Файл: TOPICS.doc

Such maladies as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), cancer, heart diseases, allergies, asthma, environmental diseases, stress, alcohol and drugs addiction, smoking, chronic fatigue syndrome, stress are considered to be the maladies of the 21^st century.

The risk factors causing them are poor environment, constant stress and bad habits.

The danger of Smoking, Alcohol, Drugs has been discussed a lot in mass media.

Ex. 16.Answer the following questions:

What are the reasons of smoking, taking drugs?
What are the harmful consequences (последствия) of these bad habits?
What social problems do the drugs cause?
What does the AIDS virus attack?

Stress

17. Read the text and say whether the following statements are true or false:

Stress is more common in this century than in previous centuries.

2. Stress can cause illness and illness can cause stress.

3. Some people still think that stress is unnatural.

4. We should stop feeling stress.

Stress is a disease of the twentieth century. Life has never been faster and jobs have never been more stressful than they are today. People have to perform more and more work under difficult and more stressful conditions. Many people suffer from stress and the illnesses it can cause. But as this situation is becoming recognised, people shouldn’t have to fear comments such as, “He’s had a nervous breakdown. Can’t take the pressure, you know”. This is because more people are recognising that stress is a natural reaction – it is a reaction of a person’s body to pressure, either from the outside world or from the inner world of emotions and physical organs. We can’t avoid stress. And we can’t help ourselves, or others, until we know more about it. Not all stress is bad and perhaps if we understood it better we could make the most of it.

Answer the questions:

Why is stress “a disease of the twentieth century”?
How are attitudes to stress changing?
Why should we be concerned about stress?
What kind of stress do you think can be good, and when?

We know that a number of illnesses including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, ulcers and dieting depression can be caused by stress. And there are several others, including cancer, where stress may part of the cause. Stress can happen to anyone, not only a business executive or salesperson, but housewives, students, even the unemployed. Stress-based illness doesn’t happen all at once. It builds up, and there are warning sings. But often we don’t know what to look for.

Here are nine of the most common warning symptoms of stress. First decide if you have ever experienced the symptom. Then try to remember when and why, and make notes.

1. Feel constant irritability	6. Suffer from lack of appetite
2. Have difficulty in making decisions	7. Have frequent indigestion or heartburn
3. Experience a feeling of having failed	7. Have frequent indigestion or heartburn
4. Have difficulty in concentrating	8. Suffer from insomnia
5. Suffer from aches and pains	9. Feel constant tiredness

Ex. 18. Now work in pairs to discuss the stress symptoms, like this:

Do you ever feel irritable? When do you feel irritable? Now, what I really want to know is why you feel irritable.

I think it’s because ____________. / I don’t know why.

Now report to the class like this:

James often suffers from aches and pains but the himself doesn’t know why.

Coping with moods Depression

Whenever I feel depressed, I have a hot bath.

If ever

Once I’ve soaked in it … for a few minutes,

done that …

I’m all right again.

Ex. 19. a) How do you cope with the following moods?

anger depression tiredness boredom

guilt loneliness fear

b) Choose suitable ‘cures’ from this list:

go to bed	throw things at the wall
have something to eat	have a hot bath
go to the library	have a drink
shut myself in my room	put my best clothes on and go out
telephone a good friend	put my feet up and watch television
go to the cinema	go out buy myself something

Make sentences like this:

Whenever I feel …, I … .

c) Suggest you own personal ‘cures’ if you like.

Ex.20. Your place in the Stress League

The way our jobs affect the way we live and how we feel is very important. Most of us spend more of our waking hours at work than we do even with our families. In fact, we may spend over 100,000 hours at work in a lifetime. People do many different jobs, and are satisfied for different reasons. They also suffer from many different problems and stresses.

a) Why do you think some jobs are mote stressful than others?

Look at the list of jobs and arrange it from the most to the least stressful

Psychologist	Local government officer	Beauty therapist
Stockbroker	Professional footballer	Dentist
Personnel	Social worker	Taxman
Film producer	Doctor	Teacher
Politician	Journalist	Manager (commerce)
Armed forces	Prison officer	Nurse, midwife
Vet	Fireman	Actor
Artist designer	Salesman, shop assistant	Bus driver
Architect	Farmer	Diplomat
Statistician	Engineer	Linguist
Occupational therapist	Hairdresser	Nursery nurse
Miner	Optician
Librarian	Museum worker
Banker	Police
	Pilot (civil)

B) Now work in pairs and compare your ideas with those of your partner’s

Talk to each other about why some jobs are mote stressful than others, like this:

I don’t understand why a bus driver’s job is more stressful than a diplomat’s job. – I think what makes it stressful is _______________.

c) Think of other stressful jobs.

d) Finally compare your own rates with the one from a magazine.

Your Place in the Stress League

Rating is from 10 to zero the higher the rate the greater the pressure

Miner	8,3	Farmer	4,8
Police	7,7	Armed forces	4,7
Journalist	7,5	Vet	4,5
Pilot (civil)	7,5	Engineer	4,3
Prison officer	7,5	Hairdresser	4,3
Dentist	7,3	Local government officer	4,3
Actor	7,2	Artist designer	4,2
Politician	7,0	Architect	4,0
Doctor	6,8	Optician	4,0
Taxman	6,8	Statistician	4,0
Film producer	6,5	Banker	3,7
Nurse, midwife	6,5	Computing	3,7
Fireman	6,3	Occupational therapist	3,7
Teacher	6,2	Linguist	3,7
Personnel	6,0	Beauty therapist	3,5
Social worker	6,0	Nursery nurse	3,3
Manager (commerce)	5,8	Museum worker	2,3
Professional footballer	5,8	Librarian	2,0
Salesman, shop assistant	5,7
Stockbroker	5,5
Bus driver	5,4
Psychologist	5,2
Diplomat	4,8

The way we feel about a job can affect our health. When we feel that we meet a challenge, even enjoy it, then the stress doesn’t have a bad effect on us. Positive stress can even be good for us. But if we are doing our best, and failing, the effects can be disastrous. As life moves faster and jobs become harder, more and more people feel they’re losing.