Stress and Body

Stress and Body

In Kiffer (2005) “The effects of stress on your body,” the author tells us why stress cannot be ignored: its damage is all around us, affecting human health and the economy. Indeed, most people organize they encounter stress every day but their reaction are often passive. This article enables people to value how to deal with stress.
The author describes the relation between stress and the human body. He defines stress as the required reaction to physical, mental, and emotional events, and states stress is a common problem in our lives. The human body can respond to stress in two ways. A positive response helps a person to be watchful and avoid danger. A negative response prevents a person from finding relief and allows stress to continue so that people overwork themselves and experience emotional or nervous strain. If negative stress remains in a person, it would cause headaches, stomachaches, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Such a condition is called distress or negatives stress. In addition, stress easily causes people to use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to relax so that stress results in personal and social problems. In fact, Stress has damaged 43 percent of all adults in physical, even 75 to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are stress-related. Stress is even linked to six of the leading causes of death. Moreover, stress costs American industry more than $ 300 billion annually.
Unfortunately, we cannot avoid experiencing stress, and the situation of people often becomes worse and worse. Stress seems like an illness which we fail to see. Accordingly, everyone needs to understand stress and learn how to deal with it. Many experts suggest using stress to our advantage: we have to change our thinking. For example, the Chinese have two characters for the word “crisis”. One means danger; the other means opportunity. In every crisis there is a danger of being defeated or the opportunity for growth. Thus, we need to understand that a stressor can also be a positive experience. Stress can assist us to get our own advantage.

Kiffer, J. F. (2004, Aug.). The effects of stress on your body. Retrieved January 20, 2005, from http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3500/3585.asp?index=11874

Stress

Stress
In Seal (1998) “What is stress?” , the author defines stress and stressors, including the reaction to stressors. Stress is the body’s reaction to an emotion, and stressors cause the stress. For instance, students usually are nervous during final examination. The nervous is stress, and a final examination is stressor. However, everyone has a different reaction when he or she encounters stressor. Hans Seyle proposed three stages of the reaction of stressors through experiments on both humans and other animals. The alarm reaction is the first stage in which the organism becomes highly alert and aroused. The following stage is the resistance in which the organism tries to adapt to the stressor. If the organism can succeed, the organism will return to normal; if not, the organism will enter the third stage, exhaustion. However, Seyle found that people are not consistent in reacting to stressors but rats are consistent. This reason is a person’s subjective appraisal of the stimulus. For example, some students feel a highly stressful stimulus when they preach in public. Some students are not threatened at all, but for them, facing a deadline to complete a term paper is extremely stressful. In summary, stress reaction is likely to vary widely for humans.
Seal, B. (1998). Academic encounters: Human behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press, 5-6.

PAPARAZI

PAPARAZZI

In the website (http://www.gawker.com/news/paparazzi/index.php) there were 4 sections that talked about paparazzi. One is “paparazzo and Moral Arbiter”. This is a section that records an interview with a paparazzo, Ron Galella. This guy thinks that he is right to shoot any celeb even though we think that their behavior is bad, but his arguments justify himself. Another is “Gossip Round: Mary-Kate Will Kick Your Ass”, which collects five gossip about famous people. The exaggeration seems to be a characteristic of the news. Although people considered whether the news was true, they still made an effort in believing in the rumors. Next one is “Have you No Sense of Decency, Paparazzi?” Here is a statement that paparazzi not only do something for their profit, and some paparazzi declared themselves to be the friendly paparazzi, because they allowed celebrities to retain some control over choosing the pictures that appear. The last section is “‘People’ Stalkerazzi Not as Smart as Your Average Stalkerazzi”. The article seems to emphasize roles of the action through the event that Jeffrey Weiss and Don Sider were arrested. In fact, paparazzi are in the supporting role and the editor is just the leading role in the whole action. And the behavior of the paparazzi should be considered a multiple foul.
In my opinion, the biggest dispute is about the behavior of the paparazzi. Surely, we know they did something that we feel is evil. But we also know this fact that everyone likes to see paparazzo’s achievement, just the celebrities’ pictures. Do we sense evil for our behavior that we like to obverse someone’s privacy? I believe that if everybody stops looking at these magazines which do invasion of someone’s privacy, then “paparazzi” will be a historical word. That’s because they will not be able to get any profit from their evil pictures.

