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Sylvia Biel

Mrs. Carroll

English IV

March 13, 2019

How Does Stress Affect Our Body and How Can That Stress Be Reduced?

People go through situations were they feel anxious and they think that stress is attacking them.

But that is actually the fear that is building up in them and they do not know what to do with that fear

and they then believe that they are stressed out. Many people believe that stress does not exist because

we as humans tend to think too much about a certain situation resulting in fear that that is why our

body tends to react such as shallow breathing, lack of sleep or appetite and our body cannot handle it.

Some people think that fear is build up in our body causing the feeling of stress. While others

believe that stress is a feeling that does not exist. And still others believe that people say they are

stressed because stress is more serious word that saying fear. Believing that stress does not agree in

today’s society is a sticking point in where to stop the amount of stress occurring. These different

opinions stem from disagreements about whether stress is occurring. Stress is something that everyone

goes through when they are feeling anxious about a situation. Feeling stress is normal for students in

school and adults in a workplace.

Stress is something that everyone goes through when they are feeling anxious about a certain

situation. This means that stress does exist in today’s society because people are stressed about certain

situations and that makes them feel anxious. POV 1 would disagree with this because when people are

anxious they experience fear and in most causes fear does not always result in stress. So feeling anxious
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means that people have fear and not stress. “When these symptoms occur, the body is telling us that

we’ve exceeded its tolerance for what we want it to handle. So what is it, at root, that causes us to

experience these symptoms? Fear” (Maurer, 2016). In other words, this quote is saying that the

symptoms such as shallow breathing, muscle tension, neck or back pain. These symptoms do not show

stress affecting our body. It is actually our body not being able to handle the fear that we are going

through. This quote reveals that feeling stressed is just a excuse that we as people make because our

body can not handle the things we are going through. When feeling anxious, it is mostly a symptom of

having fear because it makes us worry about a certain situation. POV would also disagree with this

because stress is a feeling does not exist. Feeling anxious, sad, overwhelmed, and moody is our body

telling us to relax because we are overthinking about a situation and fear is building up inside us. “That’s

right. You heard me correctly, stress will one day take its place in medical history as a feeling we couldn’t

cure because it doesn’t exist” (Smart, 2018). In other words, this quote is saying that later on in life

people will see see stress and notice that there is no cure for feeling stressed because stress does not

exist. This quote reveals that POV 2 does not agree with about belief A because stress does not exist and

that’s it. If people actually go through stress, the main result of that is having fear and worrying too

much about a situation that at the end will be okay. There would be no cure for feeling stress because

simply stress does not exist. POV 3 would agree a little bit with A because people often say they are

stressed out instead of using the correct word of having fear. Stress is a word that hides the actual word

fear. “Fear ALWAYS produces an associated stress (emergency) response. The degree of stress response

is directly proportional to the degree of fear. The greater the fear, the more dramatic the stress

response is” (Men's Health, 2015). In other words, this is talking about how fear is a the main cause of

people saying that they are stressed. The greater the fear is, the more “stressed” people feel. This quote

reveals that POV 3 agrees with A because people say they are stressed because stress is more serious
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word that saying fear. Nobody is going to say they are feeling fear. It sounds weird so people are going

to say there are stressed but actually they are not.

Feeling stress is normal for students in school and adults in a workspace. This means that people

experience stress in school and in work and that is normal in today’s society because there is pressure to

be better at something than other people and people are pushing themselves beyond their limit. POV 1

would disagree with B because of the fact that it says stress is the main feeling. POV 1 is saying that

stress does not exist and that fear should be said instead of fear. “Fear of failure in school has been

proven to affect a student’s education. When this type of fear is in affect, students not only with not feel

motivated but they will break down” (Gleeson, 2016). Put another way, this quote is saying that

students in school experience fear and not stress. They have a fear of not passing a class and that results

in not being motivated and students began to break down and not being able to function normal. This

quote reveals that POV 1 would agree with B if the word stress was replaced with fear. Fear affects our

body in not being motivated and breaking down and not being able to be the person who we were

before. POV 2 would disagree with B because stress does not exist. Being in school and working at work

has its times where things get hard but that does not mean people are stressed. “Your job can

