Exam #2 Flashcards
(Stress & Health) Risk and protective factors?
-Demographic:
age, gender, SES,
race, ethnicity
-Psychosocial:
personality, social
relationships
(Stress & Health) Mechanisms/Pathways?
-Behavioral:
Health and
illness behavior
-Stress, emotion
Note: Behavior and stress are not entirely separate, they interact:
• e.g., smoking, eating, alcohol, drugs, unsafe sex
(Stress & Health) Health Problems?
Disease, injury
Stress: Three Main Approaches?
• Biological: Physiologic responses
• Environmental: Events/conditions
• Psychological: Cognitive-affective and behavioral
processes
Autonomic nervous system?
Sympathetic and Parasympathetic stimulation have opposite effects on target organs
- Sympathetic: Mobilizes energy
- Parasympathetic: Stores energy
Adrenal Gland? (Medulla)
Adrenal Medulla secretes epinephrine (adrenaline)
Also: norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and dopamine
Fight or Flight: Mechanisms?
• Sympathetic branch of Autonomic Nervous System
– responds quickly
– mobilizes energy for use
– may be opposed or helped by parasympathetic branch
• if PNS is activated more storage opposes mobilization for use
• if PNS is de-activated less storage allows mobilization for use
– norepinephrine is a major neurotransmitter
– widely distributed: widespread action (structure serves function)
• Adrenal medulla
– slower but stronger
– endocrine = ductless, hormone travels in circulatory system
Fight or Flight: Functions?
• Physiological effects:
– Heart rate and respiration increase, oxygenated blood
• flows to large muscles
• flows out of reproductive, digestive systems
– Muscle strength increases
– Blood clots more quickly
• FF is an evolutionary adaptation
– Helps to survive physical emergencies (e.g., attacks)
– This advantage increases likelihood that genes survive
– More offspring with FF
– But: With shorter life expectancy, negative health effects of
FF did not influence human evolution
– And: FF is not effective for
• chronic physical emergencies
• emergencies that require non-physical solutions
Fight or Flight: Major Components?
• Provoking events: physical emergencies
• Brain detects event, orchestrates responses
• Physiologic systems
– Sympathetic nervous system (norepinephrine)
– Adrenal medulla (epinephrine)
• Evolutionary basis
– Physiology: energy to support vigorous muscle activity
– Fight or flight promoted survival
• Health implications
– We now experience fewer physical emergencies
– Fight or flight is activated by psychological threats
• not useful/the behavior can make threat worse
• physiologic changes promote disease given greater life expectancy 16
Hans Selye’s “General Adaptation Syndrome”?
Stress is a biological response caused by all noxious stimuli (nonspecificity):
Adrenal Gland? (Cortex)
Adrenal Cortex secretes cortisol and many other hormones
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Major Components?
• Nonspecific provocation: noxious stimuli
– heat, cold, infection, starvation, emotion
• Brain detects event, orchestrates responses
• Physiologic systems
– Adrenal cortex
• Three phases
• Triad of changes
• Health implications
– Depletion of cortisol is harmful (turns out: not the main issue)
– Repeated wear-and-tear is harmful
– Effects on thymus (foreshadows role of immune system)
Cortisol?
• Increased (sometimes decreased) by stress
• Damages brain, may affect memory, mental health
– Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
– Major depressive disorder
• Alters immune system functioning
• Many metabolic functions (not just a stress hormone)
– sugar
– fat
– salt
– sex
Normal/Healthy Variability in Cortisol?
Cortisol levels vary throughout the day: • high in the morning • low in late afternoon • lowest during sleep Heart rate varies from one beat to the next: • increases during inhalation • decreases during exhalation • reflects parasympathetic activity • this variability can be increased by meditation, biofeedback
