Stress and Illness Flashcards
(38 cards)
Stress
Presence of a significant physiological or psychological threat resulting in an acute or persistent strain on the body’s compensatory system. Alarm reaction in response to a stressor.
Homeostasis
Termed by Walter Cannon. Collective processes that maintain an internal equillibrium. Behaviors and emotions act in concert with autonomic and endocrine regulation to maintain homeostasis
Allostasis
Activity required for the individual to maintain stability through change to adapt. Adaptive reactions may require integration of autonomic, endocrine, and behavioral response systems
Episodic Stress
Repeated episodes, but goes away. Comes and goes
Acute Stress
Short term, goes away.
Chronic Stress
Stress that is continuous and does not go away. Adaptation continues, leads to exhaustion phase
Physiological Stress
Exs: Cold, heat infection, injury. Use bottom up processes (signals from body reach brainstem and hypothalamus to evoke responses in order to maintain homeostasis).
Psychological stress
Provoke responses using “top-down” mechanisms- originate as thoughts or learned behaviors in higher structures of the brain. Affect the hypothalamic and brainstem mechanisms involved in control of the same regulatory systems that maintain homeostasis in response to physical threats. The most severe psychological stressors accompany fear of potential physical harm and concomitant feelings of helplessness.
Bottom-up processes
Starts in local tissue of physiological stress, progresses to spinal cord –> brainstem –> hypothalamus/limbic system & PFC. Top regulatory levels responsible for responsible for shaping behavioral/emotional aspects of the stress response.
Hypothalamus
Regulates autonomic output at the level of the brainstem as well as endocrine and motor functions. Critical for maintaining homeostasis during periods of increased physical demand. Involved in responses to threats that call for elaborate physiological and behavioral responses that are beyond basic reflexes.
Cortex and Limic System response to physiological stressor
responsible for shaping the behavioral and emotional aspects of the stress response that is dependent on activation of visual, auditory, olfactory and motor systems
Stress Responses
Compensatory response that deviate from the “normal” range. Considered extensions of normal physiological regulation that sustain life. Stress responses protect living things against severe threats (stressors)
Cortisol Response/Release
Associated with negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, and physical/mental distress. Elevated cortisol helps keep stress responses under control; hallmark of stress.
Adaptation
“Regression to mean”. Exposure to stressor over time decreases peak cortisol release in response to stressor
Low Stress
Low performance, low health (unadapted), Diseases of underuse
Optimum Stress
High performance, high health rating (Stress is a good thing!)
High stress
Low performance, low health (breakdown), diseases of overuse
Role of ANS in Stress
Studied first by Walter Cannon. Nerves from each branch (SNS/PNS) innervate many of the same organs/areas of the body, but effects are opposite.
Sympathetic
Fight or Flight
Parasympathetic
Rest and restoration/assimilation
General Adaptive Syndrome
Hans Seyle. Profile of how organisms response to stress. Alarm stage –> Resistance –> Exhaustion
Alarm Stage (General Adaptation Syndrome)
1) Shock phase; body endures a stressor and resistance to stressor drops temporarily. 2) Antishock phase: Body starts to respond and is in a state of alarm –> sympathetic nervous system is activated (release of norepinephrine, cortisol)
Resistance Stage (General Adaptation Syndrome)
Coping with the threat. Increase in systemic glucocorticoid levels –> increased [glucose, fat, protein] in blood. A need for adaptation to persistent stressor –> body’s resources gradually become depleted
Exhaustion Stage (General Adaptation Syndrome)
If exhaustion is extended, long term damages of stress will result (ulcers, the beetus, angina pectorus, depression). Recovery or restoration of homeostasis may follow when compensatory mechanisms overcome the stressor effect.
