#16 HEALTH & STRESS 1

• Stress - it occurs a situation overwhelms a person's perceived ability to meet the demands of that situation.
• We evaluate our experience of stressful situations and attempt to cope with the challenges they pose
• Stress - something that happen to us, as situations that push us to the limit or threaten our safety or well-being.
• Stress - relentless onslaught of difficulties.
• Stressors - events that push us to the limit or exceed our ability to manage the situation at hand
• Stimulus view of stress - is the focus on the situation that cause stress. Some events demand an overwhelming amount of our energy and time.
• Response view of stress - focuses on the physiological changes that occur when someone encounters an excessively challenging situation
• Relational view of stress - defines stress as a particular relationship between people and the situations in which they find themselves.
• How stressful a situation is for you, depends on what the situation means to you.
• Psychologists measure stress a stimulus by quantifying the number of stressors a person experiences during a given period.
• Two major categories of stressors are;

  1. Major life events
  2. Daily hadsles
• SRRS - Social Readjustment Rating Scale
• SRRS - developed by Holmes and Rahe(1967)
• SRRS - it is an instrument thaat quantifies stress in terms of major life changes. 


  The higher the value, the greater the stress associated with the event.
• Lazarus and Folkman ( 1984) - argued that it is misleading to examine stress solely in terms of situations that may call it forth. 


  We have to look at the person in relation to the situation.
• Primary Appraisal - is an assessment of what a situation means to us.
• Primary Appraisal - determines whether an emotional response might occur. 


  If we appraise it as contrary to our well-being, we feel a negative emotion, which might cause stress. If we appraise it as consistent with our well being, we feel a positive emotion.
• Secondary Appraisal - we try to figure out what to do about that situation, how to resolve it, or how to make the unpleasant feeling it creates, go away.
• Autonomic Nervous System plays a crucial role in the stress response.
• Neuroendocrine System - it regulates the hormonal systems involved in emotions and stress


  The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands are the key structures in the neuroendocrine regulation of stress responses.
• Hypothalamus - links the nervous system to parts of the endocrine system relevant to emotions and stress.
• Hypothalamic neurons - release chemicals that stimulates the release of hormones from pituitary gland.
• The pituitary gland releases hormones that play a key role ij the stress response.
• The adrenal glands release several stress- related hormones;

  Catecholamines - controls the ANS activation.

  Glucocorticoids - maintains the activation of physiological systems during emergencies.
• Two major neuroendocrine patnways;

  1. Adrenal-medullary system
  2. Hypothalamus -pituitary-adrenal axis
• Adrenal-medullary system - hypothalamus sends instructions to the brain stem to activate sympathetic neurons and sympathetic neurons tells the adrenal gland to release the important catecholamine, norepinephrine. 


  Norepinephrine - activates the sympathetic response, increasing heart rate, rate of respiration, and the blood pressure to make the body ready for action.
• HPA Axis - hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing hormone(CRH) which simulates the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone(ACTH) then the ACTH stimulates the cortex of the adrenal gland to release cortisol


  When the level of cortisol in the blood adequately meets the body's metabolic needs, the hypothalamus stops releasing CRH, reducing the release of cortisol.
• Cortisol - major glucocorticoid produced in humans.


  - commonly known as "stress hormones"
• Cortisol helps the breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones to release energy, ensuring that more glucose is available for fuel in the bloodstream
• Cortisol also regulated the immune system by reducing number of immune cells in the bloodstream.
• GAS - General Adaptation Syndrome
• GAS was proposed by Hans Selye, an Austrian psychologist in 1945
• GAS - three stage model to describe the changes in physiology that occur during exposure to severe stressors


  Attempts to adapt to overwhelming stressors cause the body to wear down and eventually get sick.
• GAS - describes the general pattern of responses to prolonged exposure to stress.
• ALARM STAGE - body's emergency response to a threat


  -mobilizes the body's resources to act via the effects of AMA
• RESISTANCE STAGE - implies that the organism tries to manage the threat.
• EXHAUSTION STAGE - resources for fighting off threats have been depleted and illness becomes. much more likely.
• Stress - deviation from balance
• Recovery from stress occurs when all systems return to normal
• Homeostasis - the idea that, unless we are provoked by something, we are humming along at an event -keeled baseline state. 


  -implies that just one system in the body struggles to return to baseline at a time