Ch01 Print indd

the midpoint, prior to where eustress turns into dis-

tress. Studies indicate that stress-related hormones in 

optimal doses actually improve physical performance 

and mental-processing skills like concentration, making 

you more alert. Beyond that optimal level, though, all 

aspects of performance begin to decrease in efficiency. 

Physiologically speaking, your health is at serious risk. 

It would be simple if this optimal level was the same 

for all people, but it’s not. Hence, the focus of any effec-

tive stress-management program is twofold: (1) to find 

out where this optimal level of stress is for you so that it 

can be used to your advantage rather than becoming a 

detriment to your health status, and (2) to reduce physical 

arousal levels using both coping skills and relaxation 

techniques so that you can stay out of the danger zone 

created by too much stress.

Types of Stressors

Any situation, circumstance, or stimulus that is per-

ceived to be a threat is referred to as a stressor, or 

that which causes or promotes stress. As you might 

imagine, the list of stressors is not only endless but 

varies considerably from person to person. Acute stress 

world might fall into this category. The third type of 

stress, distress, is considered bad and often is abbrevi-

ated simply as stress. There are two kinds of distress: 

acute stress, or that which surfaces, is quite intense, 

and disappears quickly, and chronic stress, or that 

which may not appear quite so intense, yet seems to 

linger for prolonged periods of time (e.g., hours, days, 

weeks, or months). An example of acute stress is the 

following: You are casually driving down the highway, 

the wind from the open sunroof is blowing through 

your hair, and you feel pretty good about life. With a 

quick glance in your rearview mirror you see flashing 

blue lights. Yikes! So you slow down and pull over. 

The police car pulls up behind you. Your heart is 

racing, your voice becomes scratchy, and your palms 

are sweating as you try to retrieve license and regis-

tration from your wallet while rolling your window 

down at the same time. When the officer asks you why 

you were speeding you can barely speak; your voice is 

three octaves higher than usual. After the officer runs 

a check on your car and license, he only gives you a 

warning for speeding. Whew! He gets back in his car 

and leaves. You give him time to get out of sight, start 

your engine, and signal to get back onto the highway. 

Within minutes your heart is calm, your palms dry, and 

you start singing to the song on the radio. The threat 

is over. The intensity of the acute stress may seem cata-

clysmic, but it is very short-lived.

Chronic stressors, on the other hand, are not as intense 

but their duration is unbearably long. Examples might 

include the following: being stuck for a whole semester 

with “the roommate from hell,” a credit card bill that 

only seems to grow despite monthly payments, a boss 

who makes your job seem worse than that of a galley 

slave, living in a city you cannot tolerate, or maintaining 

a relationship with a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or 

wife that seems bad to stay in but worse to leave. For 

this reason, chronic stressors are thought to be the real 

villains. According to the American Institute of Stress 

(AIS), it is this type of stress that is associated with dis-

ease because the body is perpetually aroused for danger.

A concept called the Yerkes-Dodson principle, which 

is applied to athletic performance, lends itself quite 

nicely to explaining the relationship among eustress, 

distress, and health. As can be seen in 

Fig. 1.14

, 

when stress increases, moving from eustress to distress, 

performance or health decreases and there is greater 

risk of disease and illness. The optimal stress level is 

The Yerkes-Dodson curve illus-

trates that, to a point, stress 

or arousal can actually increase 

performance. Stress to the left of the midpoint is con-

sidered to be eustress. Stress beyond the midpoint, 

however, is believed to detract from performance and/

or health status and is therefore labeled distress.

Good 

 

P 

e 

r 

f 

o 

r 

m 

a 

n 

c 

e 

 

Poor 

Maximum Performance 

Stress (Emotional Arousal) 

Low 

 

I 

l 

l 

n 

e 

s 

s 

 

 

 

 

 

High 

Poor performance 

Poor performance 

Eustress 

Distress 

Low 

(underaroused – 

bored) 

High 

(overaroused – 

overwhelmed) 

Moderate 

(optimally 

aroused) 

FIGURE 1.1

 

The Nature of Stress

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the release of various stress hormones throughout the 

body. Note that there is a growing opinion among 

some health practitioners that increased stress levels 

in the 21st century may be a direct result of our being 

out of touch with the natural elements that so strongly 

influence our body’s physiological systems. In any 

case, some of these bioecological factors can be posi-

tively influenced by lifestyle changes, including dietary 

habits, exercise, and the regular practice of relaxation 

techniques, which bring a sense of balance back into 

our lives.

