Stress refers to the demand that an organism faces to cope with particular changes. Rathus (2020) states that stress is both healthful and fundamental to keep people alert and engaged, but extreme conditions lead to mood swings, apart from impairing the body’s wellbeing. Personal habits, stress, and health interact in disparate ways. Every day activities can exacerbate stress levels while an individual might not realize.
For example, consuming unhealthy foods, living in toxic relationships, working overtime and smoking can significantly worsen stress levels. These factors compromise one’s health and they can be realized through digestive problems, headaches, depression, insomnia, anxiety, and mood disorders. Prolonged stress poses health problems by developing chronic conditions such as hypertension, and heart diseases. The nature, number and persistence of personal habits, apart from an individual’s vulnerability to stress, determine their coping ability.
The human body responds to stress in protective ways but overwhelming factors can be subtle and beyond the body’s tolerance limit. The medical model’s view of health shows that mental disorders result from physiological factors. It is widely used by psychiatrists to treat mental problems, viewing them as physical diseases. Huda (2019) analyzed this model and posited that psychological problems are treated with prescribed medications, which modify the chemicals responsible for the mental illness. On the other hand, the bio-psychosocial model states that health and sicknesses are products of personal habits such as health beliefs, stress and lifestyle (Taukeni, 2019).
It also originates from biological characteristics including genes, and social factors such as family relationships and cultural practices. Professionals in the fields of health psychology and behavioral medicine develop treatment frameworks to maintain the body’s wellbeing through weight loss, education on nutrition, smoke cessation programs, and medical treatments.
References
Huda, A. S. (2019). The medical model in mental health: An explanation and evaluation. Oxford University Press.
Rathus, S.A. (2020). PSYCH introductory psychology (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Taukeni, S. G. (2019). Introductory chapter: Bio-psychosocial model of health. In Psychology of Health-Biopsychosocial Approach. IntechOpen.