stress

Showing 39 posts tagged stress

Community Bonding Protects Your Happiness in Times of Stress Emerging research suggests that social cohesion across communities can help others cope better with crises, and improve happiness among individuals. Economist Dr. John Helliwell and colleagues from the University of British Columbia in Canada believe this shows that part of the reason for this greater resilience is the fact that humans are more than simply social beings, they are so-called “pro-social” beings. In other words, they get happiness not just from doing things with others, but from doing things both with and for others. image via flickr:CC | RodrigoFavera High-res

Community Bonding Protects Your Happiness in Times of Stress

Emerging research suggests that social cohesion across communities can help others cope better with crises, and improve happiness among individuals.

Economist Dr. John Helliwell and colleagues from the University of British Columbia in Canada believe this shows that part of the reason for this greater resilience is the fact that humans are more than simply social beings, they are so-called “pro-social” beings. In other words, they get happiness not just from doing things with others, but from doing things both with and for others.

image via flickr:CC | RodrigoFavera

Self-Affirmation Can Improve Problem-Solving Under Stress

According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, self-affirmation is the process of identifying and focusing on your most important values. Doing this can boost problem-solving abilities, the researchers claim.

“An emerging set of published studies suggest that a brief self-affirmation activity at the beginning of a school term can boost academic grade-point averages in underperforming kids at the end of the semester.

Acute Stress Primes Brain for Better Cognitive and Mental Performance “You always think about stress as a really bad thing, but it’s not,” said Daniela Kaufer, associate professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. “Some amounts of stress are good to push you just to the level of optimal alertness, behavioral and cognitive performance. New research by Kaufer and UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Elizabeth Kirby has uncovered exactly how acute stress — short-lived, not chronic — primes the brain for improved performance. photo via flickr:CC | ian boyd High-res

Acute Stress Primes Brain for Better Cognitive and Mental Performance

“You always think about stress as a really bad thing, but it’s not,” said Daniela Kaufer, associate professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. “Some amounts of stress are good to push you just to the level of optimal alertness, behavioral and cognitive performance.

New research by Kaufer and UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Elizabeth Kirby has uncovered exactly how acute stress — short-lived, not chronic — primes the brain for improved performance.

photo via flickr:CC | ian boyd

Even Brief Meditation Can Improve Student Performance New research, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggests practicing meditation before class can help students focus and lead to better grades. Researchers randomly selected students for basic meditation instructions before a lecture and discovered that the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a subsequent quiz than students who did not meditate. photo via flickr:CC | nikoschwarz High-res

Even Brief Meditation Can Improve Student Performance

New research, published in the journal Mindfulness, suggests practicing meditation before class can help students focus and lead to better grades.

Researchers randomly selected students for basic meditation instructions before a lecture and discovered that the students who meditated before the lecture scored better on a subsequent quiz than students who did not meditate.

photo via flickr:CC | nikoschwarz

Testing helps maintain attention, reduce stress in online learning Now researchers (Szpunar, Khan, & Schacter, 2013) have reported testing as a potentially powerful ally in online learning. College students frequently report difficulty in maintaining attention during lectures, and that problem seems to be exacerbated when the lecture occurs on video. Data shows students’ minds wandered less with just the thought that they might be tested. Interesting… photo via flickr:CC | konch High-res

Testing helps maintain attention, reduce stress in online learning

Now researchers (Szpunar, Khan, & Schacter, 2013) have reported testing as a potentially powerful ally in online learning. College students frequently report difficulty in maintaining attention during lectures, and that problem seems to be exacerbated when the lecture occurs on video.

Data shows students’ minds wandered less with just the thought that they might be tested. Interesting…

photo via flickr:CC | konch

Family Dinners Can Bolster Teens’ Mental Health Family dinners do more than just bring parents and kids up to date; a new study suggests the fellowship inherent in such gatherings contributes to good mental health in adolescents.Frank Elgar, Ph.D., a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, discovered family meal times are a measurable signature of social exchanges in the home that benefit adolescents’ well-being – regardless of whether or not they feel they can easily talk to their parents.“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life satisfaction,” said Elgar, whose research centers on social inequalities in health and family influences on child mental health. photo via flickr:CC | sashamd

Family Dinners Can Bolster Teens’ Mental Health

Family dinners do more than just bring parents and kids up to date; a new study suggests the fellowship inherent in such gatherings contributes to good mental health in adolescents.

