Health Module
Unit 1: Preventive Care
Lesson 3: Stress Management as
Preventive Care
Materials Needed:
Word Bank:
stress management
scale
measure
overstressed
react
weaken
malfunction
gastrointestinal tract
immune system
cardiovascular system
skin
brain
Introductory Activity: Discussion
This may be strange for students.
In their native country open discussion of stress outside of the family
might be a sign of weakness or bad behavior.
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Does it seem
strange to you to talk about stress management as a form of preventive
care?
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Doctors have
found that stress has a big effect on all aspects of your health. We
are going to look at a website that explains the effects of stress on
different systems in your body. Can anyone give an example of how
stress can cause problems in one part of the body?
Activity 1: Defining Stress
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Before we talk
more about its effects, we are going to look at what kinds of things are
considered stress.
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On the Internet,
go to the website
www.teachhealth.com.
You will see the
title of the book on this website: The Medical Basis of
Stress, Depression: Anxiety, Sleep Problems, and Drug Use, by Dr.
Steven Burns. Dr. Burns put his book on the Internet so people can learn
about stress.
Not all of this book is easy to read,
but the selections used in this lesson are fairly clear. Students may
need to have some vocabulary explained.
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Now scroll
down to the section
"Contents." Click on "Recognizing
Stress."
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Read the section
"Recognizing Stress" with a partner. Help each other understand any
new vocabulary. If neither of you knows a word, you can ask me, other
classmates, or check the dictionary.
You may
want to debrief Activity 1 as a whole group, or let students debrief in
small groups as they complete it.
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When you have
finished reading the section, write down any new information you
learned. Also, write a sentence saying what you think is the most
important message of this section. Share your sentence with classmates.
Activity 2: Measuring Our Own Stress
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In "Your Stress Scale," the
next section of the webpage, there is a scale for measuring your own
stress. Let's use the scale and see how stressed out we are.
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Read through the questions to make
sure you understand all the words. Look for any new words in the
dictionary, or ask your classmates and me.
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Add up points for any of the things
that happened to you in the last 12 months. If one thing happened more
than once (for example, you got fired 2 times), count it twice.
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When you count your points, remember
that you can experience stress for happy things as well as difficult
things, so be sure to count positive events in your life to get the
correct score. For example, many people enjoy planning a wedding, but
they say it is stressful at the same time.
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Add up all your points and read the
4 paragraphs under the test to see if you are OVERSTRESSED! How many
students in the class are overstressed?
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Are you
surprised by your results, or are they what you expected?
Activity 3: Effects of Stress in your Body
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Now we're ready
to see what all that stress does to our bodies. Read the next section
below the scale. It's called "Here are the
common ‘weak links,’ and the symptoms of their malfunction."
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I'm passing out
a handout for you to complete about stress-related problems in different
body parts and systems. Write down what problems you learn about.
We'll go over them together when you are finished.
You may
want to make copies of the Answer Key for students, as it has simplified
explanations of the different medical terms. Or you could have students
copy them as needed off the board. Many students may know them, but some
terms are probably new to most.
Activity 4: Writing Expansion
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