2. MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF
SELF-CARE is the action that
individuals take for themselves, on behalf
of and with others in order to develop,
protect maintain and improve their health,
wellbeing and wellness.
3. Why is Self-Care Good for People?
✓ Empowering people with the confidence and information
to look themselves when they can
✓ Help prevents ill in the long term
✓ Can take care of their minor ailments
✓ Reducing the number of consultations and enabling
health personnel to focus on caring for higher risk
patients
✓ Manages long term conditions and providing new
services
✓ More cost effective use of stretched resources allows
money to spent where it is most needed and improved
health outcomes.
✓ Increased personal responsibility around healthcare
4. STRESSORS AND RESPONSES
WHAT IS STRESS?
➢ Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that
requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts
to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional
responses. Stress is a normal part of life. You can
experience stress from your environment, your body,
and your thoughts. Even positive life changes such as
a promotion, a mortgage, or the birth of a child
produce stress.
5. STRESSORS AND RESPONSES
STRESSORS
➢ Stressors are events or conditions in your
surroundings that may trigger stress.
➢ Stress can be positive or negative, depending on the
situation. Positive stressors called eustress may
include an upcoming wedding, the holidays or
pregnancy. On the other hand, negative stress called
distress results in the full-blown stress response. If
continuous, negative stress can lead to loss of
productivity, health problems and exhaustion.
6. STRESS RESPONSE
➢ The stress response or “fight or flight” response is the
emergency reaction system of the body. It is there to
keep you safe in emergencies. The stress response
includes physical and thought responses to your
perception of various situations.
➢ When the stress response is turned on, your body may
release substances like adrenaline and cortisol. Your
organs are programmed to respond in certain ways to
situations that are viewed as challenging or
threatening.
7. FIGHT OR FLIGHT
➢ The fight of flight response makes your heart beat faster. You might
feel very nervous, making it difficult to breathe.
➢ Short term, the fight or flight response causes changes that allow you
to handle sudden stressful events. When you face fear or even recall a
stressful or frightening event from the past, the resulting hormonal
changes super-charge your body to a state of high arousal. This
prepares you for action.
➢ But long term stress can be particularly difficult. When stress
hormones stay elevated over time, there is a gradual and steady
stream of harmful changes to the body. Long term stress can suppress
the immune system, which may lead to the development of diseases.
11. SOURCES OF COPING AND STRENGTH
✓ Become Aware of your Stressors and Reactions
Before you can reduce negative effects of stress, you have to
find out what causes your stress and how you cope. One tool
that can help is mindfulness, which is a practice of becoming
more aware of what’s going on in your body, mind, and the
environment around you. Rather than running back to a habitual
pattern or avoiding or obsessing, mindfulness allows you to
simply be present and notice what’s happening right now, giving
you the space to choose the best way to respond.
12. STRESS SYMPTOMS
✓ Physical complaints (stomachaches, headaches, chest pains,
nausea and diarrhea, and a sensation of numbness or tingling
in your hands, arms and face)
✓ Problems getting along with family members, friends and
teachers.
✓ Changes in behavior at home (short temper, unexplained
anger, crying for no reason)
✓ Regression – behavior that is not age appropriate.
✓ Dysfunctional sleep patterns including nightmares, too little
sleep, difficulty falling asleep or even oversleeping.
13. STRESS SYMPTOMS
✓ Communication difficulty or personality changes such as
becoming withdrawn or requiring much more attention than
usual.
✓ Impatience
➢ If you are experiencing a few of these symptoms, chances
are that your level stress is high. If left untreated, stress can
lead to permanent feelings of helplessness and
ineffectiveness.
14. PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
✓ Dizziness or general feeling of being out of it.
✓ General aches and pains.
