One physiological method of stress management is the use of Anti Anxiety Drugs. These are drugs taken to try and contradict the bodys natural hormones,

Exhaustion Stage: Eventually the resistances of the last two stages break down and the original states of ANS are regained (sweating, increased heart rate etc). The body’s immune system breaks down, and the participant becomes susceptible to disease.

2. The type of culture that you belong to will try to modify the effects of stressors by using different methods. One culture, a more developed culture, may use scientific methods such as Anti-Anxiety Drugs to try and combat the effects of stressors on the body. These chemicals counteract upon the bodies hormones that create anxiety to try and reach a status of homeostasis. AA drugs such as Valium and Benzodiazepines do this.

On the other hand, a more traditional culture may use old techniques such as aromatherapy or acupuncture to try and relieve the body from the effects of stressors. The use of ancient oils in Aromatherapy can be used to modify physical and psychological effects of stress without using drugs, such as lavender to calm you down.

3. One physiological method of stress management is the use of Anti Anxiety Drugs. These are drugs taken to try and contradict the body’s natural hormones, which produce anxiety, and bring the body back to homeostasis. Drugs such as Beta-Blockers reduce activity in the sympathetic nervous system and trigger the cardiovascular muscles to relax and lowers blood pressure. Bergodiazepines such as Valium reduce arousal by increasing activity of the neurotransmitter GABA that decreases seratonin. There are many benefits to using these drugs, as beta-blockers are not addictive and can be affective in reducing the effects of stress in the short term. However there are also many costs of using Anti Anxiety Drugs, such as possible headaches and depression (Goa & Ward 1986), memory lose, tiredness, addictiveness (Ashton 1997), problems with coordination and concentration, slurred speech, delirium, sweating, irritability, does not cure affects of stress and is not a long term solution.

Another form of physiological stress management is the use of biofeedback. This is a technique that aims to control autonomic muscles through the use of feedback about current physiological functioning, with relaxation being a key component of this. There are 3 stages of biofeedback; awareness of body control, learn control and apply it to everyday situations. Millar and Dilara (1967) said that learning through reinforcement would encourage this learning. They showed this on rats, which were given rewards when controlling their cardiac muscles via Operant Conditioning techniques. Dworkin (1988) supported this with his study on teenagers with spinal curvation. Biofeedback is seen as an effective way of reducing stress as it is long term and can be applied to everyday life without the use of harmful drugs. However it can be seen that any improvements may be due to sense of control or relaxation techniques, and no biofeedback. Also individual differences will vary results, as children will benefit more than adults when using these techniques.

   In the long term, I would say that Biofeedback is a more effective and harm free way of reducing the affects of stress. Using Anti Anxiety drugs have too many side affects and risks to health. Anti Anxiety drugs by far outweigh Biofeedback in disadvantages.