Unit 8 B Stress and Health

Stress  and  Causes  of  Death Prolonged  stress  combined  with  unhealthy   behaviors  may  increase  our  risk  for  one  of   today'ʹs  four  leading  diseases.

Stress and Health (Obj.11)   Do you have control over your own health?   50% of deaths in US attributed to behaviors   smoking, lack of exercise, nutrition, unprotected sex, drugs, alcoholism

  Behavioral Medicine - integrates and applies behavior and medical knowledge   Health Psychology - psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine (Wellness)   Personality (Type A / Type B)   Behaviors (prevent illness / put us at risk of illness)   Perceptions / Appraisal

Health  Psychology Health  psychology  is  a  field  of  psychology  that   contributes  to  behavioral  medicine.  The  field   studies  stress-­‐‑related  aspects  of  disease  and  asks   the  following  questions: 1.  How  do  emotions  and  personality  factors   influence  the  risk  of  disease? 2.  What  aJitudes  and  behaviors  prevent  illness   and  promote  health  and  well-­‐‑being? 3.  How  do  our  perceptions  determine  stress? 4.  How  can  we  reduce  or  control  stress?

What is Stress? (Obj.11)   Stress - process by which we perceive and respond to certain events (stressors)   Stressors – what we appraise as threatening or challenging   personality affects appraisal

Stressors Catastrophes Life changes Hassles

Intervening factors Appraisal Perceived control Personality Social support Coping behaviors

Stress reactions Physiological Emotional Behavioral

  Eustress / Distress   shopping?, traffic?, exams?

Stress Response System Two-track (Obj.11) 1. 

Cannon’s (Fight or Flight) Sympathetic Nervous System (Arousal)   adrenal glands release epinephrine (adrenaline)   Increases heart rate, respiration, and blood to muscles, mobilizing sugar and fat, and dulling pain.

Stress Response System Two-track (Obj.11) 2. Cerebral cortex (hypothalamus & pituitary)   Stress triggers the hypothalamus and pituitary slowly to tell the adrenal glands to release stress hormones glucocorticoid (cortisol)

Stress and Illness? (Obj.12)   General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) – The body’s resistance to stress can only Last so long before exhaustion sets in body’s adaptive response to stress Stress resistance

Stressor occurs

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Alarm Resistance Exhaustion reaction (cope with (reserves (mobilize stressor) depleted) Resources)

  Hans Selye 1.  Alarm – heart rate zooms, blood to muscles 2.  Resistance – blood pressure, respiration high, outpouring of hormones 3.  Exhaustion – deplete your body’s reserves  

Vulnerable to Illness/Death

Stressful Life Events   Catastrophic Events   earthquakes, combat stress, floods   Life Changes   death of a loved one, divorce, loss of job, promotion

Stressful Life Events   Daily Hassles   rush hour traffic, long lines, job stress, burnout   Pressure   Occurs when we feel forced to speed up or shift focus of our behavior   Frustration   Occurs when a person is prevented from reaching a goal •  Delays •  Lack of Resources •  Losses •  Failure •  Discrimination

Sources of Stress   Conflict   Simultaneous existence of incompatible demands, opportunities, goals, or needs   Approach/approach conflict occurs when there is a conflict between two appealing possibilities •  Regret

  Avoidance/avoidance conflict occurs when there is a choice between two undesirable possibilities •  Escape

  Approach/avoidance conflict is the result of being simultaneously attracted to and repelled by the same goal •  Paralysis

Stress and Individual Differences   Hardiness   A characteristic of people who can tolerate stress well or even thrive on it   Open to change   Welcome a challenge

  Resilience   Ability of a person to “bounce back” after a stressful event   Social connections   Varied interests

  Self-imposed stress   Must be loved or approved by everyone for everything I do   I must be successful at everything I do

Stress and Heart Disease (Obj. 14)   Psychophysiological Illness   “mind-body” illness   any stress-related physical illness   some forms of hypertension (high blood pressure)   some headaches

  Not Psychosomatic or psychologically caused physical symptoms

Stress and Heart Disease (Obj.14)   Coronary Heart Disease - clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle   leading cause of death in the United States   Personality drives appraisal   Type A - are competitive, hard-driving, impatient aggressive, anger-prone •  aggression & anger = physiologically more reactive = more stress hormones = constriction of arteries = plaque on arteries = increase blood pressure = stroke & heart attacks = death

  Type B - are easygoing, relaxed people

  Pessimist are twice as likely as optimists to develop heart disease

Correlation?   FINDINGS: Of the original sample of 3200, 257 participants had developed coronary heart disease during the 8½ years   70% of them had been classified as Type A.   Type As were found to have higher levels of cholesterol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline than Type Bs.   A significant but moderate correlation was found between personality type and coronary heart disease.   CONCLUSIONS: The research shows that Type A behaviour pattern is fairly strongly linked to CHD. Friedman and Rosenman concluded that the Type A behaviour pattern increases the individual’s experience of stress, which increases physiological reactivity, and that in turn increases vulnerability to CHD.   The high levels of the stress hormones suggest that they do experience more stress than Type Bs. The stress response inhibits digestion, which leads to the higher level of cholesterol in the blood, and this places Type As at risk of CHD. Implications include the need to reduce the “harmful” Type A characteristics.

Scoring online tests

 Type A/B Personality Test  Type B 35-120  Mildly Type B 120-205  Mildly Type A 205-295  Type A 295-380

Stress and Immune System Psycho-neuro-immun-ology (PNI) (Obj.15)   Secretion of stress hormones, suppress the disease-fighting lymphocytes (immune system)   Lymphocytes - two types of white blood cells, body’s immune system   B lymphocytes - Bone marrow, fight Bacterial infections   T lymphocytes - Tissue , attack cancer cells, foreign substances, Tumors

Stress and Immune System Psycho-neuro-immun-ology (PNI) (Obj.15)   Stress diverts energy from our immune systems   Stress and Aids – Increase progression of HIV to AIDS   Stress and Cancer - Increase cancer’s progression

  Stress and Colds   People  with  the  highest  life  stress  scores  were  also  the  most  vulnerable   when  exposed  to  an  experimental  cold  virus.

Stress / Immune System   Conditioning the Immune System

Promoting Health

  Coping – Alleviating stress using emotional (feelings), cognitive (thinking) or behavioral (acting) methods   Perceived lack of control (External locus)   Increase (Internal locus) of control   Take control of your time

  Optimists feel more control over stressors than pessimists   There is a bright side, it’s not all bad & it will improve

  Social support = lower blood pressure   Tend and befriend

  Aerobic exercise = lower blood pressure   Exercise 3 days a week, start today!

  Biofeedback and mediation = lower blood pressure   Focus your thoughts in a positive direction

  Religious people = social support, hope and optimism   Bad things are not personal there is a greater plan

Life events Personal appraisal Challenge

Threat

Personality type Hostile Depressed Pessimistic

Easy going Nondepressed Optimistic Personality habits

Smoking Sedentary Poor nutrition

Nonsmoking Regular exercise Good nutrition

Level of social support Close, enduring

Lacking

Tendency toward Health

Illness

Health-promoting programs   Smoking   Who? = teens   Why? = social rewards “have friends that smoke”   Addiction to nicotine   Release of epinephrine and norepinephrine •  Suppress appetite & boost alertness

  Calms anxiety and reduce pain   Stimulates dopamine = reward