The Role Of Stress In Illness Flashcards
How is immediate stress (adrenaline) linked to cardiovascular disorder?
Stress activates the SNS leading to the production of adrenaline and noradrenaline. High levels of adrenaline will have the following effects:
Increased heart rate causes the heart to work harder and takes its toll over time
Construction of the blood vessels increase blood pressure, which puts tension on the blood vessels causing them to eventually wear away
Increased pressure can also dislodge plaque on the walls of the blood vessels and thus can lead to blocked arteries may cause a heart attack
How is ongoing stress and cortisol linked to immunosuppression?
Ongoing stress activates the HPA system, which results in the production of various hormones including cortisol. One of the effects of cortisol is to reduce the body’s immune system response, making it more likely that a person will become ill, because of invading viruses and bacteria are not attacked.
What did Williams et al research and how did he do it?
He wanted to investigate whether anger is linked to heart disease
He had 13000 people complete a 10 question anger scale including questions on whether they are hot headed/wanted to hit someone when they got angry. None of the participants suffered heart disease before the study.
After six years that participants were checked and 256 had experienced a heart attack. Those that scored the highest on the anger scale were two and half times more likely to have had a heart attack than those with the anger ratings. People who scored moderate in the anger ratings were 35% more likely to have experienced a coronary even that those with a lower score.
What was Williams et al’s conclusion?
Participants that scored highly on the anger scale were more likely to have a heart attack in comparison to participants with lower scores.
What did Kiecolt Glaser et al study and how did he do it?
Wanted to demonstrate that natural stressors could lower the immune system, which would in turn make people more likely to be ill.
He took blood samples from 75 first year medical students (49 males and 26 females) all of whom volunteered. The tests were taken a month before the exams and on the day of the exams (stress sample). They looked at the natural killer cell activity which is part of our immune system. The participants also completed the social readjustment rating scale to measure other like stressors they were experiencing, they also completed a loneliness score. They found that the immune system was reduced following the stressful exam. Natural killer cell activity was significantly reduced in the high stress samples compared to the baseline samples. Also, the greatest reductions were in students reporting higher levels of social isolation.
What was Kiecolt Glaser et al’s conclusion?
Participants experiencing stressful life events and loneliness are more likely to have a weakened immune system. The more stressed and lonely you are the more likely you are to have a weakened immune system.
finish the evaluation: Kiecolt-Glaser et al’s research relied on self report methods
This means that they were relying on the participant/patient to tell the truth. Due to social desirability, the participant might fake their answers to comply to what is socially desired. Therefore, the validity of the research could be debated.
finish the evaluation: Kiecolt-Glaser et al’s research does not take into account individual differences within their research
People do not respond to stress in the same way, also, they didn’t conduct a test on participants immune systems at the beginning of the test. This could be potentially harmful to the research as the ability of the immune system decreases as age increases (first year medical students does not give a closed age range). Also, due to the course they are studying being medical based, they are potentially going to be naturally more stressed in comparison to someone studying something like art. Therefore the research is flawed as it fails to take into account individual differences, making it hard to generalise the results to a larger population.
finish the evaluation: stress doesn’t always have a negative effect
People don’t react to stress in the same way. Some probably or may face stress head on and cope with the stressors. Evans et al conducted an experiment which found that students who have a presentation (accuse stress) increased in the antibody slg A (which helps to protect against infection). Students over exam periods decreased levels of Slg A. This demonstrates two effects that increase the efficiency in long term stress. Therefore the research is flawed as it doesn’t take into account other effects of stress so thus is reductionist.
finish the evaluation: stress and illness is not as simple as it sounds
Stress may lead to unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking/drinking alcohol. This then leads to health problems, not the stress itself. Thus the relationship between stress and health is not simple and thus the research is flawed as it doesn’t consider this.
finish the evaluation: the research is biologically deterministic
This research suggests that our health is determined by our stress levels, however it could be caused by other things instead of stress such as smoking/drinking