✓ Grinding teeth, clenched jaw
✓ Headaches
✓ Indigestion or acid reflux symptoms
✓ Increase in or loss of appetite
✓ Muscle tension in neck, face or shoulders
✓ Problems sleeping
✓ Racing heart
✓ Cold and sweaty palms
✓ Tiredness, exhaustion
✓ Trembling/shaking
✓ Weight gain or loss
✓ Upset stomach, diarrhea
✓ Sexual difficulties
15. MANAGING STRESS
✓ Identify the sources of stress
Try to figure out what’s causing your stress symptoms. Maybe you are
overextended (too many commitments) and feel fatigued and irritable.
Once you identify the sources of stress, try to minimize these as much
as possible.
✓ Social Support
Confidants, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, relatives, spouses and
companions all provide a life-enhancing social net and may increase
longevity. It’s not clear why, but the buffering theory holds that people
who enjoy close relationships with family and friends receive
emotional support that indirectly helps to sustain the at times of
chronic stress and crisis.
16. MANAGING STRESS
✓ Take time out
Before you reach your breaking point, take time out for
solitude. Take time to nurture yourself, away from the cares
and responsibilities of the world. Find time for inner strength
and emotional healing.
✓ Set Limits
Never hesitate to say NO before you take on too many
commitments. Especially if you are balancing work and
family, it’s important to prioritize. Saying no can help bring
your stress to a manageable level and give you more control
over your life.
17. MANAGING STRESS
✓ Exercise daily
Exercise is thought to increase the secretion of endorphins,
naturally produced substances in the brain that induce feelings
of peacefulness. Many studies show that exercise, along with
the boosted endorphin levels, really does increase confidence
and self-esteem and reduce tension. Exercise also acts as a
displacement defense mechanism for those who are stressed
out.
What does that mean? If you’ve ever walked for several miles,
you know how hard it is to think of your problems when your
mind is focused on walking.
18. MANAGING STRESS
✓ Adjust your attitude
We often respond to stressful events in ways that are not
particularly helpful. Sometimes our attitudes become
negative, defeatist or worrisome which san make it difficult
to mindfully deal with stress. If this sounds familiar to you,
know that simply adjusting your attitude can reduce stress.
Research suggests that if you approach a situation as a
challenge, rather than a threat, you don’t trigger the stress
responses that can damage health.
19. STRESS AND THE FILIPINOS: THE
SOCIALAND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS
OF STRESS
“Sure, Filipinos are resilient but this
doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t
feel stress”
`- Michael L Tan.
20. HOW DO WE SAY WE’RE STRESSED IN
FILIPINO?
We don’t have a word in any of our Philippine language for
stress and being stressed. But that doesn’t mean we Filipinos
don’t ever experience stress.
We feel it all the time and we see it producing illnesses, both
physical and mental, both fleeting (as in having to run to the
toilet) and serious, life-threatening ones. Because stress
affects the body’s immune system, we can say all ailments are
in one way or another stress-related, from asthma to singaw
(cancer sores) to cardiovascular ailments and even infectious
diseases.
21. HOW DO WE SAY WE’RE STRESSED IN
FILIPINO?
Not enough being done to understating stress in its local
context, yet stress is mediated through culture: from the very
nature of the stressors, to the ways we respond to the stress.
Understanding this local context might help us develop more
culturally appropriate, and therefore more effective, ways to
deal with stress.
22. STRESSORS ARE NOT UNIVERSAL
For example, we say “noise” is stressful, but what exactly is
noise?
Culturally, we have different thresholds for these sounds.
Some people from a different country find the Philippines
too “noisy”, the jeepneys, the arcade games in malls, even
the way people talk. Yet they have no problems tuning into
hard rock music on their iPods.
23. FILIPINOS’ SOURCES OF STRESS
Beyond these sensory stresses, we Filipinos do face many
sources of stress, around work and livelihood mainly. Farmers
worry about drought and typhoons.
Rural or urban, we all face the stresses of family, perhaps more
so than in Western countries. We like to say we are family-
oriented, with relatives always on hand to help out. But the
extended Filipino family can be stressful too, with all its
obligations. Filipino overseas, from Hongkong domestic workers
to physicians in the United States, who postponed returning
home for years because they dread the jeepneyloads of relatives
waiting for pasalubong (gifts).
