Chapter 4_1 flashcards
(27 cards)
Stress: Definition
A physical or psychological experience that disturbs comfort, threatens safety, or imperils life. [Text]
Eustress vs. Distress
Eustress: Stress that stimulates a person positively (e.g., job promotion). [Text] Distress: Stress that evokes negative feelings and adverse reactions. [Text]
Body’s Primal Physical Response to Stress
Excites nervous, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems, allowing quick reaction to emergent situations (increased heart rate, bronchodilation, hormone release, focused concentration, increased strength/agility). [Text]
Effects of Long-Term/Chronic Stress
Diminished immunity, increased risk of autoimmune disease, cancer, heart disease, depression. Linked to excess free radicals, oxidative cellular changes, mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere shortening. [Text]
Mind-Body Connection in Stress and Illness
Emotions and psychological conditions can cause biological responses leading to physical illness, and physiological disorders can influence mental state. [Text]
Selye’s Stress Response Theory: Key Components
Stressor (challenging demand), Adaptive ability (how individual manages stress), Homeostasis (condition of equilibrium). [Text]
Adaptive Ability: Definition
The way in which the individual manages the stress and reduces the stressor’s effect on their life. Effective adaptive ability allows an individual to maintain homeostasis. [Text]
Homeostasis: Definition
A condition of equilibrium when various physiological parameters (blood pressure, respirations, heart rate, oxygen tension, blood pH, blood glucose, body temperature, WBC count) are within narrow normal ranges. [Text] [cite: 5]
Coping Mechanisms: Definition
The emotional and behavioral responses used to manage threats to physiological and psychological homeostasis. Depend on perception and interpretation of the event. [Text]
Conditioning Factors Influencing Stress Reaction
Age, gender, genetic predisposition, preexisting health conditions, life experiences, developmental level, educational level, and social support. [Text]
Neuroendocrine and Immune Responses to Stress: Short-term vs. Long-term
Short-term: Protective activation of neurological, endocrine, and immune systems to cope with acute threat. [Text] Long-term: Prolonged activation has a negative effect, e.g., immunosuppression. [Text]
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) - Hans Selye: Overview
A coordinated, adaptive reaction to stress, regardless of the source, involving three stages: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion. [Text]
Fight-or-Flight Reaction (Walter Cannon): General Concept
A basic survival response to an acute, severe stressor that incites involuntary neuroendocrine physiological changes; effects are similar to Selye’s Alarm Stage. [Text]
McEwen’s Stress Response Theory: Allostasis - Definition
A dynamic state of balance that changes according to exposure to stressors (contrasts with homeostasis’s fixed set points). [Text]
McEwen’s Stress Response Theory: Allostatic Load - Definition
The wear and tear on body systems caused by stress reactions; cumulative, noxious effect of prolonged stress hormones and catecholamines. [Text]
Benefits of Exercise: General Overview (Objective)
Counteracts specific disorders, improves cardiovascular health, respiratory fitness, decreases chronic disease risk, strengthens bones, regulates blood sugar, enhances emotional well-being, increases longevity. [Text]
Basic Types of Exercise
Stretching and flexibility, aerobic fitness, muscular strength, and endurance. [Text]
Public Health Recommendation for Physical Activity
Moderate-intensity physical activity for 40 minutes 3 to 4 days per week. Alternate between flexibility, aerobic, and isometric exercise. [Text]
Systemic Complications of Sedentary Behavior and Immobility (Objective/General List - Box 4-5)
Atelectasis, bone demineralization, deconditioning of heart/muscles, decreased pulmonary ventilation, pressure ulcers, depression, constipation, disorientation, gait/balance disturbance, GERD, aspiration risk, orthostatic hypotension, contractures, kidney stones, muscle atrophy, urinary stasis/UTI, venous stasis/VTE. [Text]
Key Term: Immunosuppression
Diminished activity of WBCs (e.g., due to long-term cortisol secretion), leading to increased susceptibility to infection and other diseases. [Text]
Key Term: Natriuresis
Water loss from the body, can be a temporary natural diuretic effect in early bedrest due to body fluid volume redistribution and hormonal changes (inhibited ADH/aldosterone). [Text]
Key Term: Negative Nitrogen Balance
Occurs with immobility and muscle protein breakdown; loss of nitrogen-rich amino acids exceeds nitrogen intake. [Text]
Key Term: Orthostatic Hypotension
A drop in blood pressure upon attempting to resume an upright position after prolonged bedrest, causing dizziness or syncope due to delayed arterial vasoconstriction. [Text] [cite: 11]
Key Term: Pathological Fracture
A break in bone integrity caused by stress from a nontraumatic etiology, due to bone weakened by a preexisting condition (e.g., osteoporosis from immobility). [Text]
