The Relationship between Stress and Middle Adulthood Essay Example

The Relationship between Stress and Middle Adulthood Paper Stress and Middle Adulthood Relationship Stress affects individuals physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally on every level of human development. This essay will focus mainly on stress during middle adulthood and discuss how stress affects individuals at this stage during human development. This stage spans from 40 years of age to 65. Individuals do not possess the strength, coordination, and stamina that we had during our twenties and thirties. But during this period we remain pretty stable, there is only a slight physical decline. Personality development and adjustment theories, such as Erikson’s give a way of defining life crisis of the middle years. He regarded this level as generativity versus stagnation. A period of striving to having and raising our children well and making our mark in the world or we do things that are worthwhile. We do this to enhance and maintain our self-esteem. With Eriksonians it is the ideal of shaping the new generation. This could be the raising of their children or working to make the world a better place. Levinson’s theory, midlife transition, is a dramatic shift in psychological perspective. This is a marked time of thinking how much time we have left. Individuals will think more of what they could have accomplished rather than what the future can bring (Cronin Mandich, 2005). Whatever the theory they may be experiencing the crisis that arises produces stress. Defining stress is â€Å"the mental and/or physical strain resulting from adjustive demands or challenges† (Abascal, Brucato Brucato, 2001). Most people must adjust to a life that is less than perfect. We need to adapt to stress not just the stress of crises or unexpected good fortune, but also the stress of everyday minor demands. We will write a custom essay sample on The Relationship between Stress and Middle Adulthood specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Relationship between Stress and Middle Adulthood specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Relationship between Stress and Middle Adulthood specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Every adjustment is an attempt to balance our desires against the demands of the environment, to weigh our needs against the reality of achievement. How we adjust to the stress that we endure is crucial to our health and the quality of our lives. Stress can hurt you psychologically and physically. All major life changes involve a certain amount of stress. This is because major life changes typically bring strong emotions, and even joy or elation that can cause arousal in the body and begin to take a toll on its resources (Johnson, 2000). Major life events are stressful because any new experience requires some adjustment. Change is one of the most common event that causes stress. Middle adulthood has middle life crisis for dealing with this stressor. Most people crave order, continuity and predictability in their lives. So anything that disrupts this order, good or bad, will cause stress (Cronin Mandich, 2005). But there are other factors to look at when looking at stress. Pressures, Frustrations, conflict and self-imposed stressors are events that give individuals stress. Pressures happen when we feel forced to speed up, intensify, or shift directions in our behaviors. It can happen when we feel compelled to meet a higher standard of performance. This can come internally or externally. Frustration happens when a person is prevented from reaching a goal because of something or someone who might stand in their way. Individuals must adjust to this by modifying goals or finding a way around the block. Conflict is the most common. Conflict arises when we face two or more incompatible demands, opportunities, needs or goals (Cronin Mandich, 2005 p. 481). These conflicts can never be resolved completely so individuals must give up some of their goals, modify them, or delay going after them. And sometimes individuals create problems for themselves apart from stressful events in their environment. Many people carry with them a set of irrational, self-defeating belief that adds unnecessarily to the normal stresses of life as with mid-life crisis. The transition to midlife can cause a crisis that is referred to as mid-life crisis and entrapment and loss of purpose is marked by this point in life. The midlife crisis is composed of feelings of personal mortality, emotional instability, loss of meaning, and dissatisfaction with life at home and on the job (Johnson, 2000). Cognitive interaction is continuous between the physiological, emotional, and cognitive aspects of human nature. Emotions include physiological, emotional and cognitive â€Å"components† (Abascal, Brucato Brucato, 2001). High levels of bodily arousal in response to stress heighten our emotional responses and influence our cognitions. Even the emotional effects of stress can cause physical symptoms in individuals. Positive emotions such as love and desire can fill us with pleasure, but negative emotions like those induced by stress can cause problems. There are three emotional responses that come from stress Anxiety, anger and depression. Anxiety is in response to threats, anger to frustration and social provocation. Depression, something middle adulthood sees more often, arises to the response of stressors like death, failure, inactivity or lack of stimulation (Cronin Mandich, 2005). Health psychology has become a big topic when dealing with stress. The relationship between psychological factors and prevention and treatment of physical illness has become big business for pharmaceuticals and middle adulthood. Many studies point to a correlation of stress and certain illnesses including cancer (Johnson, 2000). Science is looking at how stress and the immune system interact and this has helped with relief for physical disorders ranging from headaches to heart disease. Examining the ways in which our behavior patters, like smoking, contribute to or can help us prevent and cope with physical disorders with many affecting us in middle age. One thing that has been shown to reduce or buffer the effects of stress is social support. Research shows that social support moderates the impact of stress in situations ranging from problems at work to disasters† (Johnson, 2000). It is useful for people who have stress to get together and talk about their feelings or ideas to support one another are useful. And studies of Alameda County, California have found that people who receive social support may even live longer (Cronin Mandich, 2005). So when looking at stress and middle adulthood one should keep in mind the effects of stress and how it relates to them and their level of development.