24. FILIPINOS’WAY OF OVERCOMING
STRESS
There are power dimensions to all this, such as
those found in gender. Contrary to stereotypes
about women being more expressive, Filipinas are
actually more prone to dealing with stressful
situations through tiis (endurance) and kimkim
(repression)
While it’s usual for men having a good time,
bringing out the beer and toasting their problems
away, while their women look for ways to make
25. FILIPINOS’ WAY OF OVERCOMING
STRESS
Men, too, are expected to keep their feelings in
check, but more out pf masculine values of
strength and stoicism. Men are generally not
allowed to cry, much less to go into hysterics; and
this probably helps to explain why more men
suffer from cardiovascular disease.
26. FILIPINOS’ WAY OF EXPRESSING STRESS
Many Filipinos will express their stress by complaining about recurring
headaches or abdominal pains, accompanied by dizziness, nausea, fatigue.
Doctors used to dismiss these as being all in the mind, but it has become
clear the physical pain and distress may be quite real, that the pent-up
stress is expressed through the body.
These vague symptoms have been labeled as “somatization syndrome” and
are often hard to treat, partly because medical professional still haven’t
figured out the biological processes involved. Culturally, too, people may
attach labels that don’t quite reflect the actual part of the body that’s
affected, as when they say that they’re suffering from nerbyos or nerves.
Nerbyos doesn’t necessarily mean being nervous; it’s often hypertension or
high blood pressure, for example, and a health professional or caregiver
may miss the problem.
27. FILIPINOS’ WAY OF MANAGING
STRESS
Ultimately, stress management is a matter of helping
people to recognize that the world, which seems so
stressful, can also be a source of joy and pleasure,
fulfillment and renewal. The therapies being dangled
around are meant as appetizers, ways of inducing the
depressed the person to garner enough strength and
courage to re-engage not just the world, but life itself.
28. TAKING CARE OF THE SELF: THE
NEED FOR SELF CARE AND
COMPASSION
We sometimes use “self-care” as a proxy for “self-
compassion” But they’re actually different concepts.
Self-compassion is regarding yourself
compassionately.
Self-care, by contrast, is treating yourself
compassionately. The two terms sound
interchangeable, but they contain a thinking versus
29. SELF-CARE
Self-care has been defined as providing adequate attention to
one’s own physical and psychological wellness. Beyond
being an aspirational goal, engaging in self-care has been
described as an “ethical imperative”
SELF-COMPASSION
Self-compassion is an act of love, understanding, and
acceptance.
If you’ve ever berated yourself over mistakes or
shortcomings, you’ll know how it feels to lack self-
compassion. The same goes for any time you’ve tried to
drown your sorrow or ignore it with a “stiff upper lip”
mentality.
30. People can go through the motions of self-care
without having self-compassion. Similarly, they
can view themselves compassionately and still not
take care of themselves. The two concepts, though,
need to work together.
Self-care without self-compassion discharges a
debt, usually with suffering somewhere else. Self-
care with self-compassion is a gift that doesn’t
have to be earned or repaid.
31. “Treat yourself as if you
were a loving mother
holding their child”
- Buddha
32. CREATING COMPASSION
Developing a positive self-attitude is imperative for a healthy,
happy life. It’s part of the reason that the mindfulness movement
took off – having a good life matters most. That is the promise that
the privatization of mindfulness sell s us.
STEP TO SELF-CARE
The next step to self-care is developing self-compassion. Until we
can acknowledge failures and mistakes, moving towards a happier
self will always remain elusive. Right now, each of us has the
language to treat ourselves with compassion. It’s the same way we’d
respond to those closest to us in their time of anguish. We all need
to direct that attitude inward. It’s the ideal solution to confronting
and overcoming our faults.