Man-Jung

Communes

Twin Oaks Intentional Community

100 People Sharing Our Lives

Twin Oaks is an intentional community in rural central Virginia, made up of around 85 adult members and 15 children. Since the community's beginning in 1967, our way of life has reflected our values of cooperation, sharing, nonviolence, equality, and ecology.
We do not have a group religion; our beliefs are diverse. We do not have a central leader; we govern ourselves by a form of democracy with responsibility shared among various managers, planners, and committees. We are self-supporting economically, and partly self-sufficient. We are income-sharing. Each member works 42 hours a week in the community's business and domestic areas. Each member receives housing, food, healthcare, and personal spending money from the community.

Why do they prefer to choose such closed life style? Such different lifestyle has reflected what questions are in our life. There are two features in current society- busy and isolated, even though our life is more convenient and that communication is more improvable. For this reason, some people want to search or establish a new society which is ordinary and relative, Twin Oaks Intention Community just as well. However, if you want to get such a quality life that you need to lose something. For example, you won’t own more individual money and private housing if you want to live here. So the system doesn’t fit for everybody. Most my classmates have no intention to live in communes even though this life will improve their spiritual life. Especially, Privacy seems to be the strongest reason they refuse. Thus it can be seen, privacy is the most important requirement to housing, so a good commune should put in time and effort to privacy. When you are pleased with giving up your privacy and sharing lots of something, and you can try to live in Twin Oaks Intentional Community. Maybe it will be your Utopia.

In my interview for living in communes, the one said, “The biggest disadvantage is separation of the world.” “The biggest advantage is being close with people.” Another said, “The biggest disadvantage is too much strict.” “The biggest advantage is nothing because it is evil.” There is a common opinion between them- People who live in this community are controlled, no real freedom. Really, many regulations put on these residents so that they could own cooperation, sharing, nonviolence, equality, and ecology. It’s very interesting that the community is giving us a picture filled with peace, love, health, but you also lost freedom. Can we command the best life losing freedom? At least, I’m seeing “100 people” who think so. In my opinion, it seems to practice Marxism, and these people can fit and enjoy this life. Eventually, I think that there is no system that can make the best life for everyone but different systems fit different people. As some people like to live in Carbondale, others don’t. So It’s the most important to seek the lifestyle that fits you.

My Favorite Band

My favorite band is Heavenly Melody. First, it is composed of 4 men and 4 women. And each person sings the different pitches: soprano, alto, tenor, bass. They don’t need instruments to polish their sound. My idea is that the most wonderful instrument is the human body. Next, the music is gospel songs. I like its melody and words. Especially, I love words of gospel songs. That is because these words always give me hope and faith and love, and I can face anything. Finally, these singers have good behavior and mature thinking. Today, most singers have good singing voice, but they have no good behavior and mature thinking. Can you worry if your children are listening to songs of licentious singers? I surely worry my kids do. In sum, Heavenly Melody is the best band in Taiwan, and it is my favorite band forever, I think so.

Learning English is Amazing

Learning English is Amazing

It’s amazed that I can learn English in America. First, My English was so poor; I couldn’t syllable. 10 years ago, if you asked me: “how do you pronounce ‘book’?” you can hear “B-O-O-K”; Even I once thought that I didn’t want to touch English in my life. If my Taiwanese classmates know that I’m studying English in America, they will keep open-mouthed. Next, I was an evil student. My teachers often called my parents to talk about my bad. I was commanded to transfer to another school by my school. So you can guess that I hated to study. Later on, People who have only good English and so much money just can study in America, I think so. So, Learning English in America is impossible for me. Finally, I thought learning English was too later, for I am too old, and I have 2 children so that I must to offer what they need. In sum, how amaze I can learn English in America!