Week 10 Flashcards
Stress
• Any stimulus that disrupts the body’s internal balance (i.e.,
physiological homeostasis)
• Any deviation from homeostasis
• The mental and physical state induced by a stressor
Stress – the state
Stressor – the thing that causes the state
Stress Response – the link between the stressor and stress
The Stress Response
• Fight or flight – survival mechanism – react quickly to life threatening
situation
• Rapid recognition of potentially harmful stimuli to mobilize the
defence responses
• An array of neural and endocrine systems that mobilise physiological
and psychological resources allowing response to the present
challenge to homeostasis and overall well being
• Complex but orchestrated and rapid
• The stress response is incredibly ancient evolutionarily
• All vertebrates respond to stressful situations by releasing hormones,
such as epinephrine and glucocorticoids
➢ Mobilize energy resources
➢ Increase blood pressure
➢ Turn off everything that’s not essential to surviving right now -
digestion, growth, reproduction
➢ Think more clearly
➢ Learning and memory are enhanced
➢ Sensory thresholds sharpened
Good Stress / Bad Stress
If stress is so good, then why the bad rap?
• All stressors – single stress response – Evolution is a tinkerer!!
• Many modern life stressors are not life threatening
• Many modern life stressors are social
• Many modern life stressors are psychological
• We neither fight nor flee
If stress is so good, then why the bad rap?
• Worries, social pressure, sitting in traffic
• All elicit the same stress response as
escaping a tiger – release of epinephrine
and cortisol
• Stress response evolved to get you out
of a bad situation
• Short term adaptive, long term harmful
Good Stress / Bad Stress- If stress is so good, then why the bad rap?
• Good stress – mild, transient, not a complete loss of control • Bad stress – severe or chronic and coupled with lack of predictability or perceived lack of control • Chronic psychological stress implicated in ill health Optimal good stress: • Occurs in a safe environment • Is transient and mild • Involves a plausible but not guaranteed reward • You have control • Results in arousal, alertness, stimulation
Good Stress / Bad Stress- Bad stress – severe or chronic and coupled with lack of predictability or
perceived lack of control
• What if the stressor is always there? • What if you can’t get away? • What if you believe that nothing you do will change things anyway?
Good Stress / Bad Stress- Long-term
The long-term activation of the stress-response system and the
overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones that follows can
disrupt almost all your body’s processes
➢ Digestive problems
➢ Headaches
➢ Heart disease
➢ Sleep problems
➢ Weight gain
➢ Immune system impairment
➢ Accelerated chromosomal DNA aging (telomeres)
➢ Memory and concentration impairment
➢ Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues
Stress- Introduction
Bad -Visual System Scotoma Cataracts Glaucoma Retinal detachment Cortical blindness Colour blindness Macular degeneration Retinoblastoma -Attention Contralateral Neglect -Auditory System Sensorineural deafness -Pain Congenital Insensitivity to Pain -Motor System Motor Neuron Disease Good -Performance Enhancing -Beneficial -Rise to a challenge -Protective -Keeps you alive -Adaptive
Bad Stress
-77% regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress -48% reported lying awake at night due to stress -One in seven Australians will experience depression in their lifetime -One in five Australians have taken time off work in the past 12 months because they felt stressed, anxious, depressed or mentally unhealthy -One quarter of Australians will experience an anxiety condition in their lifetime -73% regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress
Gastric Ulcers
• Lesions of stomach lining leading to pain, bloating, nausea
• One of the first psychosomatic disorders - stress
• Warren and Marshall – H. Pylori
• Marshall ingested and developed
gastritis and ulcers
• H. Pylori – 90% of ulcers
• Nobel Prize in 2005
But most people have H. Pylori and only 10% get an ulcer
• Another factor increases susceptibility
of stomach wall to damage from H.
