Five years from now I think the topics covered Stress, Coping, and Health will be things that resonate with me. Although all the topics covered were relatable on some personal level, stress is something that has been present in my life for a while now and will continue to be present for some time. Learning about the different kinds of stress and what effects they have on our bodies and health was really interesting.
The part that will stay with me five years from now will be the coping methods that were discussed. The different ways to gain control were really interesting. I had heard about many ways to deal with stress in general, like exercise, meditation, and spirituality, but the controls discussed in the book elaborated the reasoning behind those common stress relievers.
It was also really interesting to read what kind of medical solutions there were to stress. I knew about the more well-known ones, like chiropractic medicine and acupuncture. The medicine that I was unaware of was the vitamins, herbs, and food supplements. Since body health is such a huge factor when it comes to stress levels, these medicines make sense now, but they are simply things that didn't come to mind when I thought of ways to help relieve stress.
Article on Stress:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/07/27/wlb.rs.stress/index.html
It's interesting to hear the rationales behind why coping mechanisms for stress are so effective. As students, we experience stress on a regular basis and developing techniques to cope with stress are undoubtedly important. I'm glad it was a topic covered within the scope of this course and hope it continues to be a focus in the field of psychology.