Week 3: Eating & Exercise

Question 1

Explain how our diet can have an indirect and direct link with illness

Answer 1

Fat intake is directly linked to various forms of heart disease by range of psychological mechanisms

Fat intake is indirectly related to disease by virtue of its affects on weight control and obesity

Question 2

How many deaths does the world health organisation say is caused by a low intake of fruit and vegetables

Answer 2

Over 3 million deaths a year worldwide by increasing the risk of contracting certain forms of cancer or cardiovascular disease

Question 3

How are eating disorders associated with illness onset

Answer 3

They are associated with physical problems such as heart irregularities heart attacks stunted growth osteoporosis and reproductive problems

Question 4

What illnesses is obesity associated with

Answer 4

Diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer

Question 5

How does diet play a role in treating illnesses once the person is diagnosed

Answer 5

Obese people are mainly managed through diet based interventions

Patients diagnosed with angina, heart disease or following a heart attack also also recommended to change your lifestyle with particular emphasis on stopping smoking, increasing their physical activity and adopting a healthy diet

Diet changes are central to the management of both type one and type to diabetes often in a sense of weight loss

Question 6

When someone has diabetes how much weight loss has been shown to result in improved glucose metabolism

Answer 6

Just a 10% decrease in weight has been shown to do this

Question 7

In developing countries why is under eating in children significantly important

Answer 7

It results in physical and cognitive problems as well as a poor resistance to illness

Question 8

What is wrong with the typical child diet in the western world

Answer 8

It does not match the recommendations for a healthy diet and children have been shown to eat too much fat and not enough fruit or vegetables

Question 9

Do Australians meet the minimum recommended service for the five major food groups

Answer 9

No they do not

Less than 4% consume enough vegetables and legumes or beans each day

Question 10

How many people in Australia meet the guidelines for dairy products

Answer 10

Only one in 10 meet the guidelines

Question 11

How many Australians consume the minimum number of serves of lean meats and alternatives per day

Answer 11

One in seven people

Question 12

In 1/3 of the population where does the total daily energy intake come from

Answer 12

It comes from energy dense but nutrient poor discretionary foods such as sweetened drinks alcohol cakes confectionery and pastries

Question 13

What percentage of Australians are overweight or obese

Answer 13

63.4% of Australian adults

Two in every three people are overweight

Question 14

How many Australians experience hypertension

Answer 14

2.6 million people or 11. 3%

Question 15

What is a 3 key models of eating behaviour

Answer 15

Cognition models, developmental model, the weight concern model

Question 16

Explain some of the research for the cognitive model of eating behaviour?

Answer 16

Has explored the role of specific cognitions in predicting intentions to consume specific foods.

They suggest that behavioural intentions are not particularly good predictors of behaviour but they highlight the importance of past behaviour and habit in predicting eating behaviour

has also pointed out the role of perceived behavioural control in predicting behaviour particularly in relation to healthy eating

Question 17

What is the role of distraction in cognitive models of eating?

Answer 17

When we are distracted we are disconnecting our brains from the internal signals that mediate satiety
For example watching television increases food intake it may disrupt the link between food intake and the reductions in the desire to eat

Question 18

What is the role of memory in cognitive models of eating?

Answer 18

Reminding participants of recent meals makes the memories of these meals more vivid which intern suppresses subsequent food intake

Question 19

What is mindless eating?

Answer 19

Refers to how environmental or otherwise unconscious cues influence what and how much we eat

Question 20

Explain the developmental model of eating behaviour

Answer 20

Highlights the importance of learning experience experience and focuses on the development of food preferences in childhood

Question 21

What three factors influence or can explain the development of food preferences

Answer 21

Exposure, social learning, associative learning

Question 22

Explain how exposure contributes to the development of food preferences

Answer 22

Humans normally show fear and avoidance of novel food - neophobia

Children typically show these responses to food but must come to accept and eat foods that may originally appear as threatening research has shown that exposure to novel foods can change preferences this is an adaptive mechanism

Question 23

What has research found regarding food preference modification through reward and exposure?

Answer 23

There were two groups of children
One group was repeatedly exposed to new foods
The other group were told that they could choose a sticker if they ate one piece of the food

What they found was that exposure was more effective than reward

Question 24

How does social learning relate to food preference development

Answer 24

Social learning describes the impact of observing other people‘s behaviour

For example parental behaviour and attitudes are central to the process with research highlighting a positive association between parents and children’s diets eg. children are more likely to eat a proper breakfast if their parents do

Media advertising promotes unhealthy foods and this can have a great impact on children. Studies have shown that obese children recognise more of the junk food adverts the children who are not

Question 25

How does associative learning relate to food preference development

Answer 25

Behaviour can be influenced by its consequences consciously or unconsciously
Associative learning refers to the impact of contingent factors on behaviour. Eg. food can be paired with specific places, times of day, people etc these positive associations between stimuli and eating can change what and when people eat

Negative associations are also possible. Eg. Conditioned taste aversion is a form of associative learning in this case the animal learns to associate the novel taste of a new food with subsequent illness

Question 26

How can food be used as a reward

Answer 26

Gaining access to food is contingent upon another behaviour as in if you’re well-behaved you can have a biscuit or a piece of fruit

Research shows that food acceptance increases if the foods are presented as a reward
Healthy food charts can be helpful for parents to encourage picky eaters this gives children visual proof that parents are pleased with them and an incentive to work towards

Question 27

What is the weight concern model of eating behaviour

Answer 27

Food can change the bodies weight and shape this is associated with self perceptions of attractiveness, control and success. We want to look good, be in shape and what we eat influences this.

