Lab Quiz 2 - 2 Flashcards
Name of professor who studies stress in baboons?
Robert Sapolsky
Which hormones are central to stress response?
Adrenaline
Glucocorticoids
Link between hormone stress levels and hierarchy:
Dominant males have lower levels of glucocorticoids and adrenaline
Submissive animals have higher levels of glucocorticoids and adrenaline
Link between stress hormone, hierarchy and physiological state:
Low rankers -> higher stress hormone levels -> high blood pressure, increased heart rates, weaker immune systems, reproductive system is more vulnerable, brain chemistry similar to clinically depressed humans
Who tracked the health of humans according to hierarchy?
- Study name?
Sir Micheal Marmmot Whitehall study (all jobs are ranked here)
Whitehall study found:
People lower in the hierarchy have high blood pressure, increased heart rates, weaker immune systems. (likely higher stress levels)
Hierarchy matches what is seen in humans
Whitehall study and weight correlation:
Lower ranked individuals are more likely to be obese
Stress and ulcers?
- Causes of ulcers:
Ulcers caused by a bacterium
Bacterium is present in all individuals
Stress disrupts immune system
Bacterium can then cause damage aka ulcers
Who studies macaques?
Carol Shivley
Macaques and arterial condition and hierarchy:
low on the hierarchy -> increased stress hormone levels -> increased blood pressure/heart rate -> increased probability of atherosclerosis/arteriosclerosis
Effect of chronic stress on brain cell branching in rats?
It decreased branching neurons (in hippocampus)
Which region shrinks in response to chronic stress?
Hippocampus (memory and learning)
Two effects of stress on memory:
- Chronic: can change brain circuits, reducing ability to remember
- Sever Acute Stress: making it so you can’t remember things in the short term you know perfectly well (when you blank on an exam)
Hierarchy effect on dopamine levels and pleasure:
Less dominant monkeys have less dopamine
Less dopamine = less pleasure from life
In addition to stress increasing weight gain, what region does stress increase weight gain in?
The center of the body (abdomen)
Why is fat produced by stress more dangerous?
It is on the trunk/inside the abdomen produces different hormones and chemicals and has more dangerous effects on your health
Findings of the dutch hunger winter (response to famine is similar to other stressors):
Stress in fetal life:
- Increased risk of cardiovascular disease:
- More risk of hypercholesterolemia:
Chronic stress effect on telomere length:
If an individual is more highly stressed, their telomeres shorten faster.
Degree of stress, and duration of stressor both correlate with shorter than average telomeres for age
What repairs telomeres?
- What activates this system?
Telomerase
- What activates this system?
Higher levels of interconnectivity and compassion
What happened to the keekorok troop (the first baboons he had ever studied):
Foraged for food in trash -> exposed to tuberculosis -> almost half the males in troop died