Lecture 20: Stress And Health

Question 0

What is stress?

Answer 0

Stress refers to a challenge to a person’s capability to adapt to inner and outer demands,

Question 1

What is a stressor?

Answer 1

An event that places a demand on an organism

Question 2

What are the effects of stressful experiences?

Answer 2

They typically produce physiological and emotional arousal

And elicit cognitive, behavioural efforts to help cope with the stress

Question 3

What is the fight or flight response?

Answer 3

This is a physiological stress response defined by Walter Cannon (1932)

This is when an organism perceives a threat, the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system are activated to provide the ability to attack or flee
This enables the organism to respond quickly

Question 4

What does the sympathetic adrenal medullary system do to?

Answer 4

It stimulates the adrenal medulla to secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine which increases BP, HR, sweating, and constriction of peripheral blood vessels.

Question 5

What is the role of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenalcortical axis on stress?

Answer 5

It produces cortisol, which helps release glucose for energy.
It also has immunosuppresive effects
It also reduces inflammation in case of injury

Question 6

What is the general adaptation syndrome?

Answer 6

This was defined by Hans Selye (1974)
This is a non specific stress response divided into 3 stages.

1) alarm
2) resistance
3) exhaustion

Question 7

What happens in alarm?

Answer 7

Initial reaction to threat. The body reacts with the fight or flight response

Question 8

What is the resistance stage?

Answer 8

The organism attempts to cope with threat.
Respiration and heart rate return to normal
Glucose levels, cortisol and adrenaline remain high

Question 9

What is the exhaustion stage?

Answer 9

The organism fails to overcome threat
Physiological resources are depleted.
The body’s defences break down, the organism has increased vulnerability to infection/disease.

Question 10

What are the different types of stressors?

Answer 10

Acute, time limited stress e.g. In labs
Brief, natural stressors e.g. Exams
Event sequences e.g. Loss of spouse
Chronic stressors e.g. Caregiver, war
Distant stressors, e.g. Child abuse

Question 11

What are the effects of acute time-limited stress?

Answer 11

Up regulation of natural immunity and suppression of specific immunity

Question 12

What are the result of chronic stressors?

Answer 12

Both natural and specific immunity are negatively affected

Question 13

What increases stress vulnerability?

Answer 13

Increasing age and existing disease,

Question 14

What is the psychological perspective on stress?

Answer 14

The thing is, Psychological models ignore individual differences.

people differ in responses to events due to their appraisals of the event, personality and biological differences

Question 15

Why is stress referred to as a transactional process?

Answer 15

Stress can be seen as a transaction between the individual and the environment

Primary appraisal: this is where the person decides if the situation is benign, stressful or irrelevant

Secondary appraisal: this is where the person evaluates options and decides how to respond.

Question 16

What are the three types of stress?

Answer 16

Harm or loss,
Threat
Challenge

Question 17

What is the perceived stress scale?

Answer 17

Measures the degree to which situations in ones life are appraised as stressful

E.g. In the last month..
How often have you felt you were on top of things
How often have you found you could not cope with all the things you had to do?

Question 18

What is the relationship between stress and illness?

Answer 18

Stress has direct effects on physiology e.g. Impacts on the immune function, heart rate

It also has indirect effects on behaviour elg, sleep, diet, alcohol, which in turn can affect health

Question 19

What are the effects of stress on health?

Answer 19

Research has shown that stress can increase the likelihood of contracting infectious diseases
Slow wound healing
Contribute to the development of heart disease
Reduce our response to immunisation
Influence the progression of cancer and HIV

Question 20

What is coping?

Answer 20

The way people deal with stressful situations

Question 21

What are the two types of coping?

Answer 21

Problem focused: person attempts to change the situation. This is useful when something constructive can be done.

Emotional focused: person attempts to change thoughts or emotional consequences of the stressor. This is useful when the situation MUST be accepted

Question 22

What is the importance of social support in stress?

Answer 22

Presence of others in whom one can confide and from whom one can expect help and concern as they can provide

Appraisal support
Tangible assistance
Information support
Emotional support

Question 23

What are the benefits of social support?

Answer 23

Can reduce depression and anxiety during stress
Can affect health habits
Can lower the likelihood of illness
Cam reduce mortality due to serious illness

Question 24

How does a high level of social support protect against the effects of stress?

Answer 24

Direct effects by keeping you from getting stressed

Buffering by helping you cope with stress

Question 25

What are stress management interventions?

Answer 25

Often involve coping skills, training, assertiveness, anger management, relaxation, technique

Question 26

What have stress management interventions been proven to do?

Answer 26

Reduce stress, reduce cortisol, produce immunological changes, improve wound healing