Brandon Gilligan

7/25/2017

PSY 1010

Semester Stress Project

I had a little difficulty with the stress evaluation surveys as I am not a traditional student. I like

to think that my life is relatively stress free. My wife is a doctor, so I don't really need to worry about

money. I only take classes part time, 2 classes per semester does not generate much stress. I Don't have

a job or a boss. I am a stay at home dad with a 1 year old and a 5 year old and my wife works very long

hours. I identified this as the major source of stress in my life. The methods that I have chosen to

implement will mainly deal with the stress of raising a family and maintaining a household with little

help.

There were some things changing in my life during the summer that increase my stress levels

that I wanted to address. First with the school year ending I had far less time to myself. I have been

trying to increase me time. I have noticed that this has worked wonders for my stress levels. As school

schedules change for me and the kids this is difficult to manage. But after the last few days I think it is

necessary.

Structured exercise is an area of life I have avoided. I like to hike and bike ride with the family

as the occasion calls. I also walk the dogs, but I have not really engaged in rigorous and strenuous

physical exercise in a while. My wife also noticed that this is lacking in my life and I know that she

would for me to be more active. I Have begun to work on this. I found that in some ways it has

increased stress levels and in other ways it has decreased stress levels. I shall see how it works out if I

am able to stick with it.

Finally, I decided I need some hobbies. I had let all of my previous hobbies fall by the wayside
and I needed something healthy and productive to fill my free time. I have found that my new hobbies

have given me something to look forward. And it gives me something to peruse that makes me happy,

not just something that needs to be done. I think that they have worked to reduce my stress levels.

During the school year my daughter went to preschool 3 hours per day 4 days a week. During

that time my son would take a long nap. I had time to myself. I could catch up on housework, I could

watch a movie, I could take a nap or do nothing. In a nutshell I had time to myself several times a

week. During the summer, when there is no school, my 4 year old who recently turned 5 was constantly

and relentlessly on my face. My free time was considerably shortened and it has increased my stress

levels.

She and I have been dealing with the new dynamic and she has gotten used to helping me

quietly do chores when her brother is asleep. However, my wife had a brilliant idea to send Joanna to

Maine to visit my wife's parents for 10 days. 10 Days! WooHoo. I love that little girl, but I have not had

a day without her in 2 years. She has currently been in Maine for 4 days. I am already feeling refreshed.

In fact I am currently writing this paragraph during my son's nap. This would be a total impossibility if

she were home. This I have categorized as taking a break and time to myself. Having some time to

myself during the day changed my outlook and will make me a better father when my daughter returns

home.

I cook all the meals for my family, I don't mind and I rather enjoy it. But I cook very healthy

meals. Consequently I am able to keep pretty thin without working out very much. My wife on the

other hand is a fitness nut. No matter how busy she is, she always manages to fit in her run. During

other parts of my life I have been very active, like when I worked as a letter carrier, or when I attended

a gym regularly, but I have recognized that recently my activity level has consisted of chasing after the

kids and walking the dogs. Over the past 2 weeks and especially since my daughter has been out of

town I have been getting out for regular runs. They have been approximately 3 miles, and not very

strenuous to start.
 My wife finds running to be a super effective stress reliever. I think I might have to stick to it

for a little while longer. Right now, mustering the initiative to get out there is difficult and since I am

not in the best shape, I am sore a lot. The best result from this so far is that my wife is proud of me and

is very happy that I am putting in physical effort. Marital stress is down. We have a pretty good

marriage, but it is always wise to keep doing more things that make your wife happy. Other stressors

have increased. Now that I have started to run I feel like it would be a huge disappointment to my wife

if I gave up. Making time to go out there and mustering the motivation to do so adds to my stress.

Sometimes I dread the fact that I am planning to run the following day, I find it unpleasant and painful.

Perhaps the unpleasantness and pain are temporary and will transform into a stress reducer as I get into

better physical shape.

I like beer. During parts of my life, I will admit, that I may have had a problem with alcohol. I

have had things under control for several years now. Last year I got it into my head that I wanted to try

to make my own beer. The thought was that if I wanted to drink it, perhaps I should have to work for it.

I bought a few pieces of equipment for brewing. This summer I really wanted to make this a new

hobby. So I did a lot of research about what I would need, and the process of brewing. I got more

equipment, on the cheap, and created my own recipe. The first batch turned out far better that I could

have hoped. I Recently completed by second batch and it will be ready to drink in about a week and a

half. The research and the challenge of finding supplies and equipment for cheap or reasonable prices

has been challenging and fun. It has given me something other that school to study for and think about

in my free time.

