Activity 1: MY STRESS RESPONSE
I've been stressed out lately due to the academic workload I've been assigned in Nursing. When I am stressed, the first thing I notice is that my heart rate is racing. When I remember how many things I still have to do, my heart rate increases, my palms sweat profusely, and I feel like vomiting. I also go back and forth from the restroom to urinate. Even before I finish my tasks, I feel sleepy and tired, but I force myself to wake up because I still have a lot to do.
After studying the endocrine system, I discovered that stressful situations cause a similar sequence of bodily changes known as the stress response. The fight-or-flight response mobilizes the body's resources for immediate activity in the first stage. Because the reaction brings vast amounts of glucose and oxygen to help combat danger, my heart works hard to pump enough blood to the brain and muscles. During the fight-or-flight response, non-essential body functions such as digestive (the sensation of vomiting) and urinary (going back and forth to the restroom) activities are also inhibited.
The second stage is the resistance reaction, which begins with nerve impulses from the hypothalamus. Because the hormones involved in this stage have a longer-lasting effect, my heart continues to pound even after I have completed my tasks. However, I've noticed that I'm sleepy, indicating that the resistance stage failed to combat my stressor. The third stage, exhaustion, follows this. It took some time for me to become stressed, so I was exposed to high levels of cortisol for an extended time.
Since stress can cause various diseases such as migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, and depression, I try to de-stress after a long day of focusing on academics. As much as possible, I continued to list the things that made me happy that day in order to feel motivated the following day. My mental health is as important to me as my physical health.