Many people show weight concern in the form of body dissatisfaction which often results in dieting this changes eating behaviour

Question 28

What happens if subjects are shown a whole body silhouette of varying sizes and asked to indicate which one is closest to how they look and how they want to look

Answer 28

There is a discrepancy between perceptions of reality and the ideal it has been consistently shown that most girls and women would like to be thinner than they are and most males would like to be either the same or larger

Question 29

Explain the role media has to play in body dissatisfaction

Answer 29

There are representations of thin women in the media or misrepresentations magazines, newspapers, television, films and even novels predominantly use images of thin women and so we are led to believe that this is the norm which is very dangerous

Question 30

Explain the findings of the study looking at the influence of media and dieting

Answer 30

Research shows there is an association between the frequency of reading popular magazines and the importance placed on the images used in such magazines, and factors such as body dissatisfaction, drive for fitness and pathological eating this is particularly true in adolescent girls

This social pressure influences eating behaviour the most common consequence being dieting

Question 31

What does sedentary lifestyle put you at an increased risk of

Answer 31

Cardiovascular and coronary heart disease, type to diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity and some forms of cancer

Question 32

What is exercise

Answer 32

Exercise is used to refer to planned or structured discrete episodes of activity

Question 33

What is physical activity

Answer 33

It describes all levels of non-sedentary behaviour that results in energy expenditure

Question 34

What are the physical benefits of exercise on longevity

Answer 34

Increases longevity: can increase lifespan (roughly 2 years) regardless of weight class

Much of the mortality benefit (31%reduction) is obtained by doing the bare minimum to meet the minimum recommended levels of physical activity

Question 35

What are the beneficial effects of exercise on physiology?

Answer 35

Enhances the function of circulatory and respiratory systems as well as skeletal/muscle function

Also seems to prevent many physical illness (chronic as well)

Question 36

Effects of exercise on the body’s defence systems

Answer 36

Immune responses can undergo acute and chronic changes during intense exercise.

Infection risk across sedentary, moderate exercise and overtraining can be described as a j-shaped curve. Moderate exercise improves the immune response but it appears that people are more prone to bacterial and viral infections following intense training

Question 37

What is exercise used to treat?

Answer 37

Used to manage obesity

Treat other health problems such as back pain, injury, constipation, headaches and diabetes.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Question 38

How does exercise influence self perceptions of health status?

Answer 38

Research showed that participants who engaged in physical activity rated their health status higher than those who didn’t suggesting that exercise influences self-perceptions of health status

Question 39

Explain the effects of exercise on brain plasticity

Answer 39

The brain can change, adapt and modify itself. It is almost like a muscle

Neuroplasticity: changes in response to environment

Question 40

What are the two kinds of brain plasticity

Answer 40

Functional plasticity: the brains ability to move functions from a damaged area of the brain to other in damaged areas

Structural plasticity: the brains ability to actually change its physical structure as a result of experience and learning

Question 41

What is the name of the proteins that play a role in neuroplasticity? And what do they mainly do?

Answer 41

Neurotrophic factors

They stimulate the growth of specific tissues & regulate various cellular processes

Question 42

How are neurotrophic factors and exercise related?

Answer 42

Exercise increases the production of neurotrophic factors such as (BDNF: brain derived neurotrophic factors) that mediate improvements in cognitive function and memory by promoting blood vessel formation in the brain, neurogenesis and neuroplasticity

Question 43

How does regular exercise affect gray matter volume?

Answer 43

Neuroimaging studies indicate that regular exercise increases gray matter volume in all regions of the brain. Including:

• Prefrontal cortex: executive function
• Nucleus accumbens: incentives & positive reinforcement and learning
• Hippocampus: memory
• Cerebellum: motor learning and coordination

Question 44

Explain the improvements in psychological well being from exercise

Answer 44

May improve depression, negative mood, responses to stress, ADHD, addiction

Question 45

How does exercise improve psychological well-being

Answer 45

May induce release of natural opiates, producing a natural high acting as a pain killer and reducing the stress hormone cortisol

Stimulates the release of catecholamines such as noradrenaline and adrenaline which counter any stress and enhance mood

Muscle relaxation which can reduce feelings of tension

Question 46

Explain cortisol

Answer 46

The stress hormone, cortisol, bonds to glucocorticoid receptors

Psychological stress induces the release of cortisol from the adrenal gland by activating the HPA axis

Takes part in flight or fight response

Question 47

What does prolonged exposure to cortisol cause

Answer 47

Cognitive function impairments and can have neurotoxic effects in brain.

Question 48

Explain the relationship between cortisol and exercise?

Answer 48

Exercise is a physical stressor that stimulates cortisol secretion in an intensity dependent manner. This does not result in long-term increases in cortisol production since this exercise induced effect on cortisol is a response to transient energy imbalances and is quickly bought back to normal levels

Exercise reduces the HPA axis reactivity and therefore reduces the biological response to psychological stress in humans

Question 49

Exercise and ADHD?

Answer 49

Kids who took part in a regular physical activity program showed significant enhancement In inhibitory control and allocation of attentional resources

Question 50

Exercise and addiction?

Answer 50

Studies showing the effects of aerobic exercise on cocaine self administration in male and female rats found that sedentary rodents self administered cocaine and this decreased following exercise

Exercise may help to manage craving

Question 51

Explain decisional balance?

Answer 51

An assessment of the pros and cons of the exercise behaviour.

Helps to move across the SOC stages. Precontemplators provided more con reasons while the maintainers provided more pro reasons

It was concluded that one reason why people do not exercise is that they cannot think of good reasons to do so