The relationship(s) between “Perception/ Reality” and “Human Health”, and possible mitigatory or therapeutic technique

Perception is human recognition and interpretation of sensory information from the environment based on their beliefs, culture, conditioning, past experience, etc. For example, a kid may feel happy when he is playing with his toys. The “happiness” is perception of the kid on the action of playing toys. When the kid grows up, perception will be changed on the same action. The “happiness” perception does not still last even on the same person. Actually, perception is the subjective reality which allows us to interact with the environment in daily life. Perception not only causes mental effect on human, it also influence physical health. This essay will discuss the relationships between Perception/ Reality” and “Human Health” as well as the solution to release “stress”.

Over the past century, scientists and doctors dedicated to figure out “the connection between mental and physical health”. One of human perceptions, stress, was always centered in their research. Extensive research on the biology of stress was conducted to see whether stress affects physical health under prolonged stress response system. The Health and Safety Executive in UK defines stress as “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them at work.” Upon the definition, stress is a way human responses when they feel threatened or under pressure. Hence, stress is always put in a negative light and positive impact from stress is ignored.

The figure above shows human performance against stress. According to the American Stress Institute, the image illustrated that there are two types of stress (1) Good Stress (2) Distress. As illustrated above, increasing stress causes greater productivity up to the peak of the curve. And, the productivity starts to decrease as stress continuously grows up. The position of peak varies with different people as the ability of people to overcome stress is different. Unlike common thought, slight stress can
actually be positive impact which helps to improve performance. The above curve can be interpreted by biological concept.

Mohammad Mahmoudi Maymand, Fatemeh Shakhsian, & Farzane Sadat Hosseiny, (2012). The Effect of Stress on Flight Performance, World Applied Sciences Journal, 19 (10): 1381-1387,