Role of Stress in Illness

Question 1

The immune system

Answer 1

. Keeps a record of every microbe defeated - recognise and destroy it quickly if enters body again
. Main parts = white blood cells, antibodies

Question 2

Innate and adaptive immunity

Answer 2

Innate = defence system born with. Involves barriers that keep harmful materials from entering body
^ cell bodies like white blood cells and natural killer (NK)

Adaptive = develops when persons immune system responds to foreign microorganism or person receives antibodies from another source
^ involves lymphocytes that destroy specific antigens including B - cells
^ several types of T cells which are responsible for recognising antigens and killing them

Question 3

Immunosuppression

Answer 3

Immune system not functioning as well as it should
- stress directly leading to immunosuppression = cortisol stops the production of immune cells
- stress indirectly leading to immunosuppression = stress leads to lifestyle changes such as drinking and sleeping patterns

Question 4

Research Support (Exams)

Answer 4

. 75 medical students gave blood samples
. Twice 1 month before (low stress) and day of first exam (high stress)
^ questionnaires measuring sources of stress and self reported symptoms

Researchers found activity of NK and killer T cells decreased between 1st and 2nd samples

Question 5

Research Support (caregivers)

Answer 5

. Compared health and immune functioning of 2 groups of people = caregiver looking after relative with alzheimers and matched control group of non - caregivers
. Found carers reported higher susceptability towards a virus and had this illness for significantly more days

Question 6

Cardiovascular Disorders

Answer 6

. Stress can have an immediate and long term effects on CD’s

Question 7

Research Support (CVD’s)

Answer 7

. Looked at heart attacks during football matches in 2006 world cup
. On days Germany played, cardiac emergencies increased by 2.66x
. Accute emotional stress of watching fav football team can double the risk of suffering a CD

Question 8

Research Support (chronic stressors)

Answer 8

. Examined stressors in 32 countries - identify major risk factors for CVD’s
. Compared 15,000 people who had a heart attack with similar amount of people who hadn’t
. Workplace stress and stressful life events had strong links to heart attacks

Question 9

Evaluation - Immunosuppression and cancer (W)

Answer 9

. Development of certain cancers (cervical) is known to be affected by immune functioning
. Studied HIV positive women who experience many stressors in their lives and found that they were more likely 1yr later to develop pre - cancerous lesions in cervix
^ not yet fully understood

COUNTER ARGUMENT = opened door for more research to be conducted

Question 10

Evaluation - Indirect vs Direct effects (W)

Answer 10

. Evidence for stress as indirect precipitating factor in CVD’s is much stronger
. Women with CVD’s with marital conflict created stress that tripled the risk of a heart attack
^ really hard to study stress directly as there will always be extraneous variables that are different for each person
Stress = cumulative effect

Question 11

Evaluation - Real life application (S)

Answer 11

. E.g: Darbar’s research may eventually lead to patients given low doses of stress hormones before surgery to improve chances of making a full and fast recovery afterwards