Lesson 4: Stress Management

Grade Level: Fourth

Source: Meeks, L., Heit, P., and Page, R. (1996). Comprehensive School Health Education (2^nd ed.). Blacklick, OH: Meeks Heit Publishing Company.

• Students will identify the symptoms of stress.
• Students will develop ways to manage stress.

• Teaching master, "Health Behavior Contract"
• Ruled paper
• Pencil
• Transparency projector
• Chalk, chalkboard

• Stress - the response of a person’s mind or body to a stressor.
• Stressor - a physical, mental, emotional, social or environmental demand.
• Eustress - a successful coping or a healthful response to stress.
• Distress - unsuccessful coping or a harmful response to stress.
• Stress management skills - techniques that can be used to cope with stressors and to lessen the harmful effects of distress.

1. The element of surprise is important for this activity, do not indicate what you are going to do. As soon as class begins, place students in the following stressful situation. Tell students, "Take out a sheet of paper and number down the left-hand side from one to twenty. I told you that you were responsible for (whatever you are working on currently). I am going to see whether you completed this assignment. And by the way, this test is going to be worth 50 percent of your grade for the semester. Give students questions that are almost impossible to answer.
2. Tell students, "This is not a real test. However, when I told you that I was giving you a test, certain reactions occurred inside your body. What are some reactions that occurred?"
3. Define the words stress and stressor. In the classroom dramatization, an example of stress was the increased heart rate you experienced. The stressor was the unannounced and impossible test. The test was a mental-emotional demand.
4. Explain the general adaptation syndrome (GAS). The GAS is the body’s response to a stressor. There are three stages - alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. During the alarm stage, the body prepares for action. A hormone called adrenaline is released into the bloodstream, heart rate and blood pressure increase, digestion ceases, blood flows to muscles, respiration increases, pupils dilate, and hearing sharpens. The body is prepared to meet the demands of the stressor. As the demands are met, the resistance stage begins. During the resistance stage, pulse, respiration and blood pressure return to normal. The muscles relax and pupils contract. However, if the stressor demands are met unsuccessfully, that is, the person is still stressed, the exhaustion stage begins. During the exhaustion stage, the body becomes fatigued from overwork and a person becomes vulnerable to disease.
5. Explain that people respond to stressors in different ways. Eustress is successful coping with a stressor. When a person experiences eustress, the body has returned to normal during the resistance stage because the demands have been met. Distress is unsuccessful coping with a stressor. The exhaustion stage often accompanies distress.
6. Define and discuss stress management skills. Stress management skills include talking with trusted adults about problems and conflicts, and writing in a journal. Exercising, eating healthy foods, and spending time with caring friends and relatives also relieve stress. Have students discuss activities they do or habits they have which reduce stress.

1. Have the students complete the student master, "Health Behavior Contract" on the topic of stress management.

Ask the students to interview family and friends about how they healthfully reduce or relieve stress. Compile the information, share and compare the following day.