The eNotes Blog How to Use Hyphens, En Dashes, and EmDashes

How to Use Hyphens, En Dashes, and EmDashes This is part two  in our original grammar series. It turns out the little horizontal lines you’ve been sticking between words when you weren’t sure what sort of punctuation should go there are actually different lengths for a reason. Go figure. Which of the following should fill the blank? 1. The confident student begins the well_proofed punctuation test with no fear. 2. This cunningly_written masterpiece poses no threat to the smart student. 3. The student returns devastating right_ and left_handed punctuational volleys. 4. She thinks the score is 3_0 and is almost sure she’s winning_but is she? 5. The 21st_century_punctuation_loving student turns to the answers with trepidation. Answers 1. a. 2. d 3. b 4. c 5. c Hyphens (-) To smoosh or not to smoosh? Since hyphens (the shortest of the little  horizontal lines) are used primarily in compound terms, you probably mostly encounter them when you’re trying to figure out when two or more words are functioning as one word. You tried the dictionary, but it wasn’t there. What now? Phrasal adjectives (also called compound modifiers) are words that work together to modify nouns. Some examples are â€Å"Dumbledore-scented candle† (real thing), â€Å"equitably distributed chocolates† (not real thing), and â€Å"high-paying jobs for English majors† (jury’s still out). To figure out whether or not to hyphenate, start by asking yourself these questions: If I don’t hyphenate, can anybody interpret the phrase in a way I don’t intend? For example, a â€Å"snuggly purple porcupine† is a porcupine that is both snuggly and purple (yes hug); a â€Å"snuggly-purple porcupine† is a purple porcupine whose color looks soft (no hug). Both constructions are just fine grammatically, and which one you use just depends on what you mean. Does my phrasal adjective come after a verb? If yes, then typically you don’t hyphenate. For example, you could write â€Å"My well-educated porcupine is well educated.† You would make no sense, but you could take comfort in your grammatical excellence. Does my phrasal adjective end in â€Å"ly†? Great. That makes it easy. No hyphens for you. You may comment on â€Å"this writer’s disturbingly frequent references to porcupines† with grammatical impunity. How many words are in my phrasal adjective? More than two? For the most part you can apply the rules above to get constructions like â€Å"seventeenth-century purple-porcupine artwork† and â€Å"chocolate-dumbledore-candle-eating English majors.† Once in a while, however, it changes the rules for clarity’s sake, as in â€Å"On the contrary, I find this writer’s not-so-disturbingly-frequent porcupine references charming.† Omissions can also be taken care of with hyphens when you feel silly saying things like â€Å"right-handed and left-handed porcupines.† To get rid of any silliness, you may write â€Å"right- and left-handed porcupines,† using the dash to signal the omission. Prefixes are horrible things for hyphens. I wish I could spare you, but I can’t. You pretty much just have to look them up, either in your trusty dictionary or, failing that, your style guide. En dashes (–) An en dash is a dash the length of two hyphens, and has almost nothing to do with hyphens (I share your relief). It is used as follows: between scores and number and date ranges to mean â€Å"to† or â€Å"through,† as in â€Å"The body of a porcupine is 2–3 feet in length,† or â€Å"My teacher has asked me to read pages 1–1,000,000 tonight,† or â€Å"I won the en dash contest 46–3.† with no spaces on either side of it. only when not preceded by the word â€Å"from†; tragically you have to spell out â€Å"I was fascinated by porcupines from 12 to 22.† only when you decide to write your numbers as numerals; if you spell them out, there are no dashes for you in â€Å"I was fascinated by porcupines from twelve to twenty-two.† in the case of  directions, where you want to talk about your â€Å"Seattle–Chicago flight† (the en dash again means â€Å"to†). There is one more case where you can use the en dash, and it’s really weird. If you want to describe a split between the right-wing and the left-wing porcupine political factions, it would be confusing to run it all together with hyphens since two distinct  hyphenated ideas are being joined: â€Å"right-wing-left-wing polarization.† Instead, you stick an en dash between your two hyphenated terms, like this: â€Å"right-wing–left-wing polarization.