Chapter 6
STRESS AND HEALTH
Section 1: Effects of Stress

What is Stress?

Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events
that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Health psychology- a subfield that focuses on how stress affects our well
being and our health.

Stress comes into two types:

Distress is stressed perceived as being negative.

Eustress is stress perceived as being positive.
Responding to Stress

If you see the stressor as a threat, you’re more likely to
panic and freeze up, making it more difficult to solve
your problem.
 If you view it as a challenge, your response will be
focused, and you’re more likely to overcome the
obstacle.
 How do you often view your stressors? Threat or
Challenge.
G.A.S General Adaption Syndrome

Walter Canon was an American psychologist who concluded that physiological and
emotional experiences occur simultaneously.

Hans Selye- researched a recurring response to stress that he called the general
adaption syndrome.

General Adaption Syndrome- Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress
in three stages---alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

Three Stages of G.A.S.

1st-alarm reaction- nervous system is activated.

2nd resistance- stress-related hormones, keep your respiration, temperature. Blood
pressure high.

3rd exhaustion- greater susceptibility to illness and under circumstances, death.
Find a friend!
 Using
your electronic devices answer the
following with a partner
 What
specific health problems are positively
correlated with prolonged stress?
 What
specific hormones are related to stress?
 What
other health factors and habits
complicate stress-related health problems?
 How
can people reduce stress naturally?
Stressful Events
 Burnout-
physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion
brought on by persistent job related stress.
 Results
of burnout: depression, decreased
performance or productivity, and cynicism ( from the
mental exhaustion.)
 When
was the last time you where burned out? How
did it affect your overall heatlh?
Promoting Wellnesss
What is wellness?
What
are 5 words that you
believe describes wellness?
Using those words, write a
definition for wellness.
Wellness
 Wellness
is the common result of a healthy
lifestyle and healthy attitudes.
 Martin Seligman- American psychologist &
proponent of positive psychology.
Healthy lifestyles

June of 2002, President Bush asked all Americans to exercise 30
minutes a day. He wanted to improve health of U.S. citizens
and save millions of dollars in lost productivity on the job.

Do you exercise regularly?

If so you are apart of a minority of Americans.

There are benefits to aerobic exercise, such as increased lung
and heart fitness, are well documented.

Several studies suggest exercise is an effective, nonmedical
means of reducing anxiety & depression.
How does exercise makes us feel
better?
 Increases
the output of mood boosting chemicals your
nervous system produces.
 Enhances
your cognitive abilities, such as memory, to
some degree.
 Lowers
 Has
your blood pressure
side effects such as better sleep, that provide
emotional benefit.
With your neighbor, describe your exercise
habits. Why are you maintaining your current
level of activity? What would you change
about your exercise habits?
Family and Friends
 Does
social support make a difference in our health and
well-being?
 Joy
and Strife- our family members sometimes bring stress,
but they also bring us support and happiness.
 People
with more social ties are less likely to die
prematurely.
 Children
who grew up with parents who did not divorce
outlived children of divorce by 4 years.
 Stress
is unavoidable, but the support provided by family,
friends, and support groups provides a buffer against the ill
effects of stress.
The Faith Factor
What is the “faith factor,” how does
it relate to wellness?

Do religion and spirituality relate to health?

Poll showed 80% of Americans believe they do.

Researchers found that people who did not attend religious
services were 1.87 times more likely to have died than those who
did attend services weekly.

Three factors contributed to better health.

The beliefs of the religiously active often promote healthier
lifestyles.

Attending religious services is a communal, not a solo, experience.

Religiously active people often experience less anxiety and stress.
Talk with someone
How
would you describe the
quality of your religious or spiritual
life? How often do you attend
religious or spiritual services per
week? What would you change
about your religious habits?
Positive Experiences and Wellbeing

Positive Psychology- focuses on the study of optimal human functioning and
the factors that allow individuals and communities to thrive.

Flow- a challenge requiring skill, clear goals, and feedback can become a
“flow” activity.

Ex. Playing a sport or activity that is a real challenge.

Happiness

Researcher found that happy people tend to have high self-esteem,
optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable, close friendships or marriages, have work
and leisure that engage their skills, meaningful religious faith, sleep well and
exercise.
Optimism

Optimism is the belief that bad events are temporary, not your fault, and will
not have effects beyond the present circumstances.

Pessimism is the opposite of optimism---the tendency to expect the worst.

Explanatory style- The habits we have for thinking about the good or bad
causes of events.

Do teen in your school typically make pessimistic or optimistic attributions?
Why?

How can one learn to be less pessimistic and more optimistic?
Overcoming Illness-Related
Behaviors

Smoking

Why is smoking so dangerous, and why is it so hard to give up?

If you start smoking in your teens and never quit, you have a 50% chance of dying a
premature and agonizing death from your addictive habit.

Smoking is bad for your heart and lungs.

Have high rates of depression and divorce, lose 12 minutes of your life every cigarette.
 Math
problem: if a person smokes every day for 20 years how much
time would they have lost off their lives?

Three times more likely than non smokers to drink alcohol.

17 times more likely than nonsmokers to smoke marijuana
So why don’t teenage smokers throw
their cigarettes when they learn these
facts?

Nicotine- behavioral stimulant found in tobacco.

This is more addictive than cocaine or heroin!

1 out 3 who try cigarettes get hooked!

Withdrawal-The discomfort and distress that follows discontinuing
the use of an addictive drug.

How to quit

Set a quit date, inform family and friends, get rid of all cigarettes,
review things you learned, be totally abstinent, avoid alcohol,
avoid places where there is smoking.
Obesity

Obesity’s health risks are not as clear-cut as those connected to smoking.

Body mass index (BMI) your weight in kilograms (pounds times .45) divided by
your squared height in meters (inches divided by 39.4). U.S. gov’t encourages
BMI under 25.

If your BMI is over 30, a person is considered obese.

Find your BMI

Why is it so hard to lose weight?

Energy is equivalent of a pound of fat is 3500 calories.

To understand weight lost, you have to know about fat cells, set point, and
metabolism.

The average adult has 30 million fat cells. Once fat cells reach a limit, they
divide and make more.
Set point- The point at which an individual’s “weight thermostat” is supposedly set.
 When the body falls below weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may act
to restore the lost weight.
 The amount of food that formerly maintained your normal weight may now increase your
weight.
 Metabolic rates vary from person to person. The roots of metabolic rate are genetic.
 Hints to help:
 Reduce exposure to tempting food cues.
 Boost your metabolism. Exercise speeds it up and lowers your set point. Walking, jogging, and
swimming, empty fat cells, build muscle and make you feel better.
 Be patient, realistic and moderate.
 Permanently change the food you eat.
 Control your portions
 Don’t skip breakfast and lunch in order to eat a big dinner. This slows metabolism.
 Set attainable goals.
