Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

S Unit 5: Extreme situations Reading–writing: Stress management works (B2) a) Read a newspaper article about how to cope with stress. b) While reading, underline/highlight synonyms in the article for the words below. 1  duty react to advice concentrate on worrying important for angry astonishing advantage While the number of health problems related to stress might be alarming, studies suggest that stress management techniques might have concrete health benefits. However, many of us remain sceptical about stress management. It’s true that you might not be able to remove all the stressful things from your life. But you can change how you respond to them – that’s what stress management is all about. The next time you feel stressed, here are some stress relief tips you can try. • • Breathe deeply. Just a few minutes of deep breath- ing can calm you and tame the physiologic stress response, experts say. While building in a specific time to relax each day is a good idea, one advan- tage to deep breathing for stress relief is that you can do it anywhere. Experts also recommend that as you breathe out, you relax a specific muscle group. Start with the muscles in your jaw. On the next breath out, relax your shoulders. Move through the different areas of your body until you’re feeling calm. • • Focus on the moment. You’re worried about what to do next or regretful about something you’ve already done. To get some stress relief, try focusing on what you’re doing right now. “You can calm yourself by bringing yourself back to the present moment,” says Jay Winner, an expert in stress management. • • Reframe the situation. So you’re already running late and then find yourself stuck in terrible traffic. Getting worked up is a natural reaction, but it won’t help you at all. Look at that time as an opportunity – a few minutes to yourself where you don’t have any other obligations. • • Keep your problems in perspective. It might seem odd, but the next time you’re feeling stressed out, think about the things for which you’re grateful. “We get stressed when we focus so much on a specific problem that we lose perspective,” says Winner. “You need to remind yourself of the basic ways in which you’re lucky – that you have family and friends, that you can see, that you can walk.” It can be a surprisingly effective method for stress relief. While these stress management techniques can help in the moment, you can also make a few larger changes to your way of life. Regular exercise, for instance, is key to long-term stress management. People who exercise tend to have better moods and more energy than people who don’t. What’s more, regular exercise will also lower your risks for many health problems. (R. Morgan Griffin, www.webmd.com ; adapted and abridged) c) You’ve come across the article above. You would like to express your view and decide to write an e-mail to the editor of the magazine. In your e-mail to the editor you should: relate the information given in the article to the experience you have made in your own life comment on the way in which stress is seen today draw conclusions for the general public Write around 250 words . 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 158 Semester self-checks Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv