Health & Well-Being Flashcards
(38 cards)
Social Context, Biology, and
Behavior Combine to Affect Health
Our relationships with others are also critical to health
- Many people find it easier to change behaviors linked with health when their family or romantic partner also changes with them
- The people around us powerfully shape our behavior because we learn from them, care what they think, and desire to live up to their expectations.
- Extends to our larger social groups
Cultural and Societal Influences…
- Beliefs and behaviors about health are determined by the norms and conditions of our cultures and communities.
- Societal factors such as how public environments are structured and how much money a country can dedicate to health care can affect health for the better or the worse.
Life Expectancy Increases with Healthy Activities
Causes of Mortality
In the United States people are now more likely to die from the following than from infectious diseases:
heart disease
cancer
strokes
lung disease accidents
All of these causes of death are at least partially
outcomes of lifestyle.
Daily habits such as poor nutrition, overeating, smoking, alcohol use, and lack of exercise contribute to nearly every major cause of death in developed nations.
Inequities in Societies Contribute to Health
Disparities Among Social Groups
Health Disparities: Differences in health outcomes
between groups of people.
Worldwide, large health disparities exist among different racial and ethnic groups.
According to the CDC, health disparities have been documented between White people and members of other ethnic groups in nearly every chronic disease and major illness.
Immigrant Paradox: Pattern among immigrant communities in which foreign‐born immigrants to the US have better health than people in later generations.
Inequities in Societies Contribute to Health
Disparities Among Social Groups
Although life expectancies have increased in the United States over the last four decades, African Americans continue to have a lower life expectancy than white Americans.
Inequities in Societies Contribute to Health Disparities Among Social Groups
Socioeconomic Status: Relative standing in society as a function of resources such as income, wealth, and education. People with lower socioeconomic status have worse health than
people with higher socioeconomic status, even when accounting
for access to health care.
This kind of disparity is known as the socioeconomic status health gradient.
Behaviors to Promote Wellness and Prevent Illness
A report released by the CDC in 2014 indicated that over a quarter of a million early deaths could be prevented each year if people made better health choices
Eat a healthy diet
Don’t start or quit smoking Engage in physical exercise
What is Stress?
CONDITION IN WHICH A STRONG EMOTIONAL RESPONSE OVERWHELMS A PERSON’S PERCEIVED ABILITY TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF A SITUATION
Different ways to view stress
`Stimulus view
- Focus on the situation that causes stress
Response view
- Focus on the physiological changes that occur when faced with a
challenging situation
Relational view
- Focus on relationship between people and the situation
Stress as a stimulus
Measuring stress in terms of life events Hassles and Uplifts Scale
Social Readjustment Rating Scale
Death of a spouse Divorce
…
Change in school Vacation
Christmas
College Undergraduate Stress Scale
Stress as a response
The way we respond to stress varies from person to person
Looking at stress as a response allows us to take into consideration the person’s reaction to a situation, as opposed to the situation alone.
Relationship between a person and the situation
What happens when we get stressed and how do we deal with it?
PHYSIOLOGY OF STRESS COPING MECHANISMS
Physiology of Stress
How we adapt to stress
Two processes by which the body achieves stability through physiological change
Homeostasis
A simple adjustment in physiological
state to compensate for the situation
Allostasis
Includes multiple homeostatic mechanisms
Physiology of Stress
Neuroendocrine system
Adrenal‐medullary system
Norepinephrine causes sympathetic response, increasing heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.
Hypothalamic‐pituitary‐ adrenal axis (HPA)
Cortisol circulates throughout the body and to various brain areas ‐the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala.
Sex Differences
in How We Respond to Stressors
Cannon’s fight‐or‐flight response
Increased heart rate, redistribution of blood to muscles and brain, deepening of respiration, dilation of the pupils, inhibition of gastric secretions, and increase in glucose released from the liver
-Researchers avoided using women in their studies
-Women & men often respond differently to stressors
Tend‐and‐befriend response
It is possible that the release of oxytocin during social stress
encourages women to affiliate with or befriend others (Taylor et al., 2010)
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Generalized, nonspecific set of changes in the body that occur during extreme stress
Stage 1: Alarm
Stage 2:
Resistance
Stage 3: Exhaustion
Burnout
A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion created by long‐term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation and accompanied by lowered performance and motivation.
Allostatic Load
Cumulative “wear & tear” on biological systems, including the stress, digestive, immune, cardiovascular, and hormonal systems, after repeated or chronic stressful events.
- Over time, these experiences can cause the systems to become “stuck” in certain states and less responsive to changing conditions in the world.
- One way of understanding why experiencing frequent stress in early life
is a risk factor for developing psychological disorders later in life
Emerging research also suggests that stress experienced by mothers may be passed along to their offspring through epigenetics (genetic changes due to environmental factors).
- Thus, highly stressful experiences can affect behavior across generations.
Effects of Stress and Coping on Health
Relationship Between Stress and Illness
Physiological reactivity model
Examines how sustained physiological activation associated with the stress response can affect body systems to increase illness
