Liana DeVoe

Mr. Garcia

English II Honors

05-13-19

Stress Research Essay

Stress is defined as “a physiological non-specific reaction to exterior or interior demands”

(Joshi, Anurag). In other words, it is the body’s reaction to demanding or difficult situations.

Stress is a problem because it can lead to high blood pressure, increased substance abuse and

suicidal thoughts. It can also negatively affect your long term memory. A study done by the

American Institute of stress shows that 75% of people regularly experience physical or

physiological symptoms of stress and 48% of people say that stress has negatively affected their

lives. Since stress is such an important issue, it is also important to be informed of ways to

manage stress. Two common and efficient ways for managing stress are deep breathing

techniques and listening to music.

Deep breathing techniques can help with both stress and anxiety. It lowers blood pressure

and helps with relaxation. Deep breathing techniques are easy and practical. Some of these

exercises only take a few minutes to complete, but they make a huge difference. One study

looked at the effects of deep breathing techniques on blood pressure and in turn stress. The data

from the study showed that deep breathing techniques do lower blood pressure and in turn stress.

Listening to music also helps with relaxation and lowering stress levels. Music is

something that most people already enjoy, so it is super realistic for people to choose this option

to help lower their stress. Stress is affected by your emotions and music can help you control

your emotions therefore your stress. Listening to relaxing music makes you more calm and
therefore more at peace with your stressors. Music can also act as a distraction from your

stressors for a momentary feeling of bliss. In a study done using the Galvanic skin response

meter data was collected from over 400 participants over a 48-day period. The data showed that

when the participants listened to music their GSR was significantly lower than when they didn’t.

The higher the GSR the higher the person’s stress levels. So based off the data from the study

listening to music did help lower stress.

Listening to music can act as a positive momentary distraction, but it could also act as a

negative distraction keeping you from getting your work done, whether that’s work at a job or

homework. It could also negatively affect your mood if you choose the wrong type of music to

listen to. The best way to avoid this would be to listen to classical music or other calming music

with no words.

Listening to music is the prefered stress management technique out of the two types

mentioned above. In one study, 74% of people say listening to music reduces their stress while

13% said breathing techniques were the option they think works better. Listening to music is also

the better option because it is more efficient at reducing stress. According to one study, listening

to music reduced the participant’s average blood pressure by 13.4 mmHg while breathing

techniques decreased the average blood pressure by 3.5 mmHg. Although music can act as a

negative distraction, if chosen wisely it can significantly decrease stress levels.

Citations
Joshi, Anurag, et al. “An Experimental Analysis to Monitor and Manage Stress among

Engineering Students Using Galvanic Skin Response Meter.” Work, vol. 56, no. 3, Mar.

2017, pp. 409–420. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3233/WOR-172507.

“Daily Life.” The American Institute of Stress, www.stress.org/daily-life.

Joshi, Anurag, et al. “Stress Management through Regulation of Blood Pressure among College

Students.” Work, vol. 54, no. 3, July 2016, pp. 745–752. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3233/WOR-

162308.

Yurtoğlu, Nadir. “Http://Www.historystudies.net/Dergi//Birinci-Dunya-Savasinda-Bir-Asayis-

Sorunu-Sebinkarahisar-Ermeni-isyani20181092a4a8f.Pdf.” History Studies International

Journal of History, vol. 10, no. 7, 2018, pp. 241–264., doi:10.9737/hist.2018.658.

Miedziun, Patrycja, and Jan Czesław Czabała. “Stress Management Techniques.” Archives of

Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, vol. 17, no. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 23–30. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.12740/APP/61082.