Rest of the notes Stress and Health

Prolonged Stress Your telomeres are pieces DNA at the end of your chromosome. They start getting shorter Too short the cells dies. 2

Coping with Stress Reducing stress by changing events that cause stress or by changing how we react to stress is called problem-focused coping. 3 Emotion-focused coping is when we cannot change a stressful situation, and we respond by attending to our own emotional needs.

Coping Tend and Befriend – under stress, people, (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend). 4

Stress and Illness 1. Psychophysiological illness - Literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension (high blood pressure) and some headaches. 2. Psychoneuroimmunology – the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health. 5

Stress, Illness, and the Immune System B lymphocytes fight bacterial infections T lymphocytes attack cancer cells and viruses Microphages ingest foreign substances. During stress, energy is mobilized away from the immune system making it vulnerable. 6 Lennart Nilsson/ Boehringer Ingelhein International GmbH

Stress and Colds People with the highest life stress scores were also the most vulnerable when exposed to an experimental cold virus. 7

Stress and Illness Adaptive stress - in a fearful or stress- causing situation, we can run away and save our lives. Maladaptive stress - if it is prolonged (chronic stress), it increases our risk of illness and health problems. 8

Stress and Causes of Death Prolonged stress combined with unhealthy behaviors may increase our risk for one of today's four leading diseases. 9

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Stress and Aids Stress does not give you AIDS If one has AIDS and experiences stressful events, the disease can progress in the person faster. 11 Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”

Stress and Cancer Stress does not create cancer cells. Researchers disagree on whether stress influences the progression of cancer. However, they do agree that avoiding stress and having a hopeful attitude cannot reverse advanced cancer. 12

Stress and the Heart Stress that leads to elevated blood pressure may result in Coronary Heart Disease, a clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle. 13 Plaque in coronary artery Artery clogged

Stress and the Heart Types of Personalities Type A Feel time pressure. Easily angered. Competitive and ambitious. Work hard and play hard. More prone to heart disease than rest of population. Type B Relaxed and easygoing. But some people fit in neither type.

Pessimism and Heart Disease Pessimistic adult men are twice as likely to develop heart disease over a 10-year period (Kubzansky et al., 2001). 15

Depression and Heart disease E. Abel and M. Kruger Smile intensity in photographs predicts longevity. Out of 150 Baseball players who didn’t smile died on average 7 years earlier than the smilers. 16

Health Psychology 17 Health psychology is a field of psychology that contributes to behavioral medicine. The field studies stress-related aspects of disease and asks the following questions: 1.How do emotions and personality factors influence the risk of disease? 2.What attitudes and behaviors prevent illness and promote health and well-being? 3.How do our perceptions determine stress? 4.How can we reduce or control stress?

Explanatory Style People with an optimistic (instead of pessimistic) explanatory style tend to have more control over stressors, cope better with stressful events, have better moods, and have a stronger immune system. 18