Table 2.

Redesign of ‘Psychology of Stress’ Course Aims, Strategies, & Class Activities.

Class Topic	Aims	Strategies	Class Activities
Course Objective 1: Recognize how stress can be measured & identify key theories explaining our stress response
Week 2: Stress Measurement	Collect baseline stress levels using wearable technologies	Students assess their resting heart rate & blood pressure; demonstrate stress reactivity	Use of ambulatory blood pressure machine in response to acute stress
Week 3: Theoretical Models & Science of Stress	Identify phases of our biological (fight or flight) stress response	Class demonstration of sympathetic nervous system activity (HPA & SAM axes)	Use of biosensors to assess alpha amylase to identify diabetes risk
Course Objective 2: Establish how stress affects health & illness through physiological & behavioral mechanisms
Week 6: Sleep Problems & Management	Illustrate how chronic stress leads to sleep problems and altered sleep stages	Class demonstration of how chronic stress affects different sleep measures	Use of EEG headband and EOG & EMG sensors to assess brain wave activity & eye and muscle movement
Week 7: Health Behaviors & Stress	Explain how exercise, nutrition, & sleep affect biopsychosocial health outcomes	Class demonstration of how wearable technologies can assess health behaviors	Use of accelerometers (Fitbit monitors) to assess exercise and sleep patterns
Course Objective 3: Construct arguments addressing individual differences in stress responses across the lifespan
Week 8: Epigenetics & Stress	Understand how stress & health behaviors regulate gene expression	Students see how a mother rat’s nurturing behavior affects their pup’s epigenome	Use of interactive website to show how genes respond to stress and behaviors
Week 10: The Power of Perceptions	Outline cognitive-appraisal model of coping to explain how individuals’ perceptions can increase their health risk	Class demonstration of how stress may lead to faster brain activity associated with poor health	Use of EEG headband to compare electrical activity of the brain during stress vs. relaxation
Course Objective 4: Evaluate and report on several empirically based stress reduction strategies
Week 13: Diaphragmatic Breathing	Evaluate whether breathing through the diaphragm can improve health outcomes	Class demonstration of the influence of diaphragmatic breathing on heart rate	Use of biofeedback equipment (heart rate)
Week 14: Progressive Muscle Relaxation	Describe how the central nervous system stimulates the motor unit during stress	Class demonstration of how muscle fibers contract from electrical brain impulses	Use of electromyograph to show how muscle fibers contract and relax