In the first part of this week’s Discussion Board you are asked to share with your classmates your thoughts on how keeping the stress diary has helped you (or not) become more aware of the ways daily stress impacts your wellbeing.

A. How, through which processes, may heightened self-awareness alter your perception of stress? Is heightened self-awareness about the sources of stress in any case beneficial to one’s stress experiences and overall health? Has keeping a stress diary, for instance, been a source of stress for you?

In the second part of this assignment, you are asked to discuss how the stress concept is used in daily, casual conversations and whether there is, indeed, an upside to stress.

B. How — also after reading Becker and listening to McGonigal — do you explain the popularity of the notion of stress? Have you made the observation that sometimes your friends and other acquaintances invoke the concept of stress in a way that makes you wonder whether they are somewhat ‘proud’ to be stressed out? Is it, indeed, sometimes good to feel stressed?

• Lyon, B. (2012). Stress, Coping, and Health. A Conceptual Overview
• Taylor, S.E. (2014). Health Psychology, 8th ed. New York, NY: Mc Graw Hill. Chapter 7 (see attached copy; focus on pp. 167-176).
• Becker, D. (2013). One Nation Under Stress. The Problem With Stress as an Idea. Oxford, University Press: Introduction .