Introduction to Stress -- Nakajima

Question 1

Define Stress.

Answer 1

Stimulus (stressor), Response (strain), and Process (interaction between the two)

Question 2

What are alternative definitions of stress that apply to physical and emotional factors?

Answer 2

A physical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may lead to disease causation.

Question 3

What is physical stress?

Answer 3

A direct physical threat to one’s well-being.

Question 4

What is psychological stress?

Answer 4

an event that is perceived as negative (not physically threatening)

Question 5

What normally regulates the physiological response to stress?

Answer 5

Sympathetic-Adrenal-Medulla (SAM) axis and Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis

Question 6

What is the cascade of hormonal release in response to stress in the HPA axis?

Answer 6

Stress –> Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) –> Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) –> Cortisol –> Immune System, Liver, Muscle Adipose Tissue

Question 7

What does the Sypathetic-Adrenal Medulla (SAM) axis secrete?

Answer 7

Catecholamines

Question 8

What does the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex (HPA) axis secrete?

Answer 8

Steroids

Question 9

What is homeostasis?

Answer 9

The collective process of maintaining the internal physiological stability in the face of environmental change

Question 10

What is allostasis?

Answer 10

Refinement of Homeostasis is the compensation that an organism engages in to achieve homeostasis successfully

Question 11

What is te fight-flight response?

Answer 11

Organisms are better equipped to defend themselves in order to better survive and have evolutionary advantage.

Question 12

What are the three steps of General Adaptation Syndrome?

Answer 12

Alarm Reaction, Adaptation, Exhaustion

Question 13

What is coping?

Answer 13

The process of managing demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person, which includes efforts (action-oriented or emotion-focused) to manage environmental demand.

Question 14

What is the process of coping?

Answer 14

Environmental Event –> Primary Appraisal –> Secondary Appraisal –> Coping Behaviors –> Coping Outcome (Biological, Psychological, Behavioral)

Question 15

Can stress be good for you?

Answer 15

Stress response is a centrally mediated process to make the organism adaptive to the environmental demand.

Question 16

At what stress level is the quality of functioning best?

Answer 16

Moderate or Optimal levels of stress

Question 17

What can lead to the development or progression of illness?

Answer 17

Chronic and excessive stress

Question 18

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 18

Repeated efforts to exert control in situations that fail to achieve an organism’s desired effects lead to a sense of helplessness.

Question 19

What is the exaggerated cardiovascular reactivity to stress associated with?

Answer 19

CAD

Question 20

What is associated with the development of cardiovascular diseases?

Answer 20

Chronic activation of Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Cortex Axis to increase cortisol levels

Question 21

What are risk factors for CVD?

Answer 21

Depression, anxiety, anger, hostility

Question 22

What unhealthy behaviors are associated with stressful circumstances?

Answer 22

Tobacco Use, Excessive Alcohol Use, Poor Dietary Habits, Sedentary Lifestyles

Question 23

Stress is linked with _______ compliance with medical regimens.

Answer 23

lower