Stress Flashcards
Define stress
Feeling pressure or anxiety. The state of psychological or physiological tension
Define eustress
Perceived as positive stress, a good challenge and non harmful
Define distress
Perceived as negative stress, can be overwhelming and distracting
What is a stressor
The event/thing that causes stress
What is the yerkes model of performance and arousal
Shows having too low arousal=distress, not enough motivation preform badly
Moderate arousal=eustress, focused attention preform well
Too much stress= distress, burn out too excited preform badly
What causes stress
Daily pressures
Life events
Major catastrophe
Acculturation stress
Examples of daily pressures
Fighting with friends, homework, losing keys or phone
Examples of life events
Poor social relationships
Minimal social interactions
Lack of social skills
Lack of social support
Marriage, kids
Examples of major catastrophes
Natrual disaster
Death
Define acculturation stress and give examples
Stress of individuals trying to adapt to a new culture
Language difficulties
Racism
Lower socioeconomic status
Separation from family
Two types of stress reactions and examples
Physiological (feel) Headache Skin rash Psychological (think) Behavioural- changes to eating/sleeping Emotion-agreesive Cognitive-loss of concentration
What is the initial response to a stress
Flight fight freeze is activated and releases adrenaline
What happens when stress is built up over a long period of time
HPA axis is activated
Hypothalamus (in the brain) stimulate
Piturity gland (in the brain) releases hormones in the blood through endocrine system.
Adrenal gland (top of kidney) releases cortisol
Define cortisol
A stress hormone that increases vital functions like metabolism. Glucose is increased leading the body to preform better because it has more energy in times of stress.
What happens when cortisol is activated for a long period of time
It becomes suppressed leading to surpresed immunity and more susceptible (likely) to get an illness
What happens in each step of the Selyes (GAS) model
Alarm reaction stage
-body goes into shock(blood pressure drops)
- rebounds with counter shock. Sympathetic nervous system is activists and high arousal
Resistance stage
- cortisol is released into blood stream
Exhaustion
- extreme fatigue,high levels of anxiety body becomes vulnerable to illness