, unrealistic expectations, or even perfectionism. (Institute ) Work can be a burden on many people since most individuals don’t love their jobs. Many people just work for the money and don’t even realize what they are getting themselves into. Others have very killing debts that they are having difficulty paying off or even managing. These financial hardships can really dig deep into a person’s soul and make them feel very little inside. All these factors in my eyes all come down to one thing and that is how positive a person is. I believe that one of the best ways to handle stress is to always be positive. Positivity can really change how a person handles their life and can also affect their attitude. On the other hand, many people spend most of their life just being simply negative. Institute, American. Managing stress. New Readers Pr, 1994. Print. Negativity is a common behavior amongst many humans; however it is not a characteristic that takes you very far in life. (Looker, and Gregson pg. 17) Despite the troubles caused by daily tactics, having a positive attitude can help even the most impossible issue to be solved. With that being said, provided research proves that practicing positive health behaviors will i ndeed improve health. Simple ways would be getting a regular check up every six months and to also exercising a few times a week. Basic ideals like these indicate and propose a healthy lifestyle. However, nothing is possible if you do not have a positive attitude. -Looker, Terry, and Olga Gregson. Teach Yourself Managing Stress. Teach Yourself, 2007. Print. According to Roberta Larson Duyff and Jeff Braun, keeping in shape and being fit is the first way of practicing positive health. In the article â€Å" Do we get enough Activity† its mentioned that the human body needs a certain amount of exercise to stay motivated if you were to stay home all day and just snack that doesn’t cut it. Health Authority) However statistics prove that 25 percent of Americans are not active when 38 percent over the ages of 55 aren’t even active at all. (Health Authority) With these factors it shows that there are way to keep your body moving and to be motivated. Duyff also feels that it is necessary to follow these guides because every human needs something to keep them motivated. After all, in this world nothi ng comes easy, everything requires little or more dedication. -Stress Management. Health Authority n. pag. Web. 2 Dec 2010. lt;http://www. healthauthority. com/stress. tmgt;. Even though physical health is important it is also important to have a good mental health too. The way you can keep this up is by having a positive mind frame such as thinking positive. (Harrington ) This is a health behavior that has proved to not only increase self esteem but also boost many people’s immune system’s because they are encouraging there own minds to think more upon what they are then what they see. Along with all these factors we can contribute health in all of these issues since positivity equals less stress and depression. How do you think positive? You can start off my embracing yourself and appreciating yourself more. â€Å" You can’t love someone unless you learn to love yourself† is a common phrase used by many, but given a lot of value when mentioned. What this phrase is basically trying to break through is that you need to love yourself and not beat on everything you do. In everyday life there may not be things we like a lot but we can always look for a way to improve instead of criticizing ourselves. The importance of thinking positive is the main leading factor of having positive health behaviors, which can help prevent and improve health. If you’re mentally not ready to accept yourself then nothing else can help you change that view. The importance of thinking positive drills into your head where you start to believe how much you are really worth and you start to appreciate yourself more and that is how it should be to begin with. A human being who has been a positive thinker from the start has more chances of improving and preventing their health in a natural way than any other person who isn’t so happy. (Harrington ) This is not a problem that many adults have, but it is something that teens struggle with. Since many teens aren’t very happy with themselves, they have hard time coping with problems such as, accepting who they are and just having difficulty fitting in with the society. According to adults it’s the opposite, even though they may have good self- esteem and a positive mind frame, it is also necessary as mentioned before to have good eating and exercising habits. -Harrington, Anne. The cure within: a history of mind-body medicine. W. W. Norton amp; Company, 2008. Print. Many people get motivation by watching their favorite TV shows or celebrities perform. A lot of people seek motivation by famous people. C. pg 62) Positive behavior is established by watching TV, and videos that promote positive behaviors, such as music videos, yoga shows or even simple things like exercising tutorials. This is very important because if people get motivation from others, they look up to it and that can be proven to be healthy. Such as if