00:01
Okay, so let's move on and in
this module we are going
to take a look at stress.
00:05
More specifically we are
going to look
at the nature of stress.
00:08
So right now, you are sitting
at your desk,
and I'm pretty sure you
are little bit stressed out.
00:14
You are preparing for the MCAT
exam.
00:16
You are thinking about,
where am I going to apply.
00:18
Am I going to pass?
This is fairly stressful.
00:21
So let's walk through
what that looks like.
00:23
Now stress is made up
of a couple of things.
00:27
Psychological and physiological
components at the same time.
00:31
That's pretty straight forward.
00:33
I think that makes
logical sense.
00:34
When you're stressed out it
has an impact on your mind.
00:36
And it has an impact on
your body.
00:38
So that's grouped as
physiological body
and psychological mind.
00:43
Now I think you've heard this
before as well, people say
well little bit of stress is
actually good for sure.
00:49
And that's true to some extent.
00:52
So acute stress which means
short periods of stress can be
actually positive and they've
been shown to actually increase
your performance out
of specific tasks.
01:01
So say for example, you're
going into write your MCAT exam.
01:05
You have prepared.
01:07
You have read all the books.
01:08
You've watched this lecture.
01:10
And you are uberly ready
to write this exam.
01:13
So you really should not
be that stressed out.
01:16
But when you go to the testing
facility and you're sitting at
your desk, and you have your
type 2 pencil in your hand
and you're looking down,
you know, you are going to
be a little bit stressed.
01:25
It might come off as excitement,
arousal, whatever,
it is a form of stress.
01:30
It's short lived.
01:32
Usually for the period
of the exam or at least
the first part of the exam.
01:35
And then you start
getting into this zone.
01:36
Now, when you are stressed out,
that moment that's actually
increasing, increasing
your performance.
01:43
Because it's helping with memory
recall,
it's helping with your focus.
01:46
It's helping with
a lot of things.
01:48
What I want you to get out of
that, it's short period that
stress is actually a good thing.
01:52
The flip side, let's take a look
at somebody's whose perhaps,
who you want to be, a doctor.
01:58
And you are in the ER.
02:00
And you are one of the best
in the country.
02:02
So you're in high demand.
02:03
You're working all the time
and you are saving lives.
02:05
You're a rockstar.
02:06
That's great.
02:08
That was your dream.
02:09
In reality doing that full time,
all the time,
can be quiet stressful.
02:14
No sleep, lot of pressure.
02:15
Life and death in your hands
that is called chronic stress.
02:19
Meaning a longer period of time.
02:20
Now chronic stress can
actually be a negative thing.
02:25
Because we know that over a long
period of time that can actually
do things like suppress
your immune system.
02:31
Immunosuppression.
02:32
It can cause hypertension.
02:34
And it can actually make
you more prone to illness.
02:36
So we're going to walk through
that in a little bit
more detail.
02:40
Now the first thing you got to
do, is figure out,
is this thing actually
is stressful.
02:46
So we go through a process
of appraisal.
02:48
Like anything we do in life,
we need to assess the situation.
02:52
So the response evoked
by a stressor is individual
based on appraisal.
02:55
So what we're saying here,
is me, you, the girl
sitting next to you, all
assess stress individually.
03:04
So if I were to say to you, I'm
going to need you to write this
MCAT exam right now, even though
you are not done studying,
that might be stressful.
03:12
Now you might ask the girl
besides you, who has been
studying for months,
and for her, she's like,
"Sure, bring it on."
And if you would ask me,
I would start crying
because I would probably fail.
03:23
Okay, so each of us
assessed it differently.
03:25
Based on our individual
appraisal of our resources,
our ability to handle
that stress, okay.
03:32
So we say appraisal is how
individual interprets an event
and as stressful/threatening
or not, okay.
03:38
Now if appraise is a challenge
than this can
actually be a motivator.
03:43
So like I said the girl sitting
next to you who has studied,
she might say,"Right on,
I'm so ready for this."
"This is going to be a fun
challenge for me
because I'm prepared."
"Because I'm smart,
I'm going to kill this exam."
As opposed to if I asked you,
and you have not being studying,
you might be
threatened and afraid that this
is a difficult thing
for you to do.
04:06
So another type of threat might
be if there is something that's
causing potential harm
to your safety.
04:13
So for example, a stressor
might be a burning house.
04:17
As you can see here.
04:18
This poor girl seems a little
bit stressed out
because she is in front of her
house which is not on fire.
04:23
So is that a threat to you, yes.
04:26
Is that appraised as a stress,
for sure, okay.
04:29
So the more uncontrollable
event is,
the greater the stress response.
04:33
So you can imagine
a sliding scale.
04:34
So you know, if you are in your
house and if there is smoke
at the stove, that's stressful.
04:40
If you walk in and your kitchen
is on fire,
that's even more stressful.
04:44
If you walk up to your house
and your house is on fire,
and your 14 kittens are in
the house,
that's extremely stressful.
04:51
So each of those you can see can
evoke more increasing amount
of stress and the appraisal
of each is different.