Pylori
• H. Pylori attacks the stomach wall, but
usually this is easily fixed
• Unless stomach (more generally
digestive) operations have been turned
right down to deal with a threat
• Stress
Main Characters
Hypothalamus
Pituitary
Amygdala
Adrenal Cortex- Releases cortisol - the major
glucocorticoid in humans
Adrenal Medulla- Releases epinephrine (also
known as adrenaline
The Stress Response
• The stress response is incredibly ancient evolutionarily
• All vertebrates – fish, birds, reptiles, mammals
• Encounter a stressor – any perceived threat - a tiger, a mean boss, a
worrying thought
• Sensory information to the amygdala – interprets – if perceive a
threat then signal hypothalamus
• Secrete hormones (epinephrine and glucocorticoids) to respond
Two pathways
Sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) system Fast response Short acting Epinephrine Jump start Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis Slow response Lasting Cortisol Keep things going
The Stress Response
SAM
HPA
SAM System
Efferent Nerves
- Parasympathetic Nervous system
- Sympathetic Nervous System
ANS Efferents
Change the body’s internal state Sympathetic • Fight or flight • Stimulate organs and release hormones to wind things up • Mobilise energy sources • Increase blood flow and respiration • Suppress non-essentials From chest, mid-lower back Parasympathetic • Rest and digest • Counteract sympathetic to wind things down • Stimulate digestion and restorative functions • Conserve energy From brain, lower back
SAM System
• Direct adrenergic innervation of organs (epinephrine and norepinephrine)
• Stimulate the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine into bloodstream –
efficient to replace neural activity for sustained response
• Very fast response – before conscious awareness
• Wind things up and supress non-essentials but also senses sharpen, improve
mood, encourage creative thinking, problems feel more like challenges
• SNS slow to shut down – need to actively counteract - PSNS
• No ill effects from the short-term response (although persistent epinephrine
surges can damage blood vessels)
HPA Axis
• As initial surge of epinephrine subsides, the hypothalamus activates
the second component of the stress response system
• Release of cortisol by adrenal cortex
• Measure of circulating cortisol most common physiological measure
of stress
• Primary function – increase blood glucose
• Support an extended fight or flight response
HPA Axis - Cortisol
• Important steroid hormone – almost all cells in the body have cortisol
receptors
• Sleep/wake cycle
• Low blood sugar
• Stress
• Metabolic effects
• Release glucose stores in muscle and liver
• Modifies fat and protein metabolism – fatty acid mobilisation and
gluconeogenesis (create more glucose)
• Alters immune system responses
• Reduce inflammation
• Hyperactivity results in immune suppression
• Suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth
processes
• Negative feedback control – cortisol acts on both the hypothalamus and the
pituitary to turn the HPA axis DOWN
Three Determinants of HPA Activity
Three main determinants of HPA axis activity control the amount of
cortisol a person is exposed to during adulthood
• Genetic factors
• Early-life environment
• Current life stress
Also, sex and age differences in stress response
Three Determinants of HPA Activity
Genetic factors
• DNA variations in genes encoding neurotransmitters involved in HPA
axis regulation.
• Heritable influences account for 62% of the variance in basal
glucocorticoid levels
Three Determinants of HPA Activity
Early-life environment
• Pre and post-natal influences
• Maternal stress modifies HPA axis responsivity of infant and adult offspring
• Childhood trauma associated with alterations in HPA axis function
• Animal models show neonatal stress results in a epigenetic modification of a
receptor gene with long-lasting effects on cortisol responsivity - rats that
received poor maternal care showed deficits in receptors in the
hippocampus and impaired shut off of the HPA stress response
• Mild to moderate early life stressors enhance HPA regulation and promotes
life long resilience to stress
Three Determinants of HPA Activity
Current Life Stress
• Severe, chronic stress in adulthood alter HPA axis dynamics and
increase the cortisol burden
• Chronic stress triggers a shift in the normal circadian rhythm of
cortisol release – increased baseline
• Makes the HPA axis more sensitive, resulting in higher cortisol
exposure or greater cortisol burden following each stressful episode
• Severe, chronic stress in adulthood alter HPA axis dynamics and
increase the cortisol burden
• Chronic stress triggers a shift in the normal circadian rhythm of
cortisol release – increased baseline
• Makes the HPA axis more sensitive, resulting in higher cortisol
exposure or greater cortisol burden following each stressful episode
• Romania under Ceausescu (1960’s to 1989) – contraception and
abortion forbidden; childless couples taxed – high birth rate
• Huge number of children to orphanages – horrific conditions –
isolation, neglect, maltreatment
• Failed to meet even the most basic needs of the children
• Intense and pervasive stress during development
• McLaughlin et al. (2015) – 138 children – 3 groups – orphanage;
orphanage but removed to high quality foster care; local controls
• Electrocardiogram, impedance cardiograph, and neuroendocrine data
collected during laboratory based challenge tasks
• Main finding – blunted SAM and HPA responses to lab stressors –
both social and non-social
• Normal response if removed into foster care before 24 months –
critical period
Chronic Stress
Adaptive
• Mobilise energy stores
• Increase blood supply
• Enhanced cognition
• Enhanced immunity, reduced
inflammation
• Suppression of growth
• Suppression of digestion
• Suppression of reproduction
Disorder
• Metabolic dysfunction, inefficient energy use, muscle wasting, type 2 diabetes
• Stress hypertension, atherosclerosis,
heart disease
• Memory loss, disconnection of neural networks, reduced neurogenesis, selective neurodegeneration
• Amygdala expansion → increased anxiety
• Depletion of dopamine → anhedonia → depression
• Increased risk of some infectious diseases (probably no increase in cancer risk)
• Osteoporosis, osteoarthritis,
psychogenic dwarfism
• Increased risk of ulcers, increased fat deposition
• Females – irregular cycles, loss of cycles, failure of implantation; males – decreased testosterone, erectile dysfunction; everyone – loss of libido