Where to start researching...

Initially i started looking into depression, but after starting to read into a few books i decided to start looking at stress instead.... Seems quite relevant to not only most fourth years not only right now, but probably continuously for the rest of the year... seems like a good place to start.  Also it is something that everyone experiences on a day to day basis. It is something that can lead to poor health, mentally as well as physically

Looking at it stress is not always a bad thing tho. it helps us get daily tasks done, it helps us out in life threatening situations e.g 'a woman lifting a car off her sons leg to save his life' its about balance. If we don't give ourseleves a break from it then it starts to have more prominent affects

In each book i have been reading they have all pointed out that in the days of the caveman stress was key to survival,

'you won't die laughing' Patricia Cameron-hill & Dr Shanye Yates

'Picture he scene... Caveman sitting in his cave minding his own buisness when he hears a loud roar. His brain reads this as a sabre toothed tiger and puts out a red alert to all parrts of his body to fight or flight. he looks around and sees a club  grabs it, dongs the sabre-toothed tiger and feels much better And you would to if you could dong everyone in your life that caused you stress. But your'd face jail, so perhaps not an option'

So now that the scene is set, the reaction actually going on in your body is

' When your brain perceived that our life is under threat it sends messages to all parts f your body to prepare for action. Its a automatic reaction to a challenge that helps save your life by giving you a powerfull boost to your breathing, blood pressure and heart rate to pump three to four times more blood to the muscles than normal. Your liver releases sugar into your bloodstream and the blood vessels in large muscles expand to get energy and oxygen to where they are needed. Your muscles tense, digestion stops, you start sweating, and all your senses are heightened- you can see, hear, smell, taste touch more clearly The main reason your body can make this rapid transformation is due to the hormones of stress, namely, cortisone and adrenalin.'

So stress is a good thing when in a life threatening situation.. but not so good if your not...

The caveman would not get ill because he used up all the hormones of stress when he knocked over the sabre. removing the stress when he removed the tiger.

Nowadays we dont have to deal with sabre toothed tigers on a day to day basis yet we have inherited the same programming. we now react to running late to work or family/friend problems , relatinshps in the same way.
We may not think we are getting worked up but your brain may be treating the situation in the same way as a life threatening situation. Instead of working it off like the caveman we let it eat away at us - this is what causes the problems

" 'you won't die laughing' Patricia Cameron-hill & Dr Shanye Yates, page 15"