Frank Elgar, Ph.D., a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, discovered family meal times are a measurable signature of social exchanges in the home that benefit adolescents’ well-being – regardless of whether or not they feel they can easily talk to their parents.

“More frequent family dinners related to fewer emotional and behavioral problems, greater emotional well-being, more trusting and helpful behaviors towards others and higher life satisfaction,” said Elgar, whose research centers on social inequalities in health and family influences on child mental health.

photo via flickr:CC | sashamd

Path Through College is Indirect and Stressful for Many Students

Switching majors, falling behind the academic schedule, and feeling disenfranchised by the conventional college system are becoming institutionalized student experiences, states the report from MyEdu, an Austin, Texas-based company that offers online tools to help college students manage their academic lives and career opportunities.

The study, which takes into account the randomly selected responses of 1,047 students from MyEdu’s 300,000 profiles, shows that:
  • more than half of students have switched or considered switching their major during their academic career
  • and that the overwhelming reason for this change was due to changing interests, and a lack of enjoyment in the first major selected.
  • What’s more, 37% of respondents classified themselves as “nontraditional students.”

So how to fix it?

Program to Reduce Teen Stress Researchers from the University of Montreal have developed a program to significantly reduce the stress associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school. The DeStress for Success Program is based on an earlier study that showed the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with the production of stress hormones for many youth. “The educational program is based on the belief that intervention can decrease the level of stress hormones and depressive symptoms in teenagers and help facilitate this transition,” said Sonia Lupien, lead author of the study. photo via flickr:CC | Riley Alexandra

Program to Reduce Teen Stress

Researchers from the University of Montreal have developed a program to significantly reduce the stress associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school.

The DeStress for Success Program is based on an earlier study that showed the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with the production of stress hormones for many youth.

“The educational program is based on the belief that intervention can decrease the level of stress hormones and depressive symptoms in teenagers and help facilitate this transition,” said Sonia Lupien, lead author of the study.

photo via flickr:CC | Riley Alexandra

theatlantic: How Racism Is Bad for Our Bodies  The researchers had each Latina student prepare a three-minute speech on “what I am like as a work partner” for their white partner. But before each student gave her speech, she read her partner’s responses — and, among other things, knew if the person evaluating her speech held racist beliefs. To monitor stress during the speech, the researchers hooked the speakers up to blood pressure cuffs and sensors to measure other cardiovascular data, including an electrocardiogram and impedance cardiography. When Latina participants thought they were interacting with a racist white partner, they had higher blood pressure, a faster heart rate, and shorter pre-ejection periods. What this shows is an increased sympathetic response, or what is often called the “fight or flight response.” Merely the anticipation of racism, and not necessarily the act, is enough to trigger a stress response. And this study only involved a three-minute speech. Read more. [Image: Reuters] High-res

theatlantic:

How Racism Is Bad for Our Bodies

 The researchers had each Latina student prepare a three-minute speech on “what I am like as a work partner” for their white partner. But before each student gave her speech, she read her partner’s responses — and, among other things, knew if the person evaluating her speech held racist beliefs. To monitor stress during the speech, the researchers hooked the speakers up to blood pressure cuffs and sensors to measure other cardiovascular data, including an electrocardiogram and impedance cardiography.

When Latina participants thought they were interacting with a racist white partner, they had higher blood pressure, a faster heart rate, and shorter pre-ejection periods. What this shows is an increased sympathetic response, or what is often called the “fight or flight response.” Merely the anticipation of racism, and not necessarily the act, is enough to trigger a stress response. And this study only involved a three-minute speech.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

Exercise Helps Kids Cope with Stress Researchers discovered sedentary children have surges of cortisol — a hormone linked to stress — when they are exposed to everyday stressors. However, the most active children had little or no increase in their cortisol levels in similar situations. “The findings suggest physical activity plays a role in mental health by buffering children from the effects of daily stressors, such as public speaking,” said the study’s lead author, Silja Martikainen, M.A., of the University of Helsinki, Finland. photo via flickr:CC | Neighborhood Centers

Exercise Helps Kids Cope with Stress

Researchers discovered sedentary children have surges of cortisol — a hormone linked to stress — when they are exposed to everyday stressors.

However, the most active children had little or no increase in their cortisol levels in similar situations.

