Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Physiology of stress
- sympathomedullary
pathway
- controls how the body initially responds to an acute
stressor - triggers the sympathetic nervous system
- Short term response - fight or flight
- triggers the fight or flight response including the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline which
communicate with target organs in the body such as the heart.
- The hypothalamus also activates the adrenal medulla. The adrenal
medulla is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
- adrenaline and nordrenaline targrts the heart
- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system
- controls how the body responds to a chronic stressor
- The stressor activates the Hypothalamic Pituitary
gland
- The pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
- ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to produce the hormone
cortisol
- General Adaption Syndrome
- Selyes
- Selyes model was based on his observations working with human patients - selye noticed they all
shared a common set of symptoms; aches and pains, loss of appetite.
- This was also done with rats, no matter what noxious substance they were injected with they
produced similar responses
- 3 stages
- alarm stage
- activates its fight or flight response system, and releases
the “stress” hormones such as adrenaline,
noradrenaline and cortisol.
- resistance stage
- After the body has responded to the stressor, it is more likely that the
stress level has been eradicated, or simply reduced. What happens
next to the fight or flight response is that you body’s defences become
weaker, as it needs to allocate energy to the repair of damaged
muscle tissues and lower the production of the stress hormones.
- exhaustion stage
- During this phase, the stress has been persistent for
a longer period. The body starts to lose its ability to
combat the stressors and reduce their harmful
impact because the adaptive energy is all drained
out. The exhaustion stage can be referred to as the
gate towards burnout or stress overload, which can
lead to health problems if not resolved immediately.
- However more recent research shows that many resources (sugar,
neurotransmitters, hormones and proteins) do not become depleted even
under extreme stress. the current view is that the exhaustion phase in
associated with increased hormone activity, such as cortisol, and it is this
rather than the depletion of resources that leads to stress-related illness
- Key words
- cortisol
- General adaption syndrome
- Hypothalamic-pituitary-system
- sympathomedullary pathway
- acute
- chronic
- Immunosuppression
- is when stress can cause illness by preventing the immune system from working effciently and
carrying out it’s usual task of identifying and desroying pathogens
- is the body's response to long term stress
- the body's immediate response
- regulates short term stress
- regiuates long term stress
- a 3-stage set of physiological processes which prepare, or adapt, the body for
danger.
- is an important hormone produced by the adrenal cortex . it helps the body to cope with stressors by
controlling how the body uses energy. Cortisol suprreses immune system activity.
- evaluation of the physiology of stress
- There is a male bias in biological research
- female responds with fight or
flight this creates a risk for her
children because it leaves
them vulnerable
- More adaptive in females is the tend and befriend
- The assumption fight or flight is a valid
explanation of the stress response in all humans
is a reflection of bias towards male physiology.
- Physiological factors are ignored
- physiological accounts on the
stress response ignore
psychological factors such as
cognitive appraisal. Richard
Lazarus (1999) argues that we
make appraisals of a stressor by
actively working out if it is a
threat (primary appraisal) and
whether we have the resources
to cope with it (secondary
appraisal)
- Speismen at al
- asked students to watch a primitive
and gruesome medical procedure on
film whilst their heart rates were
monitored.
- If they believed the
procedure to be traumatic,
their heart rates increased,
- voluntary and joyful rite of
passage, their heart rates
decreased
- It shows that humans are not as passive in the face of
stressors as physiological theories assume.
- There are real life benefits
- Addison disease is a rare disorder of
the adrenal glands, in which sufferers
cannot produce cortisol
- mental confusion, abnormal heart
rhythm and a catastrophic drop in
blood pressure.
- Patients can lead relatively normal lives
- The physiological response
- acute stress
- fight or flight
- sympathetic arousal
- when a stressor is threatening, symapthetic branch is
activated by the hypothalamus, connect brain with
organs including heart and adrenal glands
- Adrenal medulla
- ... and adrenal cortex (surround medulla)- release hormone
- adrenaline and noradrenaline
- heart beats faster, muscle tense and
the liver converts stored glycogen
into glucose for energy
- End of response
- Chronic stress
- activated by the HPA which takes loner than the SAM, lasts longer
- when activated, it sends a signal to the symapthetic
ns and produces corticotropin releasing factor
- causes the release of ACTH