good morning afternoon evening night whenever you're watching this welcome to the first video of unit five of AP Psychology today we start reviewing the last unit of AP psych which honestly is just crazy it seems like just yesterday we are learning about the different structures of the brain and talking about different research methods ah the good old days when our biggest worry was mixing up the amydala and the hippocampus simpler times really but before we go all nostalgic reminiscing about the good old day we need to review Health psychology which focuses on how a person's physical health and wellness shape their behaviors and mental processes Health psychology looks at an individual from a holistic perspective seeking to understand not just a person's behaviors but also their coping strategies stressors psychological influences and Community engagement Health psychologists seek to identify different factors that impact an individuals or community's health they also Al help shape public policy regarding Health Care Plus they design interventions to help improve treatment outcomes and improve the quality of life for people one way in which health psychologists seek to help individuals is with their stress today we know that prolonged stress can weaken the body's ability to fight off different diseases research has shown that chronic stress can lead to hypertension which is high blood pressure it can also lead to tension headaches migraines and a compromised immune system so Health psychologists pay close close attention to how an individual handles stress and how often they are stressed now not all stress is bad in fact we can see there is two types of stress that an individual may experience UST stress and distress UST stress is considered positive stress this often ends up motivating an individual to take on a challenge or perform better at a task distress however is negative stress this often overwhelms an individual resulting in them feeling exhausted now to make sure this is making sense to take a minute and try to identify which of these examples are you stress and which are distress when you are done you can check the comment section down below for the answers and if you are struggling with telling the difference you can head on over to my ultimate review packet for more practice so stress is part of life and there is no avoiding it we can see that each person is impacted differently by stress often times how long an individual experiences stress or the impact of that stress can depend on the type of stressor sometimes stress can come from daily hassles which are small but frequent annoyances that if continue for too long can build up to lead to significant stress for example constantly getting assigned large assignments from multiple classes or dealing with classmates who don't help out on group projects side note isn't it funny how all the teachers always put their tests or their big projects on the same day it's like they don't even realize that you all take multiple classes I know I definitely as a teacher have never been guilty of doing this maybe once or twice three times now individuals can also experience stress from traumatic events such as accidents natural disasters violent experiences or the loss of a loved one these events can lead to severe emotional and psychological responses for instance PTSD which is a mental health condition that occurs after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event lastly we can also see stress come from adverse childhood experiences which are potentially traumatic events or chronic stressors occurring in a person's childhood these events often end up impacting an individual well into their adult years adverse childhood experiences have been linked to higher risks for mental health challenges and physical health problems highlighting the importance of individuals to seek help to resolve their stressors and learn to utilize effective coping strategies now since we are talking about stress we should also talk about General Adaptation Syndrome or G for short the G looks at how a person's body reacts to stress when confronted with stress for long periods of time it consists of three stages with the first stage being alarm reaction this is when the stressor is first perceived during the stage a person will experience the fight flight freeze response the fight response prepares an individual to confront the stressor flight prepares the individual to run away from the stressor and freeze as when an individual becomes stuck and is unable to act due due to the stressor the body during the stage will often release hormones such as adrenaline or cortisol to prepare the individual to confront flee or freeze from the stressor after the body prepares to deal with the stressor it will move into the next stage which is resistance this stage happens if the stressor persists during this stage the body attempts to adapt to the stressor during the stage the body uses more energy to adapt to the stressor if the body stays at this higher level of tension for too long it will cause the body to become tired and this brings us to the last stage which is exhaustion over time if the stressor continues the body's energy stores become depleted during this stage the body's immune system may become weakened due to the prolonged stress individuals in this stage are more susceptible to burnout fatigue illness and may experience increased anxiety understanding these stages helps us better understand how prolonged stress can impact not just physical aspects of an individual but also Al psychological aspects as well another theory we need to look at when it comes to handling stress is the tend and befriend Theory unlike the gas which highlights the impact of fight flight freeze response the tend and befriend Theory suggests that under stress some individuals are more likely to protect and care for themselves or others or may seek social support from others the first part of this theory is tending which is centered around nurturing care here an individual will take care of themselves or others the individual seeks to minimize the stress or or harm within their life the next part of this theory is befriending which is when an individual seeks out others and provides support this generally helps the individual feel a sense of safety and reduces the stress through increased cooperation and social connections today we can see that some research has suggested that this Theory may be more prevalent with women showing that the different Sexes react to stress differently so we can see that the tend and befriend Theory emphasizes behavioral responses centered around care and social connections while the G focuses on the physiological stages that the body goes through during stress to make sure both of these theories are making sense make sure you go take the practice quiz that I created on both of the theories that you can find in my ultimate review packet remember if you want to truly succeed in AP Psychology you need to be active in your learning not passive so we have now been talking about different types of stress stressors and have looked at how stress can impact a person but we still need to talk about different coping strategies there are two coping strategies that you want to be familiar with the first is problem focused coping which is when an individual views a stressor as a situation or problem that can be solved this approach involves identifying the source of the stress creating a plan to reduce the stress and then implementing that plan if the individual's original plan does not work the individual will look for another solution and repeat the process for example let's say you were struggling with low grades in AP Psychology and you are feeling overwhelmed by an upcoming test instead of just stressing about your test you decide to come up with a plan of action you first realize that you should probably start studying more and doom scroll on Tik Tok less don't act like you don't do it we all know that feeling of sitting on the couch and realizing that an hour has already passed and you just accomplished absolutely nothing it's a great feeling honestly next you decide to create a stud plan that breaks up the content on the test into smaller manageable chunks you also decide to attend study sessions that your teacher offers and of course check out the Mr sin channel for extra support this allows you to reduce your stress and build your confidence for the upcoming test resulting in you performing better in the class now the other coping strategy that people use is emotion focused coping which is when an individual focuses on managing their emotional reactions to the stressor instead of trying to change the stressor itself this can involve a variety of practices such as using different relaxation techniques which may include deep breathing where an individual will practice slow controlled breaths to reduce their anxiety meditation and mindfulness which focuses on being in the present moment medication that helps reduce stressful emotional responses or physical activity or artistic expression which allow an individual to boost their mood and reduce their tension an individual may also seek out out support and talk through the situation with friends family or counselors we can see that both problem focused and emotion focused coping strategies have value generally problem focused coping works best when there is a practical solution to the stressor while emotion focused methods are more effective when the source of the stressor is out of one's control sometimes it actually may be best to combine both strategies for instance you might first use emotion Focus coping to calm down and then apply problem Focus coping to address the issue when you are more levelheaded all right and just like that we are done with the first topic review video of unit 5 now you know the drill go to the ultimate review packet and take those practice quizzes trust me the more you practice the easier this class and that AP exam will be as always I'm Mr sin thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time online