“The findings suggest physical activity plays a role in mental health by buffering children from the effects of daily stressors, such as public speaking,” said the study’s lead author, Silja Martikainen, M.A., of the University of Helsinki, Finland.

photo via flickr:CC | Neighborhood Centers

Response to Stress Can Fuel Childhood Obesity Emerging research from Penn State and Johns Hopkins universities suggests an overreaction to stress can increase a child’s risk of becoming overweight or obese. “It is possible that such factors as living in poverty, in violent environments, or in homes where food is not always available may increase eating in the absence of hunger and, therefore, increase children’s risk of becoming obese,” she said. photo via flickr:CC | Megan Skelly

Response to Stress Can Fuel Childhood Obesity

Emerging research from Penn State and Johns Hopkins universities suggests an overreaction to stress can increase a child’s risk of becoming overweight or obese.

“It is possible that such factors as living in poverty, in violent environments, or in homes where food is not always available may increase eating in the absence of hunger and, therefore, increase children’s risk of becoming obese,” she said.

photo via flickr:CC | Megan Skelly

‘Helicopter Parenting’ Can Undermine Students’ Self-Image But too much involvement can be detrimental as a new study shows that college students with overcontrolling parents are more likely to be depressed and less satisfied with their lives. The researchers discovered parental overinvolvement can lead to negative outcomes in children, including higher levels of depression and anxiety. Studies also suggest that children of overinvolved or overcontrolling parents may feel less competent and less able to manage life and its stressors. photo via flickr:CC | WilliamsProjects

‘Helicopter Parenting’ Can Undermine Students’ Self-Image

But too much involvement can be detrimental as a new study shows that college students with overcontrolling parents are more likely to be depressed and less satisfied with their lives.

The researchers discovered parental overinvolvement can lead to negative outcomes in children, including higher levels of depression and anxiety.

Studies also suggest that children of overinvolved or overcontrolling parents may feel less competent and less able to manage life and its stressors.

photo via flickr:CC | WilliamsProjects

Adolescent Stress Linked to Severe Adult Mental Illness, Mouse Study Suggests Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence — a critical time for brain development — and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause severe mental illness in those predisposed to it. “We have discovered a mechanism for how environmental factors, such as stress hormones, can affect the brain’s physiology and bring about mental illness,” says study leader Akira Sawa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We’ve shown in mice that stress in adolescence can affect the expression of a gene that codes for a key neurotransmitter related to mental function and psychiatric illness. While many genes are believed to be involved in the development of mental illness, my gut feeling is environmental factors are critically important to the process.” photo via flickr:CC | Alan Cleaver

Adolescent Stress Linked to Severe Adult Mental Illness, Mouse Study Suggests

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence — a critical time for brain development — and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause severe mental illness in those predisposed to it.

“We have discovered a mechanism for how environmental factors, such as stress hormones, can affect the brain’s physiology and bring about mental illness,” says study leader Akira Sawa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We’ve shown in mice that stress in adolescence can affect the expression of a gene that codes for a key neurotransmitter related to mental function and psychiatric illness. While many genes are believed to be involved in the development of mental illness, my gut feeling is environmental factors are critically important to the process.”

photo via flickr:CC | Alan Cleaver

Studies Link Students’ Boredom to Stress While boredom is a perennial student complaint, emerging research shows it is more than students’ not feeling entertained, but rather a “flavor of stress” that can interfere with their ability to learn and even their health. Boredom is one of the most consistent experiences of school and one that can be frustrating and disheartening for teachers. According to findings in the High School Survey of Student Engagement, conducted by the Indiana University Bloomington, boredom is nearly universal among American students. “I think teachers should always try to be relevant and interesting, but beyond that, there are other places to look,” said John D. Eastwood, an associate professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, and the lead author of the study. “By definition, to be in the state of boredom is to say the world sucks out there in some way. But often that’s not the case; often it’s an interior problem, and [students] are looking in the wrong place to solve the problem.” photo via flickr:CC | simaje

Studies Link Students’ Boredom to Stress

While boredom is a perennial student complaint, emerging research shows it is more than students’ not feeling entertained, but rather a “flavor of stress” that can interfere with their ability to learn and even their health.

Boredom is one of the most consistent experiences of school and one that can be frustrating and disheartening for teachers. According to findings in the High School Survey of Student Engagement, conducted by the Indiana University Bloomington, boredom is nearly universal among American students.

“I think teachers should always try to be relevant and interesting, but beyond that, there are other places to look,” said John D. Eastwood, an associate professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, and the lead author of the study. “By definition, to be in the state of boredom is to say the world sucks out there in some way. But often that’s not the case; often it’s an interior problem, and [students] are looking in the wrong place to solve the problem.”

photo via flickr:CC | simaje