Chapter 11: Stress and Health
Stress and Illness
Stress
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
Stress Appraisal
Stress comes from how we interpret or appraise events; not so much coming from the event itself.
Stressors can be both pleasant events and unpleasant events (feel stress from things that threaten or challenge us)
Stressful life events
Catasrophes
Significant Life changes
Daily hassles
Stress Response
Walter Cannon: in response to stress, the sympathetic nervous system activates the secretion of stress hormones, triggers increased heart rate and respiration, diverts blood to skeletal muscles, and releases sugar and fat from the body’s stores, all to prepare the body for either “fight or flight.
General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three stages
Stages of General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm Reaction----aware of presence of stressor. sympathetic nervous system is activated
Resistance---try to cope with stressor. With resources mobilized, we then fight the challenge during resistance.
Exhaustion----Persistent stress may eventually deplete body's resources. Ability to adapt to stressor declines to point where negative consequences of stress appear.
Stress and Illness
Psychophysiological Illness
“mind-body” illness
any stress-related physical illness
some forms of hypertension
some headaches
distinct from hypochondria— misinterpreting normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease
Stress and Immune system
Lymphocytes
two types of white blood cells that are part of the body’s immune system
Negative emotions and health-related consequences
Stress and Aids
Stress and cancer
Stress and the Heart
Coronary Heart Disease
clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle
leading cause of death in many developed countries
Type A
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people
Type B
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people
Catharsis
Experienced Emotion---Anger
Catharsis
emotional release
catharsis hypothesis: “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges
Pessimism/Optimism
Depression
Promoting Health
Coping with stress
Problem-Focused Forms of Coping - deals directly with the situation or causative factors to decrease or eliminate the problems. manage or change the stressor
Emotion-Focused Forms of Coping - emotional or cognitive strategies that change how we view stressful situations, such as reappraising or reinterpreting situation, and the use of defense mechanisms. Used when problem is out of our control.
Personal Control
Perceived Control
Rats that experience uncontrollable shock are more susceptible to ulcers and experience a lowered immunity to disease--- animal and human studies show that loss of control provokes an outpouring of stress hormones that can contribute to health problems.
Learned helplessness
Internal and External locus of control
Explanatory style Pessimism Optimism (again)
Optimism
use external, unstable, & specific explanations for negative events
predicts better health outcomes
Pessimism
use internal, stable, & global explanations for negative events
predicts worse health outcomes
Pessimism also influences stress vulnerability. Optimists report less fatigue, have fewer aches and pains, and respond to stress with smaller increases in blood pressure. Optimists outlive pessimists.
Social support helps people cope, partly by buffering the impact of stress.
Improves ability to cope with stress & benefits health
Managing Stress
Strategies for coping with stress:
Studies suggest that aerobic exercise can reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.
Aerobic exercise can reduce stress, depression, & anxiety
Relaxation, meditation can lower blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption
Modifying Type A life-style can reduce recurrence of heart attacks
Faith communities and Health
Spirituality
The religion factor is multidimensional
Happiness
Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood
Positive Psychology—new subfield in Psychology
Studies human flourishing
Includes: Subjective Well-Being
self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life
used along with measures of objective well-being
physical and economic indicators to evaluate people’s quality of life
Areas in positive psychology that are being studied
Positive emotions
Positive health
Positive neuroscience
Positive education
Pillars of positive psychology
Positive well-being—satisfaction with past, happiness with present and optimism about future
Positive character—exploring and enhancing creativity, courage, compassion, integrity, self-control, leadership, wisdom and spirituality
Positive groups, communities and cultures—foster a positive social world, family schools, etc
Factors that affect well-being
Moods across the day. Emotional ups and downs—tend to balance out in each of us over time
“Overestimate the duration of our emotions and underestimate resiliency”
Wealth and well-being
Does money buy happiness?
Values and life satisfaction
Happiness and prior experience
Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
tendency to form judgments relative to a “neutral” level
defined by our prior experience
Relative Deprivation
perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself
Predictors of Happiness levels
Happiness is...