Managing Stress

Stress affects us all. Although some stress can lead to stimulation, creativity and success, it can also be detrimental to our health, relationships and performance. This book will enable you to assess and identify your own stress, and learn how to develop your own stress management plan. Some people seem to cope better with stress than others. This is because we are all different. However, we can all benefit from learning more about stress and how to handle it. The authors' successful Stress Management Consultancy Programme, 'Stresswise', has been presented in many organisations including Premier Brand Foods, Shell, Philips (Electronics), ICL, Safeway, Brooke Bond Foods, Mobil and the BBC. Their easily understandable and practical advice guides the individual and the organisation in coping with demands, pressures and diverse changes. The light-hearted and entertaining presentation makes a complex subject, couched in biobehavioural medical terms, amenable to the lay-person. The first part of "Teach Yourself Managing Stress" contains a questionnaire from which you will be able to assess the stress in your life and how you behave. Part two deals with gaining an awareness and understanding of the stress concept. It looks at why stress has become a fairly recent problem, and the biology of the stress response is explained as are the sources of stress. Part three looks at how to deal effectively with stress and is based on optimising your 'stress balance'. You will be able to develop your own personal stress management plan and in following this, harness the power of your body's natural resources to enhance health, relationships and work performance. This book is essentially a self-help guide and has been written to help everyone, providing a broad coverage of the subject.

DR OLGA GREGSON graduated from the University of Wales in 1974 with an Honours Degree, then specialised in behaviour and visual perception at the Victoria University of Manchester, where she received her Doctorate in 1981. From there she joined the Department of Biological Sciences at the Manchester Metropolitan University where she is Senior Lecturer in physiology and behaviour. Her teaching and research interests and publications are in stress, physiology and health. Dr Gregson is Fellow of the International Stress Management Association. PROFESSOR TERRY LOOKER graduated from London University in 1969 with an Honours Degree and received his Doctorate in 1972 from Guy's Hospital Medical School. He joined the Department of Biological Sciences at the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1973 and was appointed Head of Department in 1989. He lectures and researches in the areas of cardiovascular physiology, stress and health. In 1985 he studied the theory, diagnosis and treatment of Type A behaviour with Dr Meyer Friedman in San Francisco, USA. Professor Looker is Vice-President and Fellow of the International Stress Management Association, Fellow of the Institute of Biology and Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Register of Hypnotherapists and Psychotherapists.