Penstripe Student Wellbeing Section - Flipbook - Page 1
Managing stress and your mental health
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What is stress?
The area in your brain responsible for activating stress is called the limbic system. This
part of the brain activates your physical response to keep you safe from danger. This is
a VERY basic part of the brain that hasn’t changed much in thousands of years!
In the past, danger was life threatening – a mountain lion or a poisonous snake.
In the modern world your brain perceives threats from many other sources like school tests,
family arguments and changes in life. Even if these sources are not life threatening, the
same physical responses are activated in your body and you feel stressed.
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When faced with danger we are likely to instinctively adopt one of three actions:
Fight the danger / Flight from danger / Freeze in front of danger.
This is called the Fight / Flight / Freeze response.
Would you: (select from the options below)
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Let’s say a leopard was about to enter the room you are sitting in right now. Do
you know what you would do?
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Find the first likely weapon to beat the beast (Fight)
Try to escape through the window (Flight)
Be stuck and not know what to do (Freeze)
ST
You might also react the same way when facing a non-life threatening event
such as an upcoming exam. When you hear about an upcoming exam do you
usually: (select from the options below)
Start revising as soon as possible (Fight)
Stop attending the classes and drop the course (Flight)
Do nothing leading up to the day before the exam
EN
– also called procrastination (Freeze)
If you have identified two different reactions, it is normal! How we react always
depends on the source of stress.
What are the signs of stress?
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It is important to remember that not all stress is bad; in fact it is neccessary to
motivate you and keep you safe.
However, prolonged
exposure to stress can
cause problems and
potentially result in
anxiety and depression.
Being aware of the danger
signs and addressing
them as soon as possible
is essential to maintain
good mental health.
PERFORMANCE
Fatigue
Exhaustion
Anxiety/Panic/Anger
Laid back
Inactive
Too little stress
(underload)
Breakdown
Optimum
Stress
Too much
stress
(overload)
Burn-out
STRESS LEVEL