Focus on how the mind impacts the health of the body

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Now that you have critically analyzed your stress to discover some of the major stressors in your life, it is time to take your thoughts from the Discussion and develop a plan that you can follow with the goal of coping effectively with that stress to improve health.
As you may have discovered in your reading and by being aware of the impact of stress in your life, the mind can significantly control the body. Stress can lead to unhealthy behaviors—overeating, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, taking drugs, exercise avoidance, problems with sleep, and many other things can result from a high level of stress. Stress can even set the stage for serious and life threatening diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension, some cancers, obesity, etc. Though it isn’t possible to completely guard against these diseases, it is possible to lower the risk by managing stress and the related behaviors and then replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones—healthful nutrition, exercise, restful sleep, elimination of smoking and harmful drugs, or drinking only in moderation, to name a few.
To prepare for this assignment:
Review Chapters 3, 4, and 5, and Module 9.9 of your text. Focus on how the mind impacts the health of the body.Think about the top stressors you selected for the Discussion question or select other stresses. Identify at least one physical stressor and one psychological stressor. Think about how each of these impacts your life. Include all areas of your life—relationships, work, health, happiness, self-esteem, satisfaction, etc.Watch the animation: Managing Stress Improves Health.Review the Web site article, Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health.
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Watch these short videos: Meditation Changes Brains and Smoking, Stress, and Gender.Now, using the information from Chapter 5, think about how changing your health behavior might positively influence your overall health by mitigating the effect of each stressor you have selected. It might be that you can identify one health behavior for both of your stressors, or you might need a separate health behavior to positively influence each stressor independently. What specifically will the health behavior(s) do for you? How will it impact your body? How will it impact your mind?The assignment: 1 page, APA style format, No Plagiarism and must be cited with references. Thank you(1)Describe at least one physical and one psychological source of stress and explain how each impacts your life.(2)Explain the mind-body connection as it relates to each of your sources of stress.(3)Then identify a health behavior(s) you believe would positively influence your health and explain how you think it will impact the various factors of your health.(4)Write a specific plan of action showing how you will cope with the stress using the identified health behavior(s). Be sure to include a time frame and enough detail to illustrate exactly what you plan to do.Resources:
• Readings
• Course Text: Psychology and the Challenges of Life
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o Chapter 3, “Stress: What is it and How to Manage It (pp. 84-118)
o Chapter 4, “Physiological Factors and Health,” Modules 4.2 and 4.3 (pp. 130-147 only)
o Chapter 5,”Developing Healthier Behaviors” (pp. 154-200)
o Chapter 9, “Therapies: Ways of Helping,”Module 9.9 (pp. 332-339 only)
Media
• Managing Stress Improves Healthhttp://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=mininav&bcsId=3631&itemId=0470079894&assetId=115403&resourceId=10556&newwindow=true• Meditation Changes Brainshttp://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/nevid/0470079894/videos/html_pages/meditationchangesbrains.htmlClick here to view a transcript of Meditation Changes Brains
• Smoking, Stress, and Genderhttp://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/nevid/0470079894/videos/html_pages/smokingstressgender.htmlClick here to view a transcript of Smoking, Stress, and Gender
Websites
• Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Healthhttp://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/prevention-wellness/emotional-wellbeing/mental-health/mind-body-connection-how-your-emotions-affect-your-health.htmlThis is an article specifically linking the mind and body together from the perspective of stress. This article is presented to the lay reader of FamilyDoctor.org, not exclusively to psychology professionals.