Psychointrapersonal Influences

Our current understanding is that psychointraper-

sonal influences make up the greatest percentage of 

stressors. These are the perceptions of stimuli that we 

create through our own mental processes. Psychoin-

trapersonal stressors involve those thoughts, values, 

beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and perceptions that we 

use to defend our identity or ego. When any of these is 

challenged, violated, or even changed, the ego is often 

threatened and the stress response is the outcome. Psy-

chointrapersonal stressors reflect the unique constructs 

of our personality, and in the words of stress researcher 

Kenneth Pelletier, represent “the chasm between the 

perceived self and the ideal self-image.” These influ-

ences are the most likely to cause stress. For this reason 

it becomes imperative to intercept the stress response 

in the mind before it cascades down as a rush of stress 

hormones into the body to cause potential damage.

Social Influences

Social influences have long been the subject of research 

to explain the plight of individuals who are unable to 

cope with their given environment. Most notable is 

the issue of overcrowding and urban sprawl. Studies 

conducted on several species have shown that when 

their numbers exceed the territorial boundary of each 

animal, despite an abundance of food and water,  several 

seemingly healthy animals die off (Allen, 1983). This 

need for personal space appears to be universal in the 

animal kingdom. This includes humans, who likewise 

begin to show signs of frustration in crowded urban 

areas, traffic jams, long lines at checkout stands, or 

whenever their personal space is “invaded.” The origin 

of this particular social influence may be instinctual 

in nature. Additional social causes of stress include 

 financial insecurity, the effects of relocation, some tech-

nological advances, violation of human rights, and low 

is often the result of rapid-onset stressors—those that 

pop up unexpectedly—like a phone call in the middle 

of the night or the discovery that you have lost your 

car keys. Usually the body begins to react before a full 

analysis of the situation is made, but a return to a state 

of calm is also imminent. Chronic stressors—those that 

may give some advance warning yet manage to cause 

physical arousal anyway, often merit more attention 

because their prolonged influence on the body appears 

to be more significant. Much research has been con-

ducted to determine the nature of stressors, and they 

are currently divided into three categories: bioecolog-

ical, psychointrapersonal, and social (Girdano, Everly, 

and Dusek, 2012).

Bioecological Influences

Chemtrails, global warming, and genetically modified 

organisms (GMOs) not withstanding, there are several 

biological and ecological factors that may trigger the 

stress response in varying degrees, some of which are 

outside our awareness. These are external influences, 

including sunlight, gravitational pull, solar flares, 

and electromagnetic fields, that affect our biological 

rhythms. From the field of chronobiology we learn 

that these factors affect three categories of biological 

rhythms: (1) circadian rhythms, fluctuations in physi-

ological functions over the course of a 24-hour period 

(e.g., body temperature); (2) ultradian rhythms, fluc-

tuations that occur over less than a 24-hour period 

(such as stomach contractions and cell divisions); and 

(3) infradian rhythms, changes that occur in periods 

longer than 24 hours (e.g., the menses). These biolog-

ical changes are influenced by such natural phenomena 

as the earth’s orbit and axis rotation, which give us 

periods of light and darkness as well as seasonal dif-

ferences. A prime example of a bioecological influ-

ence is seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a condition 

affecting many people who live at or near the Arctic 

Circle. Many of these people become depressed when 

they are deprived of sunlight for prolonged periods 

of time. But technological changes are also included in 

this category, an example being jet lag as a result of air-

plane travel through several time zones. Electrical pol-

lution, environmental toxins, solar radiation, and noise 

pollution are other potential bioecological influences. 

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), petrochemi-

cals, synthetic chemicals, and some types of nanotech-

nology are considered new bioecological threats. In 

addition, some synthetic food additives may trigger 

Chapter 1

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