Stress And Illness Flashcards
__________ is an important negative outcome of stress.
Anxiety
Give six examples of common stressors.
Small daily hassles, work/academic concerns, relationships, goal conflict, role conflict and finances.
Who developed the transactional theory of stress?
Lazarus and Folkman (1984)
Define the transactional theory of stress (ref?)
A relationship between the person and the environment that is perceived by the person as taxing or exceeding resources and endangering wellbeing (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)
According to the transactional theory of stress, two people faced with the same ___________ demands may react _______________ because they differ in _________ and ___________.
Objective/differently/perception of demand/perception of resources.
Stress can be easily defined in terms of objective environmental stimuli. True or false?
False, appraisal and coping are critical to the stress transaction.
According to the transactional theory of stress: Understanding stress requires measures of….
Environmental inputs, individual differences, appraisal differences, psychological responses and coping responses.
In 2013/14, stress accounted for what percentage of acute work related illness in the uk?
39%
Stress is the most common cause of long term sick leave, how many days are lost per year in the uk because of this?
> 10 million
Give examples of how high demand jobs affect physical and mental health.
Cardiovascular disease, anxiety and depression.
Name the six characteristics of stressful events.
Negative (not always), uncontrollable (key characteristic), long lasting, cannot be dealt with using current resources, ambiguous, relevant to important life domains.
Measuring stress: Who developed the social readjustment rating scale?
Holmes & Rahe (1967)
Measuring stress: Describe the social readjustment rating scaled identify its limitations.
An extensive list of life events (pos & neg) which are each given a life change unit score e.g. Divorce 73, personal illness 53, Christmas 11. Scores reflect the extent to which the event affects daily routines and the idea is to give a LCU for the past year. However whilst they all broadly cause stress, individual differences would mean that scores would differ a lot for different people. This measure only takes into account objective demand on the system.
Measuring stress: Who developed the daily hassles scale?
Canner et al (1981)
How many items are there on the daily hassle scale? (Canner et al 1981), and give a few examples.
117 items e.g. Rising prices, noisy neighbours, bad weather and feeling lonely etc.
Daily hassles may seem like nothing, but can add up to __________ and so create __________ (ref?).
Undermine resources and Unmanagable demands (ref) Canner et al (1981).
Research suggests that experiencing more daily hassles leads to _________.
Increased stress and less psychological wellbeing.
While the daily hassles scale can be used to add smaller hassles to bigger life events, what is its main limitation?
Things which could be positive to one person, may be neg to another. As with social readjustment scale individual differences are not accounted for (Canner et al, 1981).
Alongside the daily hassles scale the _________ was developed by ________.
Daily uplift scale (Canner et al, 1981).
Give some examples of daily uplifts.
Good weather, good neighbours, having a laugh, completing tasks.
Measuring stress: Who developed the daily hassles and uplifts scale?
Delongis (1982, 1988).
Describe the daily hassles and uplift scale Delongis (1982, 1988), and describe its advantages.
53 item scale for which you give a rating from 0 = None, and up to 3 = Great Deal, as to how much of a hassle and how much of an uplift each item was for you ‘Today’. This scale has advantages over the other scales because it classifies areas of demand and acknowledges not only that they seem pos or neg, but also that may seen as both pos and neg i.e. This scale acknowledges individual differences in demand perception.
Give example of items on the daily hassle and uplift scale (ref).
Your children, parent/in laws and the weather (Delongis 1982, 1988).
How does stress directly affect cardiovascular and immune functioning?
Wear and tear undermine system functioning.
What are the indirect affects of stress on health?
Increased health risk behaviour (Smoking and alcohol/drugs) and decreased health promoting behaviours (Sleep, diet, help seeking).
Who studied exam stress and wound healing?
Marucha (1998)
Describe Marucha et al’s (1998) study on exam stress and wound healing (PICO).
P = Dental students. I = 3.5mm punch biopsy wound on hard palate 3 days before a major exam. C = Same wound during summer holidays O = Daily photos and foaming responses to hydrogen peroxide. Result - At exam time healing was 3 days (40% longer). Implication - this study directly shows exam stress on immune system functioning.
The affects of stress on wound healing had clear implications for _________.
Surgery recovery.
___________ moderated the affects of stress on wound healing in Marucha et all (1998) study.
Social support i.e Students with better support and both reduced stress during exam time and faster wound healing. The reverse was true for lonely students.
Effects of moderate sever stress: Physical symptoms.
Dry mouth, excessive perspiration, headaches, frequent infections, pounding heart, HBP, asthma, arthritis, back and chest pain, muscle tension.
Effects of moderate sever stress: Emotional symptoms.
Anxiety and worry which prolonged can lead to depression, fatigue, hypervigilance, impulsiveness and irritability.
Effects of moderate sever stress: Cognitive symptoms.
Poor memory and poor concentration (implications for academic performance).
Effects of moderate sever stress: Behavioural symptoms (Apart from health related behaviours).
Teeth grinding, crying, disruptive eating/sleeping, aggression and sexual problems.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
The body system which keeps the body functioning but is not consciously controlled.
The ANS consist of two halves the ________ and the _________.
The sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic ANS and the parasympatheitc ANS are _________ and ________ distinct.
Anatomically and functionally.
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for _________.
The fight or flight response to threat, mobilising, arousing and activating the body.
The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for _________.
The rest and digest response, calming and restoring energy.
The sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems are _________.
Antagonistic, they have opposite effects and work together to maintain balance and optimal functioning (Homeostasis).
The sympathetic NS initiates the fight or flight response via the ________ which releases ________.
Adrenal Medulla which releases catecholamines including adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Describe the affects of adrenaline.
Increases: Heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood flow to skeletal muscles
Decreases: Blood flow to organs, inhibits digestive function and leads to bronchiole dilation and therefore increased breathing rate.
These effects cause immune system suppression, reduced pain perception and reduced salivation = Max speed and power.
Our bodies have evolved to do this but it is not what we want to happen when we read an email.
The Parasympathetic NS uses _________ the close fight or flight down.
Noradrenaline.
Describe the affects of the rest and digest response.
Calms the body to conserve and maintain energy, reduces heart rate BP and blood glucose. Reduces blood flow to skeletal muscles and increases to organs. Accelerates digestion, promotes relations, facilitates energy storage and body regeneration and returns the body to homeostasis.
People who are stressed benefit from mindfulness techniques and relaxation because ___________.
They activate the parasympathetic NS.
One of the main problems with stress is ________ of the symp NS and _________ of the para NS, leading to e.g. __________.
Increased activation and Deregulation.
Poor sleep.
