Stress Flashcards
What are the top stressors?
- work
- money
- relationships
- health
What is homeostasis?
Homeostasis→ body regulates and balances its internal physiological states
- switch from Autonomic nervous system (ANS) to central nervous system
What is the difference between a stressor and a stress?
Stressor→ reel or perceived
- can be positive (having a baby) or negative (being chased by a bear)
Stress→ the way people respond to the stressor
- not the same thing as stressor
- can help understand people developing PTSD or other disorders
What are the two pathways involved in stress responses?
Physiological cascades
- SAM→ couple of seconds
- HPA→ way slower (cortisol→ pick between 30 and 40 minutes after the stressor)
What is allostatic load?
Allostatic load→ price of activating those system
- sometimes useful but sometimes activated for nothing (ex: neutral faces)
- hypothalamus don’t make judgment/ appraisal of the stressors is what matter
What are the risks associated with too much or too little cortisol?
Too much lead to risk
- hypertension
- cardiovascular risks
- future illness
Not enough
- obesity, depression, anxiety
—>both heightened and blunted cortisols responses are dangerous
What are the consequences of chronic stress on the hippocampus and the PFC?
Hippocampus→ very vulnerable to stress exposure
- critical memory and stress regulation
- shares connections with hypothalamus
- acute stress suppresses hippocampal activity
- chronic stress decreased hippocampal volumes→ decrease dendritic arborisation
—>result in cortisol hypersecretion because less capable of inhibiting HPA axis
Prefrontal Cortex→ decision-making, working memory, self-regulatory behaviors, mood, impulse control
- slow to develop (mid-20s)→ sustained developmental period make it very vulnerable to effect of stress
- Repeated stress exposure causes dendritic shortening
- Chronic stress exposure associated with decreased volume of prefrontal cortex
What properties of a stressor make it more risky?
- uncontrollable, Unpredictable and Severe
—>more strongly linked with psychiatric disorders - Can be acute or chronic→ types of stressors associated with some forms of disease
- Timing of stress→ early life stress has more impact
What is fetal programming?
Fetal programming
- Maternal stress may be transmitted to the fetus via high levels of glucocorticoids (e.g., cortisol)
- cortisol pass through the placenta to increase cortisol production
- infants may develop hypersensitive response systems to threat
- studies found that basal cortisol (daily-life cortisol level) and cortisol reactivity are greater in infant with higher levels of maternal stress
What are some supported steps to promote well-being?
Social support-> buffer from stress
- partner buffer from stress for men
- parents buffer for children
- physical touch buffer best than just social support
- pets as well
Exercise-> protect against hippocampal degeneration associated with chronic stress
- mood improvement after 10 minutes of self selected high intensity exercise
Controlled breathing
Sleep
- sleep deprivation increase allostatic load
- chronic sleep deprivation-> affect hippocampal volumes
What were the findings of the study looking at fetal exposure to maternal stress for boys and girls?
In boys: Maternal subjective stress had no effect
- In girls: mother subjective stress led to cortisol activity in toddler
What were the results of the study looking at covid stress on neural responses to rewards?
Follow-Up (Pre-COVID Group): No significant changes in neural response to rewards over time
Follow-Up (COVID Group - Fall 2021):
- Significant decrease in neural sensitivity to rewards.
- Neural response to rewards is almost absent
compared to their own baseline
