Stress and Coping: Two-Week Physical Activity Project
This reflection paper documents a personal two-week stress management and relaxation project in which the author engaged in physical activities — including golf, exercise, and meditation — as well as spiritual practices such as attending church and reading the Bible. Daily mood and feelings were self-rated on a scale of 1 to 10, showing steady improvement from day one through the end of the project. The paper evaluates how these activities affected psychological well-being, reviews supporting literature on physical activity, meditation, and religious involvement, and discusses the challenges of overcoming initial laziness. The author concludes with an intention to continue these practices based on their demonstrated physical and mental health benefits.
- Project Overview: Purpose, methods, and scope of two-week project
- Description of Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques: Golf, meditation, exercise, and spiritual activities chosen
- Daily Record of Mood and Feelings: Self-rated mood and feelings table across 14 days
- Evaluation of Mood and Feelings Over Two Weeks: Narrative interpretation of daily rating changes
- Overview of Relaxation Techniques for Psychological Well-Being: Literature support for golf, meditation, and religion
- Challenges Encountered and Lessons Learned: Overcoming laziness and insights gained from experience
- Conclusion: Intent to continue activities for long-term well-being
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper blends personal self-tracking data (daily mood ratings on a 1–10 scale) with peer-reviewed literature, grounding subjective experience in academic evidence.
- The narrative arc — moving from low motivation and a rating of 1 to sustained positivity at 10 — gives the reflection clear structure and emotional credibility.
- The author draws on three distinct domains of stress relief (physical activity, meditation, and spiritual practice), supported by separate scholarly citations for each, demonstrating breadth of research engagement.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates reflective self-study supported by evidence synthesis. Rather than simply narrating personal experience, the author links each chosen activity (golf, meditation, church attendance) to published research findings, showing how practitioner experience can be evaluated against the scholarly literature. This mirrors the approach used in health and behavioral science research that validates self-report data through corroborating studies.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction establishing why stress management matters, followed by a description of the chosen techniques and the rationale for selecting them. A daily mood-and-feelings table provides quantitative self-assessment data. An evaluation section interprets the changes observed across the two weeks. A literature review section supports each technique with academic sources. Separate sections address challenges faced and lessons learned, before a brief conclusion and a works-cited list in MLA format.
Project Overview
Stress management is an important feature of everyday life, as it helps people lead happier and healthier lives. Managing stress aids in relaxing and enjoying activities with friends and family, so that even those around us benefit when we are resilient enough to handle pressure. Coping with stress prepares a person to accept challenges in life, boost the immune system, improve blood regulation, strengthen disease-fighting hormones, and stimulate glands that support psychological well-being. Exercise is considered one of the best ways the body releases endorphins that empower the neurological system. Engaging in 20–30 minutes of exercise daily is an effective strategy for coping with and recovering from daily stress.
This project focuses on the importance of engagement in physical activity and its effect on psychological well-being. The aim is personal management of stress through relaxation techniques practiced for 10–15 minutes per day, along with a report on personal experience. For this purpose, I engaged in physical and spiritual activities over two weeks, including playing golf, eating well, meditating, attending church, and reading the Bible. I recorded my daily mood and feelings on a scale of 1 to 10. The findings were then evaluated based on daily progress in physical activity, motivation, stress levels, and overall psychological impact. Supporting literature on the chosen stress management techniques is also presented, followed by a discussion of the challenges I faced and how I overcame them. The paper concludes with a reflection on whether I intend to continue these activities given their impact on my physical and psychological health.
Works Cited
Francis, Leslie, and P. Kaldor. "The Relationship between Psychological Wellbeing and Christian Faith and Practice in an Australian Population Sample." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 41, no. 1, Mar. 2002, pp. 179–184, doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00109.
Murray, A. D., et al. "The Relationships between Golf and Health: A Scoping Review." British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 51, no. 1, Oct. 2017, pp. 12–19, doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096625.
Vijayaraghavan, N., and M. Chandran. "Effect of Meditation on Psychological Wellbeing." The International Journal of Indian Psychology, vol. 7, Apr.–Jun. 2019, pp. 673–678, doi:10.25215/0702.080.
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