† Even if the second term isn’t hyphenated but still functions as a unit, you would use an en dash, as in  post–porcupine  takeover. The en dash lets your readers know to take the words porcupine and takeover together and understand you are referring to the period after the rodent revolution. Swap the en dash for a hyphen and youre suddenly talking about the takeover that happened post-porcupine- that is, after all the porcupines died.  It is madness and a level of nit-pickery that you may ho pe to seldom encounter. Em dashes (- ) Finally, we’ve arrived at the one you actually can sprinkle throughout your writing when you’re not sure what kind of punctuation to use. Well, sort of. Em dashes  are the equivalent of three hyphens in length and  can replace commas, parentheses, and colons. Why would you make the swap? Mainly because you feel like it, or are being overrun by your other punctuation. You’re also free to use them to indicate a break in thought or an interruption. Enjoy your rare grammar freedom as in the following examples: An interruption: The hospitalized writer reflected, â€Å"Hugging the porcupine seemed like a good idea at the time, but- † â€Å"No, it didn’t,† the porcupine-hugger’s friend interjected. Replacing a colon: I’m going to change the subject now to something different- snakes. Replacing parentheses: Snakes are not as nice as porcupines- though they are nicer than spiders- and I thought my readers might be getting tired of porcupines. A break in thought: Your readers aren’t getting tired of porcupines- they’re getting tired of dashes. Replacing a comma: You may be right- so I’ll cap it here.

Marks & Spencer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Marks & Spencer - Essay Example Britain hypermarket net Tesco is one of such leaders. This company sails one third of all foodstuffs in the country. At first glance Tesco and Marks & Spencer have similar sites intended for online shopping. But in fact there is a good deal of differences, which can be disclosed after some working with the necessary parts of these sites. Marks & Spencer sails more elegant staffs (like clothes, gifts or furniture), so it's aimed to another audience. But surely the same person can do shopping as in Tesco so in Marks & Spencer shops, but in Tesco - each day, while in Marks & Spencer once a week or rarely. Tesco set close cooperation with University College London. The scientists offered new methods of gathering, checking, collating, review, storage, access, retrieval and update of statistics information of retail sells. Fed every second by Tesco's 12 million Clubcard holders, the Crucible database could in theory generate about 12 billion pieces of data a year if each cardholder bought just 20 items a week. This information is analyzed very attentively. MIS helps managers to understand what goods are sold better together, to place them accordingly on the counters in supermarkets. Experts, who carry out such analysis for Tesco, insist that the company has one of the biggest customer databases in the world. National brand buildup took place thanks to Tesco owners and managers, who understood British customers wishes, whims and the mechanism of decision making. It became possible after using Management Information System (MIS). In fact company's managers pay much attention to analyzing the customers behavior: what, when and why do they buy and in what way is it possible to lead them to buy more. At first, hypermarket provides constant (season, holiday, single) discounts for that goods and stuffs, which customer buys oftener then others. At the end of a quarter each Clubcard holder gets voucher, equivalent to sum total, he spent in Tesco hypermarkets. Additionally they are rewarded with coupons, which allow discounts to that goods, the customers can enjoy (according to MIS results). Surely, this generated information is based on purchase data analysis. Management Information System (relevant module) defines the consumer goods basket, which can be potentially interested to a customer. During the quarter Tesco sells about 6 million letters with propositions of different discounts to loyal clients. Surely, Marks & Spencer hasn't such a model. But they needn't! Their target audience differs from Tesco's, so as their discount system. They also offers great discounts on their site and a customer can immediately watch it. Let's provide a comparative analysis between two these sites. Each side should contain company information. At Marks & Spencer website this information is represented rather widely: you can see as general information (company