I also bought a sewing machine and have been repairing things around the house. I am also

researching and making plans to make the kids' Halloween costumes. I don't think I will pursue

creation of things from scratch, like quilting, but learning how to use my machine to hem or repair

ripped seems has been fun. Learning how to create and follow a pattern for an outfit is something I

have touched on but I have not fully thrown myself into yet. Overall I think that finding some new
hobbies to pursue has been very beneficial to my state of mind. Although drinking is not the best

hobby, I find that brewing and creating a new product instills a sense of accomplishment when I sit and

drink one of my own beers.

I had a little bit of trouble researching this subject. Since I had only begun aerobic exercise

recently for the purpose of this assignment I feel that more exposure to the long term effects or exercise

was needed to do a better self evaluation. This was the only technique that I tried that had mixed

results. So far I have not found aerobic exercise to be an effective stress reliever and it may well have

added stress to my life. Most things I have read state that exercise reduces stress, as a matter of fact,

without research to back it up. I began to look at it with a skeptical eye and wanted some proof.

At the mayo clinic website, Mayo Clinic Staff. Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage

stress. mayoclinic.org. Healthy lifestyle: Stress management., There is a whole list of reasons why

excise reduces stress and in the reference section there are 8 different articles and studies referenced. I

was not able to find these actual studies to read on my own. The titles of these referenced works did not

at all sound like scientific studies linking exercise to stress relief.

Next I went to the American Psychological Association website, Press Release. Excercise: A

Healthy Stress Reliever. APA.org. This website was less helpful as it only referenced anecdotal

evidence from an internal voluntary unscientific survey about how people felt after exercising. After

doing this preliminary research on the subject I thought that perhaps it was just assumed that exercise

reduces stress and there were never any actual real studies conducted.

Next I went to Google scholar to find some real meat and potatoes science on the subject there

were many studies that I came across that seemed to corroborate the popular theory of exercise as a

stress reducer. There was only one problem, they were all dated 1994 and earlier. This was not exactly

the most up to date scientific research on the subject.

After digging for a while I found what I was looking for. I was hoping to find some evidence

that corroborate my own experience so far, but that was not the case. Holmes, David S. and Roth David
L. Effects of aerobic exercise training and relation training on cardiovascular activity during

psychological stress. Journal of Psychosomatic Research Volume 32 (1988) 469-474. Print. This

study assessed student that were experiencing stressful situations and broke them into 3 groups.

Aerobic exercise group, relaxation group and no treatment group. The study showed that students in the

aerobic group had much more improvement in blood pressure during stressful situation and lead to

better results in stress management and depression reduction. Again this was an older study but seemed

to agree with the standard model.

I then found a Finnish study conducted in 2000. Hassmen, Peter, Ph.D, Koivula, Nathalie,

Ph.D, and Uutela, Antti, Ph.D, Physical Exercise and Psychological Well-Being: A Population Study

in Finland. Preventative Medicine, Volume 30, Issue 1 (2000). 17-25. Print. This study concluded that

those individuals who exercised at least 2 or 3 times per week were far less likely to experience

depression, anger, cynical distrust, and stress that those who exercise less or not at all. It went on to

show benefits in the areas or coherence and social integration.

After I found these studies and others that agree with the conventional wisdom that exercise

reduced stress I was mostly satisfied. However I wanted to keep searching to see if I could find a

dissenting study that more closely aligned with my experience, so I kept searching.

I was able to find one study that dissented from the convention thinking on the subject. De

Geus, Eco J.C. Ph.D, Van Doren, Lorenze J.P. Ph.D, and Orlebeke, Jacob F. Ph.D. Regular Exercise

and Aerobic Fitness in Relation to Psychological Make-up and Physiological Stress Reactivity.

Psychosomatic Medicine 55 (1993). 347-363. Print. This study concluded that there was no cross

sectional relationship found between aerobic fitness and any psychological variables. It went on to say

that psychological make-up did not change as a consequence of exercise training. This study suggests

that regular exercise does not increase the resistance to stress related disease by influencing

psychological make-up or acute psychological reactivity. These conclusions were stated to contradict

the hypothesis and was therefore unexpected to the scientists.

 It seems as though there is a scientific consensus that there is a correlation between exercise and

stress reduction, but I don't think that ongoing study is warranted. The data from the studies are quite

old and there seems to be a lot of group think among the psychological community that this is a settled

subject.