The role of stress in illness

Question 1

What do immediate stressors lead to?

Answer 1

The production of adrenaline.

Question 2

What do long term stressors lead to?

Answer 2

The production of cortisol.

Question 3

What can cortisol and adrenaline lead to?

Answer 3

Cardiovascular disorder and immunosupression.

Question 4

What does stress activate?

Answer 4

The sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system which then leads to the production of adrenaline.

Question 5

What will high levels of adrenaline lead to?

Answer 5

• Increased heart rate which makes the heart work harder.
• Constriction of the blood vessels which increases blood pressure and puts tension on blood vessels which causes them to wear away.
• The increased blood pressure can lead to plaque dislodging on the walls of blood vessels and this leads to blocked arteries (atherosclerosis) which may lead to heart attack/stroke.

Question 6

What was Williams et al (2000) study for?

Answer 6

To see whether anger was linked to heart disease (as anger activates the SNS).

Question 7

What was the procedure?

Answer 7

13,000 people completed a 10-question anger scale which included questions whether they were hot headed, if they felt like hitting something when angry or whether they got annoyed when not given recognition for doing good work.

Question 8

What happened 6 years later?

Answer 8

6 years later the health of the participants were checked and 256 were found to have experienced a heart attack. Those who scored highest on the anger scale were over two and half times more likely to have had a heart attack than those with lower anger ratings.

Question 9

What happened with people scored moderate?

Answer 9

They were 35% more likely to experience a coronary event than those with lower ratings.

Question 10

What do the findings suggest?

Answer 10

Suggests that SNS arousal is closely associated with cardiovascular disorders.

Question 11

What does ongoing stress activate?

Answer 11

Activates the HPA system which results in the production of hormones.

Question 12

What is an effect of cortisol?

Answer 12

To reduce the body’s immune response making it more likely that the person will become ill as invading viruses aren’t attacked.

Question 13

What was the study by Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1984)?

Answer 13

In a study with collegues they conducted a natural experiment investigating whether the stress of important examinations had an effect on immune system functioning.

Question 14

How many participants were there?

Answer 14

75 medical students who took part in the study. They had blood samples one month before their exams (low stress) and during the exam period (high stress).

Question 15

What did the change in time period allow for?

Answer 15

Allows for a baseline in low stress.

Question 16

How was immune system functioning assesed?

Answer 16

Assesed by measuring the natural killer cell activity in blood samples and the participants also completed a questionnaire (SSRS) to measure any other life stressors they were experience. Students also completed a lonliness scale which assesed how many interpersonal contacts they had.

Question 17

What did the study find?

Answer 17

That NK cell activity was significantly reduced in the 2nd blood sample compared to the sample compared the sample taken one month before.

Question 18

What did the findings suggest?

Answer 18

This suggests that ongoing stressors reduce immune system functioning and it was further supported by those students whose life students whose life stressors were generally high and had the lowest level NK cell levels. Loneliness contributed to the effect as the students had the lowest NK cell activity.