Stress

Question 1

What are the different types of stress?

Answer 1

Psychological and physical

Question 2

What has molecules evolved to do?

Answer 2

Provide a series of emergency systems that protect key cellular functions from unexpected external challenges and internal consequences

Question 3

What do heat-shock proteins do?

Answer 3

Guide damaged proteins to where they can be repaired or harmlessly degraded, protecting cells from toxicity or dysfunction

Question 4

What has our stress systems evolved to be and do?

Answer 4

It has evolved as highly sophisticated processed to help deal with out of the ordinary challenges that might afflict us, they use cellular protection mechanisms as building blocks in a larger network of stress protection

Question 5

Who is neuroendocrinology?

Answer 5

Study of how the brain regulates the hormones in our body

Question 6

What is the first response to stress?

Answer 6

Immediate activation of sympathetic nervous system

Question 7

How is the fight or flight response formed?

Answer 7

During stress, the brain rapidly activates nerves originating from control centres in the brain stem which causes the release of noradrenaline in a variety of structures and adrenaline from the adrenal glands

Question 8

What happens to your body during fight or flight response?

Answer 8

Initial tingling sensation, sweating, heightened awareness, rapid pulse rate, higher blood pressure and general feelings of fear

Question 9

Why do we have rapid pulse rate during stress?

Answer 9

Receptors are found on blood vessels, causing them to constrict and blood pressure to shoot up and causing the heart to accelerate and produce pounding sensations in the chest known as palpitations

Question 10

What are goosebumps causes by?

Answer 10

Receptors in the skin causing hairs to erect

Question 11

WhAt are the changes during stress used to do?

Answer 11

Prepare us to fight or free and to concentrate blood flow to vital organs, muscles and the brain

Question 12

What is the second major neuroendocrine response to stress?

Answer 12

Activation of a circuit linking the body and the brain called the HPA axis

Question 13

What does HPA axis link together?

Answer 13

Hypothalamus, pituitary, gland, adrenal cortex and hippocampus by a bloodstream highway carrying specialised hormones

Question 14

What is the hypothalamus?

Answer 14

A key brain area regulating many of our hormones

Question 15

What does the hypothalamus have?

Answer 15

Strong inputs from areas of the brain processing emotional information, including amygdala and from regions of the brain stem controlling sympathetic nervous responses

Question 16

What does the hypothalamus do?

Answer 16

It integrates areas of the brain processing emotional information to produce a coordinated hormonal output that stimulates the next part of the circuit, the pituitary gland

Question 17

What happens at the pituitary gland?

Answer 17

It releases a hormone called adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) into the blood

Question 18

What does ACTH do?

Answer 18

Is stimulates part of the adrenal gland to secrete cortisol

Question 19

What is cortisol?

Answer 19

Steroid hormone that raises blood sugar and other metabolic fuels such as fatty acids, help adrenaline to raise blood sugar and make you feel good and turns off growth, digestion, inflammation and even wound healing

Question 20

When do cortisol raise blood sugar and other metabolic fuels such as fatty acids?

Answer 20

It occurs at the expense of proteins that are broken down into fuels required immediately

Question 21

Where is the highest density of cortisol receptors located at?

Answer 21

Hippocampus

Question 22

What does hippocampus do?

Answer 22

A key structure of learning and memory

Question 23

Where does cortisol act on besides the hippocampus?

Answer 23

Amygdala

Question 24

What does amygdala do?

Answer 24

Process fear and anxiety

Question 25

What does the cortisol feedback to the brain do?

Answer 25

Turn on the amygdala to allow learning of fear related information and to turn off the hippocampus to ensure that resources are not wasted in more complex but unnecessary part of learning

Question 26

What kind of receptors are in high levels in the hippocampus for cortisol?

Answer 26

low MR and high GR receptor

Question 27

How is low MR receptor activated?

Answer 27

Normally circulating levels of cortisol in the bloodstream highway of the HPA axis

Question 28

What does low MR receptor do?

Answer 28

Keep our general metabolism and brain processing ticking over nicely

Question 29

What happens when cortisol levels begin to rise?

Answer 29

High GR receptor becomes progressively more occupied

Question 30

What happens when we are stressed?

Answer 30

Cortisol levels become very high and activation of high GR is sustained and the hippocampus is shit down by a genetically controlled program

Question 31

What is the curve for stress called?

Answer 31

Bell-shaped curve

Question 32

What happens in severe depression?

Answer 32

Cortisol is over-produced and hippocampus shrinks

Question 33

How can patients with severe depression be helped?

Answer 33

Blocking the production of action of cortisol, particularly those in whom classical anti-depressant drugs do not work

Question 34

What does anti-depressant drugs do?

Answer 34

Help to normalise the overactive HPA axis, by adjusting the density of MR and GR receptors in the brain, particularly in the hippocampus

Question 35

What is the implication of cortisol levels in ageing?

Answer 35

Cortisol levels are higher in unsuccessful than in successful ageing, the rise precedes the fall in mental abilities and the associated decline in the size of hippocampus seen in brain scans

Question 36

How to prevent the emergence of memory defects?

Answer 36

By keeping stress hormones level low from birth or from middle age onwards

Question 37

Who gets more memory loss and cognitive disorders in the later years?

Answer 37

Those who make the greatest responses to stressors