sometimes feel like walking on eggshells. You don’t want to do or say the wrong thing, so you hold

back0 and don’t do or say much of anything. But succumbing to that fear can seriously impact your

career success” (Walker, 2018). In other words, this quote is saying that having a job where you walk on

eggshells, scared to say your opinions is not healthy and hiding that fear can impact your success. This

quote reveals that POV 2 would disagree with B because fear exists in work and not stress. When things

get too complicated and hard, people become anxious and there body can not control it and they have

fear and feel like walking on eggshells. Fear is building up inside of them and that results in not being

motivated enough to keep pushing and trying better. POV 3 would agree with B because when in school

or at work, people become anxious feeling that they can not continue in doing something and they are
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not themselves. They overthink a situation and their mood changes in feeling motivated to do

something. “It’s the fear of the unknown- asking that questions and not knowing what people will say.

You may get praise, but you also may get flat-out criticism” (Asthana, 2018). In other words, this is

stating that when doing something, people do not know if it’s the right thing and they may either get

praised about it or other people will criticize them. This quote shows that POV 3 would agree with B

because in certain situations people are finding themselves anxious. People are brought down and feel

less happy than before because fear is building up inside of them. Fear can happen to anyone and

affects our body but making our body overthink about a situation and that is where fear comes from.

In conclusion, mostly every point of view disagrees with A because when people are anxious in a

situation that does not reveal that they are stressed. They have fear and people are scared to say they

are feared about something because it makes them seem weak. But when they say they are stressed

everyone can relate to that because they think they understand feeling stress but actually stress does

not exist. When it comes to B, every point of view mainly agrees with it because people are anxious in

situations and they have feeling that people think stress is. My opinion on this controversy is that I think

I am leaning toward in believing that stress does not exist and it is fear that has that effect on our body.

This relates to me feeling anxious before paideias because I am nervous about what people think about

my opinions and that is the definition of fear. Fear is when people are nervous about something and

that feeling builds up inside of them. I also still believe that stress does exist and it affects our body

because when we are going through stress that does not allows mean that we are in fear. I think that

stress and fear relate to each other.

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Resources

Asthana, Anushka. “'Epidemic of Stress' Blamed for 3,750 Teachers on Long-Term Sick Leave.” T ​ he Guardian​, 
Guardian News and Media, 11 Jan. 2018, 
www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/11/epidemic-of-stress-blamed-for-3750-teachers-on-longterm-si
ck-leave​.  
 
Bellis,  Rich.  “There's No Such Thing As Stress–Here's What's Really Bothering You.” ​Fast Company​, Fast Company, 28 
Mar.  2016, 
www.fastcompany.com/3056310/theres-no-such-thing-as-stress-heres-whats-really-bothering-you​.  
 
Eliaz, Isaac. “Why Stress Management Is So Important for Your Health.” ​Mindbodygreen​, Mindbodygreen, 8 Oct. 2017, 
www.mindbodygreen.com/0-2557/Why-Stress-Management-Is-So-Important-for-Your-Health.html​. 
  
 
Galante, Dennis. “Why Stress Doesn't Exist.” ​Men's Health​, Men's Health, 25 May 2018, 
www.menshealth.com/health/a19522359/why-stress-doesnt-exist/​.  
 
Gleeson, Hayley. “Beautiful Failures: How the Education System Is Making Kids Stressed and Sick.” ​ABC News​, 16 
July 2016, w ​ ww.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-17/beautiful-failures-education-making-kids-sick/7589084​. 

Northwestern Medicine. “Are You Stressed? How to Identify Anxiety and Help Your Heart.” ​Northwestern
Medicine,​ Northwestern Medicine​,
www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/emotional-health/are-you-stressed​.

“Stress Management Stress Basics.” ​Mayo Clinic,​ Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 31 Mar.
2017, ​www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/basics/stress-basics/hlv-20049495

“Stress Management.” ​WebMD​, WebMD,​ ​www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management​.

“The Effects of Stress on Your Body.” Legg, Timothy- June 17, 2017
https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body#1

25 Surprising Ways Stress Affects Your Health.” ​Health.com,​

www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20642595,00.html?slide=110601#110601​.