These are my notes from all the lectures of the course Stress & Health, there is not the book included. These notes are from the slides but also with additional information that were said during the lectures.
Evidence level
1. Systematic review of RCT’s – most reliable findings, higher support multiple RCT’s
treatment compared in different groups
2. RCT (randomized controlled trial) – group with treatment vs. group without treatment
3. Systematic review of observational studies – different groups of people, one type of
treatment
4. Observational studies - large group, one type of treatment more reliable
5. Clinical observation – one person, one type of treatment not generalizable
Definition of stress
o Everyone can recognize stress, but harder to describe it
Shift in research of stress
o Ancient history – acute physical crisis (attack, immediate danger for body); chronic
physical crisis (malnutrition)
o New – psychological crisis, social crisis, prolonged psychological stress
Stress and Health
o Stress health (acute)
o Stress Psychological problems health
o Stress (job loss) psychological problems behavioral components (alcoholism)
health (liver)
Stress in clinical practice
o Makes people “sick” without having disease (unnecessary use of healthcare)
o Increases the odds for development of mental and physical health problems
o Negatively affects
recovery after disease or injury
effects of medical interventions
patient-physician communication (tend to forget more information when
stressed)
People don’t want to hear that mental problems are the cause of their diagnosis
(depression…)
Definition of stress
o A condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed
the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize
Homeostasis
o Bodys ideal level of oxygen, temperature… brain seeks this base level
o Stressor is anything that disrupts homeostasis – stress response is bodys action to
reestablish homeostasis
Is stress always a bad thing?
o Adaptive
Acute
Short duration
Fast recovery after stressor passed
Preparing body for danger
Signaling danger
o Disruptive
Chronic
Long duration
, Slow recovery
Early onset
Preparing the body for??
Signaling what??
o Positive consequences of exposure to stress
Short term stress (minutes to hours)
1. Increase in immunoprotection
2. Enhance mental and physical performance
Chronic stress (prolonged)
1. Suppress auto-immune disease symptoms (not experiencing the
symptoms, but still negative)
o Negative consequences of exposure to stress
Short term
- Emotional level – negative mood
- Cognitive level – concentration, memory
- Behavioral level – smoking, alcohol
- Biological level – immune, endocrine
Long term (more indirect) – chronic conditions
- Health/disease – auto-immune disease, cardiovascular disease,
cancer
What happens in our body when we experience stress?
o History of stress
Darwin – organisms capable of adapting to changing environment will
survive (cope with stressful changes)
Bernard – Milieu interieur (inner environment should be stable to cope
better)
Cannon – Fight or flight response (in danger body prepares to fight or flight
due to NTs norepinephrine and epinephrine)
o The ANS (parasympathetic and sympathetic) – works on its own, not controllable by
us (autonomous)
o CNS and Endocrine system (communication within NS through hormones and NTs)
o Signaling
CNS sympathetic adrenomedullary system – hormones (SAM) – first thing
happens when stress
Hypothalamus pituitary adrenal gland hormones (HPA-axis
produces cortisol)
Sam HPA-axis – produce stress response together
o Stress response hormones
SAM Epinephrine and Norepinephrine
HPA-axis Glucocorticoids (Cortisol, steroids, estrogens, progestins…)
o Additional stress hormone activation
Pancreas – Glucagon
Pituitary – Prolactin and Vasopressin
Pituitary + brain – Endorphins, Enkephalins
o Inhibition of hormonal systems during stress
Reproductive hormones (estrogen, testosterone…) – not adaptive to
reproduce under stress
, Growth hormones (insulin) – because energy is needed and should not be
stored
Hans Selye – pioneer of stress research
o Glucocorticoids
o Every stress leaves an indelible scar and the organism pays for its survival after
stressful situation by becoming a little older
o GAS – general adaptation syndrome alarm
Alarm stage – first encounter with stressor (high adrenaline, activated –
fight/flight response)
Resistance stage – trying to survive, higher cortisol
- Repair (want to restore energy that was needed in alarm stage)
- Dealing with stress if not possible to repair
- Looks like coping with stress
Exhaustion stage – developing health problems because body cannot win
giving up on fighting stress
- Damage to body (e.g. immune, kidney, etc…)
o Symptoms associated with GAS stage
Action stage – energy – can be also negative
Resistance stage – irritability, frustration, poor concentration (close to burn-
out)
Exhaustion stage – Fatigue, burnout, anxiety/depression, + physical
problems (damage to cardiovascular system)
o Stress is physiological response
o Non-specific response of body to any need/threat
o The reactivity hypothesis (vs. psychologists view)
Stressors accompanied by physiological response – activated closely before
the stressors, then goes up and declines again when stressor is gone
(recovers to baseline like before)
Psychologists perspective on stress
o J.W. Mason – reaction to stress varies between individuals and within individuals
(depending on time/situation)
o Susan R. Buchfield – Failure to adapt to chronic stress suggests psychological not
physiological exhaustion
o Prolonged activation model
A stressor will only affect our health when physiological effect is prolonged
(e.g. occurring long before stressor or slow recovery)
, o Michigan stress model (Kahn et al., 1964)
o What psychologists conclude
Stress response is NOT purely physiological
Not everybody has same stress response
Stress response and its duration is different between and within persons
o The cycle of stress (Reznick) – Psycho-biological response to stress
Measuring both psychological and physiological components in 4 phases
- Resting ground phase
- Tension phase
- Response phase
- Relief phase
Measuring frequency, duration and intensity
o Stress response activation due to anything that disrupts homeostasis
Adaptive
Anticipated
- Necessary prepares you to combat
- Unnecessary prepares you for nothing.. anxiety, neurosis
Acute (short term) – can have negative and positive effects on health
Chronic (long term) – can have negative effects on health
o Differences in stress response
Individual differences in stress response (response stereotype):
- Stress perception (for someone stressor stressful for others not)
- Processing
- Appraisal
- Coping – how to deal with it is different
- Genetic make up – hormones, sensitivity different
Situational differences (situational stereotype)
- Every Situation elicit different biological response different stress
response physiologically
o Stressors and stress response
Not all stressors produce same stress response
Hormonal signature for particular stressor
Body sensitivity to stress hormones
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller albawillems. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $4.84. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
