Health Behavior stress and coping

Individuals can use a variety of techniques to lessen their stress levels. When a person considers a situation as hazardous, they may experience distress (Primary appraisal). However, if one views the circumstance positively or dismisses it as irrelevant, their level of threat will be low. As a result, it is critical for people to view situations favorably in order to minimize stress. When a person is confronted with an incident and encourages themselves to have the power to change the status or regulate their emotions, as well as finding ways to deal and cope with the circumstance, they can overcome stress (Secondary appraisal). Taking this direction when faced with a situation enables people to adapt to the event in a positive way (Glanz, Rimer & Viswanath, 2015). Knowing or learning how to manage a problem through active coping and seeking additional information is a significant way of reducing chances of experiencing stress. Emotional regulation plays a prominent role in allowing a person to come to terms with what is happening around them. Because it enables people to change how they feel concerning a stressful situation.

Predictability is a unique way of reducing the likelihood of experiencing extreme stress (Glanz, Rimer & Viswanath, 2015). This is because it allows an individual to prepare themselves for what is about to come. Many times I have had the experience of being given a "pop" quiz, out of the blues. I realized that during these times I felt a lot of stress because most of the times many questions hinted on what I had not read conclusively or didn’t understand earlier. However, through predictability, I felt comfortable of other exams, which were set for a specific date.

Control or Locus of Control is a good way of beating stress (Glanz, Rimer & Viswanath, 2015). I believe this is the best way yet. Once somebody knows that they are the only ones who can decide what to feel and what to do at any particular time, their chances of experiencing stress would be low. However, this is hard to practice but if someone learns how to do it, they would be able to combat chances of experiencing stress. Social support always works for many people (Glanz, Rimer & Viswanath, 2015). Interacting with other people and sharing how you feel allows them to help you decide on what steps you would take concerning a stressful event. Many drug and alcohol recovery interventions use this kind of factor to help addicts in their healing process since they get to discuss and encourage each other during an intervention.

If I were to teach somebody how they would use predictability, control, and social support to reduce their stress levels, I would first give out scenarios that each case would best be used and put their personality into significant consideration. I would explain that predictability depends on them knowing when a stressful, event would occur. They need to remember the factors or activities that give them stress and note when they can appear next. Taking control of their lives means that they need to have the capacity to control their emotions and have the ability to manage their problems. I would ask them to stop worrying too much about issues that have solutions and explain to them that they have the power to have a positive thinking about any event in their lives. Concerning social support, I would explain to them that in this world one cannot survive on their own and every problem has a solution which lies in people around us. By talking to people who are close makes the problem much smaller because a problem shared is a problem half solved.

References

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Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Viswanath, K. (2015). Health behavior: Theory, research, and practice. Jossey-Bass

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