Health (11.29 Lecture)

Question 1

Rene Descartes

Answer 1

• wanted to do research on the body but the Catholic church said he couldn’t because of the soul in the body
• dualism: independence of body from mind/ soul
  takeaway: paved the way for human biology research

Question 2

Louis Pasteur

Answer 2

• found tiny invisible particles in beer that he thought made us sick
• germ theory of disease: some diseases are caused by microorganisms that invade the body and reproduce

Question 3

biomedical model

Answer 3

health is absence of physical disease and disability
- health is encompassed in biology
- social and psycho elements are attached but separate

Question 4

why is the biomedical model wrong?

Answer 4

causes of death have changed (developed antibiotics and vaccines), now caused by more psychological factors (heart disease, diabetes, suicide, etc.) – all also leading causes of death

understanding of the mind had changed (the embodied mind)
- brain connected to the body through the nervous system
- psychological experiences impact physical health
- “2nd brain” in the gut (enteric NS)

Question 5

the biopsychosocial model

Answer 5

health is a state of total physical, psychological, and social well-being

Question 6

Hans Selye study on rats

Answer 6

originally interested in the ovarian hormone, so he studied it in rats, but both groups grew ulcers (but he handled them poorly) but then experimented with that –> he began doing everything to handle the rats badly (put them in the bolder room, chased by cats, etc.)

established stress as the cause

Question 7

stress

Answer 7

pattern of mind-body responses in reaction to something we perceive as a threat (stressor)

Question 8

the stress response

Answer 8

1. mobilize energy to get muscles to move (release glucose from liver, increase blood pressure, increase heart rate)
2. enhance cognition (lower sensory threshold, increase attention, memory retrieval and encoding)
3. suppress long-term “building projects” (digestion, growth, tissue repair, reproduction, etc.)

Question 9

consequence of stress response (if it becomes chronic)

Answer 9

1. diabetes, heart disease
2. neuron death in hippocampus, anxiety disorders, depression
3. ulcers, dwarfism, slowed healing, infertility

Question 10

how does stress relate to deaths today?

Answer 10

consequences of stress are reflected in common causes of death today (heart disease, suicide, etc.)

Question 11

why is stress more common today?

Answer 11

increased stimulation and daily stressors

Question 12

Cohen’s study on stress and the common cold

Answer 12

he got people wich with the cold and measured their vitals, mucus etc. and the relationship to the stress levels of the individual
RESULTS: there was a relationship between stress and how likely you are to develop a cold. stress leads to a weaker immune response

Question 13

Jensen’s study on the relationship between back and spinal problems

Answer 13

(80% of Americans per year say they suffer from chronic back problems even past when an injury should have healed)
MRI’s of people without back pain were given to doctors and they found “problems” with protruding disk, etc. and rec back surgery
RESULTS: predictor of chronic back pain is not MRI’s but emotional distress (fear-avoidance)
- stress decreases sensory threshold
- same neural circuit is active during physical and mental pain

Question 14

effective treatment for chronic pain

Answer 14

• social support
• mindfulness training
• CBT

Question 15

the “Nun Study”

Answer 15

explored positive emotion in writing samples of a group of nuns @ age 22 (lived very similar lives so easy group to cntrl) @ age 85 90% of the most cheerful people are still alive and 34% of the least cheerful people are still alive
RESULTS: happiness is a predictor of longevity

Question 16

the “nun study” but with the cold (Cohen)

Answer 16

people with more positive emotions had a lower change of getting the cold
(acted as a buffer against the impact of stress)

Question 17

Robert Sapolsky’s study with baboons

Answer 17

“do zebras get ulcers” book
- researched baboons, found they have lower health outcomes then humans (higher stress hormones, higher BP and HR, greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease)
- but when moved higher in the hierarchy, found a lower association of negative health outcomes

Question 18

weathering

Answer 18

weathering: physical and psychological erosion due to chronic stress

Question 19

Arline Geronimus & the weathering hypothesis

Answer 19

the weathering hypothesis: chronic stress due to discrimination can accumulate and increase disease vulnerability across the life course in marginalized groups

Dr. Brianna Brownlow: Black Americans face chronic racial stress

Question 20

Cohen cold study on perception of hierarchy

Answer 20

people ranked themselves on a societal ladder and then wanted to see if people developed a cold
RESULTS: perceiving oneself as higher on the ladder was associated with a lower likelihood of catching a cold, even controlling for objective status

Question 21

Cohen cold study on socialability

Answer 21

RESULTS: greater sociability, less likely to develop a cold
*subjective symptoms had higher cold criteria than objective cold symptoms

Question 22

objective vs. subjective socioeconomic status

Answer 22

subjective more of a determiner of how stress will impact you

Question 23

Harvard longitudinal study of adult development

Answer 23

(included not just uber-rich at Harvard, but also other people)
RESULTS: close relationships with people are an important determiner of health “loneliness kills”

Question 24

what is placebo effect?

Answer 24

beneficial effect of a treatment due to someone’s belief in the treatment
- effective in 60-90% of all diseases

Question 25

how does placebo effect work?

Answer 25

• works through neurobiological mechanisms (specific to expected effect)

Question 26

Benedetti’s study on open vs. hidden morphine treatment

Answer 26

after a surgery morphine was either injected secretly or openly
RESULTS: if open, the pain significantly decreased
if closed, pain still decreased but not as much as if it were open

Question 27

mindset

Answer 27

lens/ frame of mind to orient to set of associations/ expectations

Question 28

the mind over milkshake study

Answer 28

had people come into a lab and drink milkshakes hooked up to an IV to measure ghrelin “hunger hormone.” One group drank “indulgence,” and the other drank “Sensi-shake.” One was advertised as more divulgant than the other, but they both were actually mixtures of the two (the same thing)
RESULTS: indulgence was higher in “ghrelin” the whole time except after consumption when it dropped lower than “sensi-shake”

Question 29

perception of stress, Keller study

Answer 29

asked who had a positive and negative perception of stress, and she found that people who had a negative view had higher mortality rates

Question 30

distress

Answer 30

overwhelmed, threatened, burnout
- threat reactivity: heart pumps with greater force and blood vessels constrict

Question 31

eustress

Answer 31

feeling stimulated, motivated, challenged

Question 32

threat reactivity

Answer 32

heart pumps with more force and blood vessels constrict

Question 33

challenge reactivity

Answer 33

heart pumps with more force and volume causing blood vessels to dilate