To Your Health!

The Institute for Personality and Ability Testing has certified Robert Fettgather as a Stress Management Trainer, and Medical Hypnosis Seminars of the Los Gatos Institute has certified him in Clinical Hypnotherapy. At Santa Clara University, Graduate Department of Education and Counseling Psychology, Robert Fettgather's studies included Health Education and Behavioral Medicine. Moreover, Robert Fettgather has completed Hospice Training with Hospice of the Valley.

Health psychology is the field of study devoted to understanding the relationship between physical activities, psychological traits, and social relationships and overall health and rates of illness.

Health psychology promotes coping strategies which are actions that people take to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize the effects of stressors and include both behavioral and psychological strategies. Problem-focused coping describes the individuals efforts to reduce or eliminate the source of stress or reduce its impact by taking some action. Emotion-focused coping necessitates changing the way you feel or react toward a stressor. a well-known example of emotion-focused coping employs the use of psychological defense mechanisms studied earlier in the course. Examples are denial, repression, rationalization, and projection, among others.

According to author Licht "There are many ways to lower the impact of stressors. Exercise, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, biofeedback, and social support all have positive physical and psychological effects. Caring for and giving to others are also effective ways to reduce the impact of stress."  Spirituality and religion have also been found to affect an individual’s level of stress as well as the strategies used to cope with that stress. According to a Pew Center Survey nearly 80 percent of Americans say they practice some type of religion, while approximately 20 percent, mostly younger people, say they do not.

To summarize: A few ways that individuals can promote wellness in their own lives include movement and exercise, becoming socially connected with others, getting adequate sleep, eating healthy foods, scheduling recreation time and having fun, effective time management, and just breathing deeply.