Science of Stress
This lesson was developed as a follow-up lesson for high school students following a screening of IndieFlix's documentary, ANGST: Raising Awareness Around Anxiety.
This lesson is intended to help you understand what's happening in your brain when you feel anxious so you can better manage your emotional response. We also hope we will all come away with common language for talking about stress and anxiety. Specifically, by the end of the lesson, you will be able to differentiate between good stress and bad stress, explain what's happening in your brain when your stress response system kids in, and recognize what emotional zone your are in so you can make adjustments to self-regulate. (29:46)
Lesson resources:
Science of Stress lesson graphic organizers
Other materials needed: green, yellow, red and blue pencils
You might also be interested in Kelly McDonigal's TEDTalk, "How to make stress your friend." (14:25)
Additional Resources
Understanding the stress response (Harvard Health)
Using brain breaks to restore students' focus (Edutopia)
How to harness your anxiety (NY Times)
Using distraction as a way of coping with emotions
Amygdala hijack and the fight or flight response