something was a bad influence and you loo ked up to it then it wouldn’t be such a good idea. Adults around the ages of 50-70 are also proved to do things that aren’t bad at all. (C. pg 64 ) That also raises the issue that there is not such an age where media defines age. It is open for any age or religion not mattering who you are but how your mind works. In other words if you are open to more diversity in the world not only will you understand others but you will be healthy. -C. , Jonathan. Stress management: a comprehensive handbook of techniques and strategies. Springer Publishing Company, 2002. Print. However other ways of taking up this matter is also the same mentioned before, having a positive mental attitude. (Institute pg. 59) To further go into detail with this it would also include controlling your stress levels. This mainly means to have good time management, because often people stress out when they find themselves having a lot to do and not much time to finish it. This can also come in between and can progress into an unhealthy behavior. If a person can control this, they can prevent themselves into improving health. A good way to manage your stress is simple procedures, such as taking up dance lessons or even simple activities such as yoga. Yoga as always been known for ages to improve the mind and soul in a simple matter that involves your body to engage in an activity that helps you release inner tensions. Simple and basic ways like these also promote you to do better and proclaim prevention. However, basic methods like yoga only work out if you stick to it on a regular basis. You can’t just do it randomly, but it should be done periodically such as making a schedule. It’s like a workout schedule that you would follow on a daily basis and record how much progress you have done. Another good way to relieve stress and tension is something called art and music therapy, which many people aren’t so familiar with. (Institute pg. 61) It’s a way too ease your mind with music and art. Art in many ways is helpful not only to people who may be suffering from clinical or deep depression. It’s also for people who want to ease their mind. Art in many ways is helpful because while looking at different colors it gives you a pleasant intake and relaxes the parts of your brain that may not be getting much access. In other words, art and music simply gives you satisfaction that words or other sorts of entertainment wont. It’s also a proven fact that natural activities like these have a better affect on people then medication or therapy treatments. -Institute, American. Managing stress. New Readers Pr, 1994. Print. How is positive behavior defined? Positive behavior is also defined by how you act towards one another such as interacting with others you can easily pick up how a person is. (Harrington pg 105 ) Some people’s personalities also trigger on how healthy they are. Even though some people may be shy and it will be hard to pick it up, if you are more interactive you have more chances of being healthier and also have a natural way of prevention. This is why it’s told by researchers communication is healthy talking about and expressing your self is the number one way to keep a healthy mind. Even though everything doesn’t have to do with mental health, many things to because it’s the mind that triggers most of what we feel. Most of our thoughts start from our brains. Due to that reason being we need to be careful of how much stress we get involved with if we don’t have a clear mind then it’s not easy to keep good health. Mental health also plays a role on how our body’s digest or how much sleep you get. (Harrington ) For instance have you noticed when you are stressed you don’t get enough sleep or you may be very sleep deprived in this case this is why you can easily see your sleep ruined. Therefore practicing having a goodnight sleep followed by a good meal and also excising can help you maintain good prevention skills too. -Harrington, Anne. The cure within: a history of mind-body medicine. W. W. Norton amp; Company, 2008. Print. Speaking efficiently using positive behaviors to adapt to prevention is a good idea in many ways. One of the most important issues that this deals with is success. In our daily lives, we all strive to reach a goal of success. Having a positive behavior can help prevent you from doing or making bad decisions. Harrington pg 103) This helps since everything revolves around your mind frame and your views. If you don’t have a positive view on what is going on around you, you are likely to not succeed. While people who have the capability, also have a positive mental aspect. As organizations state that statistics show children who are exposed to such behaviors in the future, become very efficient adults. I feel this occurs when children are brought up normally, the caretaker encourages the child to do well. Therefore, that promotes positive thinking, compared to someone who asn’t exposed to such positive remarks can suffer from something such as overwhelming negativity. If negativity takes over then it becomes impossible to succeed, that is why practicing such behavior can help you on a daily basis. It’s