17.5.2 - stress and health shit I didn't seem to cover last time

Question 1

describe the immunological outcomes of acute stress

Answer 1

improvemenets mainly in the innate immune system (due to the short term nature of the system)

Question 2

describe the immunological effects of chronic stress

Answer 2

adversely effect the adaptive immune system

Question 3

what is good and bad stress called?

Answer 3

distress - stress that disrupts health or functioning

eustress- stress that improves health and other aspects of fxn

Question 4

what is the bidirectional role of cytokines in response to stress
- what did this finding do in terms of the pattern of results of segerstrom and millers metaanalyusis

Answer 4

• short term cytokine induced inflammation helps the body combat infection
• long term, associated with a variety of adverse health effects
• provided an explanation of the differing effects of stress depending on time

Question 5

what are the three main reasons why stressed produced decreases in immune function dont necessarily increase susceptibility to infections

Answer 5

1. immune system has a lot of redundant components - stress impacting one of these would not really effect overall susceptible
2. stress produced changes in immune function may be too short lived to have substantial effectis
3. declines in some aspects of immune function may induce compensatory increases in other areas

Question 6

Why has it been so tough to prove that stress increases susceptibility to infectious diseases in humans
- describe the findings we do have

Answer 6

only correlation studies are possible
- reports of positive correlations btwn stresss and ill health in humans
- ex - increased respiratory infections in students during exams
-

Question 7

why is interpreting correlational studies about stress and ill health not straight forward

Answer 7

ppl may report more illness during times of stress bc

1. they expect to be ill
2. exp of illness during stress is more unpleasant
3. stress changed their behaviour in ways that increased their susceptibility

Question 8

what are the three basic types of evidence that are very persuasive concerning stress and ill health

Answer 8

1. correlational studies in humans
2. controlled exp in lab animals - stress can increase susceptibility infectious disease in these species
3. a few partially controlled studies of humans

Question 9

explain the first partially controlled study on humans in relation to stress and health

Answer 9

Cohen and colleagues - used a questionnaire to assess the psych stress levels of 400 participants

• each participant then randomly received saline nasal drops - contain a respiratory virus or saline
• all participants were quarantined until end of the study
• higher proportion of those who scored highly on psych stress scales got a cold

Question 10

what are three examples of the negative effects of early stress experiences on development

Answer 10

1. kids subj to maltreatment or other forms of severe stress dev a bunch of brain and endocrine abnormalities
2. some psychiatric disorders are though to result from an interaction btwn an inherited susceptibility to a disorder and early exsposure to severe stress
3. early exp to stress often increase the intensity of subsequent stress response

Question 11

when does the developmental period in which early stress can adversely affect neural and endocrine development begin
- examples

Answer 11

before birth
- exp demonstrate adverse effects of prenatal stress in lab animals
- pregnant females exposed too tressors and adverse effects of exp on offspring have been documented
-

Question 12

Describe all the studies relating to rat pup handling and stress

Answer 12

early findings - handling rat pups a few minutes a day during first few weeks of life has salutary effects - mostly caused by a decrease in sresponse to stress - handled rats have lower levels of circulating glucocorticoids in response to stress
new interpretation - handled rat pups are groomed more by their mothers, assumed that the salutary effects of handling resulting from the licking, not the handling
- confirmed this - shoed that unnhandeled rat pups that got a lot of grooming from their mom developed the same profile of decreased glucocorticoid activity

Question 13

what does early separation of a rat from its mother result in

Answer 13

opposite effects of grooonimg - elevated behavioural and hormonal responses to stress as adults

Question 14

which brain area is particularly susceptible to stress

- why is this the case

Answer 14

the hippocampus - glucocorticoid receptors very densely populate the hippo

Question 15

what has stress shown to induce in the hippocampus (4)

Answer 15

1. reduced dentritic branching
2. reduce adult neurogenesis
3. modify synapse structure
4. disrupt performance of Hippo dependent tasks

Question 16

what mediates the effects of stress on the hippo

what are the 2 pieces of evidence for this

Answer 16

elevated glucocorticoid levels

• 1. can induce it by corticosterone, a major glucocorticoid
     
     2. can block it thru adrenalectomy