not only to be healthy or to resume into a good life, it is also for educational purposes when it comes to ones future. It’s important to focus on ones achievements not their mistakes. Although making mistakes is how you will learn it’s not a good idea to always base it on that one factor. -Harrington, Anne. The cure within: a history of mind-body medicine. W. W. Norton amp; Company, 2008. Print. Other ways to improve health and relieve stress, other than having a good mind and body image is to get the required amount of sleep. Many Americans of this generation don’t get enough sleep. They are so caught up in their personal life that they forget that they also have to take care of themselves. It’s proven fact that a person who gets the required amount of sleep does better and is livelier. It doesn’t matter if they are in a classroom or in a work required environment they will be more awake and less stressed out. However, 8-10 hours of sleep is required to have for a healthy sleep pattern and a good functioning mind. (HELPGUIDE. org) It is also said that this can improve your short term but long term health issues also. Many people don’t seem to get this much amount of sleep. The age group that suffers the most from this is college students and young adults. They try to subside their sleep by either caffeine or sugar. This at the moment would seem like a perfect idea but later on in the long term this can lead to many health issues such as low blood sugar or even diabetes. Having a lot of caffeine in your body isn’t good for you. However, too much of anything is not a great idea. Something like natural sleep can commit wonders, yet people go for superficial things that can cause a lot of harm, or even take a life if done too frequently. According to helpguid. org, its recommend that having a good amount of sleep can increase memory and also decrease the rate of getting into any type of accident. (HELPGUIDE. org) It is told that most morning accidents are caused because people are very sleep deprived and that leads to dangers occurring. Not only are you risking your life but also the lives with who you may be on the road with. Nobody deserves to take the consequences that you have performed because of your own childishness. The more lively a person is, the more tasks he/she will be able to take on during the day, which can decrease stress levels since many things will be managed that wouldn’t have been completed on a normal day without sleep. -How to Sleep Better Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep. HELPGUIDE. org n. pag. Web. 2 Dec 2010. lt;http://helpguide. org/life/sleep_tips. htmgt;. As the years progressed, my attitude has also changed and I have become a different person. My parents always told me that if you lose everything today, the only thing people would be able to judge is my character. My character is shown through my positivity and how I manage my daily stress. Since I have learned to handle things in different ways, I have really changed my lifestyle. My family and friends now describe me as an honest, mature, positive, and a healthy person. For me, to be thought of in such high esteem is a great honor, and I couldn’t see myself doing anything to compromise that honor. Maintaining good character is important to me because I believe it is the basis of your personality. Character affects almost everything in your life from relationships to your career. My positivity has led to me to develop a great human being out of myself and I encourage everyone to do that. To conclude, I strongly feel that having a positive attitude can cure the most uncommon health issues and also reduce the stress levels of an individual. I mainly feel this because many researchers show that people with a good and strong mind are the ones that succeed the most. I also feel that if you don’t believe in yourself then nothing can really help you. Inner power is what gets you furthest then any type of medicine there is. Therefore, I feel that having and practicing positive health by these tips will help a person out tremendously because it’s the smallest step that takes you to big stepping-stones. The first start would be by maintaining a good health such as exercising and having good health habits. All in all negativity should never be embraced because being healthy should be your own priority and you should always think well instead of pushing your self down. Works Cited Harrington, Anne. The cure within: a history of mind-body medicine. W. W. Norton amp; Company, 2008. Print. (Harrington ) Institute, American. Managing stress. New Readers Pr, 1994. Print. (Institute ) C. , Jonathan. Stress management: a comprehensive handbook of techniques and strategies. Springer Publishing Company, 2002. Print. (C. ) Looker, Terry, and Olga Gregson. Teach Yourself Managing Stress. Teach Yourself, 2007. Print. (Looker, and Gregson ) Stress Management. Health Authority n. pag. Web. 2 Dec 2010. lt;http://www. healthauthority. com/stress. htmgt;. (Health Authority) How to Sleep Better Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep. HELPGUIDE. org n. pag. Web. 2 Dec 2010. lt;http://helpguide. org/life/sleep_tips. htmgt;. (HELPGUIDE. org)