1. Stress and Health

2. Stress and Illness
Leading causes of death in the US in 1900 (Tuberculosis) and 2014 (Heart disease).
Percentage
U.S.deaths 30 20 10
Tuber-
culosis
Pneu-
monia
Diarrhea/
enteritis
Heart
disease
1900
Cancer
Strokes
Chronic
lung disease
2014
Unlike many leading
killers a century ago,
today’s major
killers are more
lifestyle-related

3. What is Stress?
Stress: the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that WE APPRAISE as threatening or challenging.
Stressors
Catastrophes
Life changes
Hassles
Intervening
factors
Appraisal
Perceived control
Personality
Social support
Coping behaviors
Stress
reactions
Physiological
Emotional
Behavioral

4. Stress and Health Health Psychology:
subfield of psychology that focuses on how stress affects well-being and health.

5. Stress Appraisal Appraisal Response Stressful event (tough math test)
Threat
(“Yikes! This is
beyond me!”)
Challenge
(“I’ve got to apply
all I know”)
Panic, freeze up
Aroused, focused
Appraisal
Response

6. General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
What is Stress?
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Stress
resistance
Phase 1
Alarm
reaction
(mobilize
resources)
Phase 2
Resistance
(cope with
stressor)
Phase 3
Exhaustion
(reserves
depleted)
The body’s resistance to stress can only
last so long before exhaustion sets in
Stressor
occurs
*Hans Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress as composed of three stages:
--alarm reaction
--resistance
--exhaustion

7. Fight or Flight Response
internal processes that prepares the aroused organism for struggle or escape.
occurs when the situation is interpreted as threatening.
(i.e.) You arrive at your class to find the students taking a test for which you have not prepared:
you have an internal urge to flee but you have learned from experience that you’ll have to face the music sooner or later.

8. Types of Stressors: Daily Stress (can lead to “burnout”).
Significant Life Changes (like a death in the family).
Catastrophes (hurricanes, terror attacks).

9. What is Stress? Burnout:
Physical, emotional and mental exhaustion brought on by persistent job-related stress.
Results of Burnout:
Depression.
Decreased performance.
Cynicism.

10. Stressful Life Events
Chronic Stress by Age

11. WHAT CAN WE DO TO CONTROL OUR HEALTH:
Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.
Eat breakfast every day.
Get your weight to a normal level.
Don’t smoke.
Use alcohol moderately or not at all.
Get regular physical exercise.
Wear seat belts.
Don’t drive at excessive speeds.
Learn good diets and follow them.
Find a physician with whom you can communicate.

12. Stress and Control Rats that could turn off the shock stayed healthy.
No connection
to shock source
To shock control
To shock source
“Executive” rat
“Subordinate” rat
Control rat

13. Importance of Control and Optimism
Elderly persons in nursing homes, that were given more control, significantly improved their health and psychological well-being.
Studies have also shown that those who are more optimistic and have a more positive “explanatory style” also live longer. Seeing the glass half-full, not half-empty.

14. Stress & Coronary Heart Disease
Hopelessness
scores
3.5 3
2.5 2
1.5 1
0.5
Heart attack
Death
Low risk
Moderate risk
High risk
Men who feel extreme hopelessness
are at greater risk for heart attacks
and early death

15. Stress and the Heart

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

17. Promoting Wellness Martin Seligman.
American psychologist who researched helplessness before turning his interest to optimism.
Wellness is a positive approach to living.

18. Healthy Lifestyles Aerobic Exercise:
*sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness.
*can also reduce depression.
*lowers blood pressure.
*cuts heart attack risks in half.
*increases mood-boosting chemicals.
Depression
score 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Before treatment
evaluation
After treatment
No-treatment
group
Aerobic
exercise
Relaxation
treatment

19. Social Factors Leading to a Healthy Lifestyle
Family and Friends:
A.) People with more social ties are less likely to die prematurely.
B.) Married people live longer than those unmarried.

20. Healthy Lifestyles
Religious attendance increases life span.

21. Predictors of mortality
Promoting Health
Predictors of mortality
Men
Women
Not smoking Regular exercise Weekly religious
attendance
Relative
risk
of dying 1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

22. Positive Experiences and Well Being
The field of Positive Psychology reports that there is a positive correlation between positive experiences and well being.
Therefore, those that report more positive experiences also report higher levels of wellness.

23. Flow
Is a state of optimal experience that involves a challenge, requires skill, has clear goals and provides feedback.
It also contributes to happiness.

24. Overcoming Illness-Related Behaviors
Smoking-related early deaths

25. Health Risks of Smokers
Higher rates of depression and divorce.
3 times more likely to drink alcohol.
17 times more likely to smoke marijuana.
Harms nearly every organ in your body.

27. Smoking Prevention
The ups and downs or U.S. teen smoking.

28. Preliminary findings of 1800 college students:
59 percent say they know their diet has gone downhill.
During freshman year, students gain an average of 5.5 (men) and 4.5 (women) lbs.
66 percent of freshman don’t consume the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables.
60 percent eat too much artery-clogging saturated fat.
50 percent of all students don’t get enough fiber.
30 percent of women don’t get enough calcium.
32 percent report decline in body image.
40 percent of women see themselves overweight.
41 percent report decline in overall happiness during freshman year.
Students who exercise report greater levels of happiness.

29. Obesity is caused by three main things:
how much exercise we do,
how many times we use technology,
and how much we eat .

30. Obesity and Weight Control
Obesity and mortality
Body-mass index (BM I)
Men
Women
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
Relative
risk of
death

31. Obesity and Weight Control
Body mass index = (weight squared by height)

32. Weight Control
Trading risks

33. Weight Control
Thinning of Miss America

34. Hours of television watched per day
Weight Control
Obesity was more common among those who watched the most television.
< >4
Hours of television watched per day
in 1990s study
Boys
Girls 32 30 28 26 24 22 20
Skinfold fat
measure (mm)

35. Tips of Losing Weight Reduce exposure to tempting food cues.
Start exercising to boost your metabolism.
Be patient, realistic, and moderate.
Permanently change the foods you eat.
Control your portions.
Don’t skip breakfast and lunch to eat a big dinner.

36. Nine Nutritional Rules to live by:
Make vegetables and fruits the heart of most meals and snacks. (fiber, vitamins, & other antioxidants)
Go for whole grains.
Don’t overlook beans. (plant protein, folic acid, fiber)
Cook with liquid oils. (olive & canola oils)
Favor fat-free dairy products. (calcium, minerals bring down blood pressure)
Check your chicken…….take off fat and skin
Lighten up on cheese.
Move meats to the side. (supporting role)
Order fish & shrimp. Choose grilling or broiled seafood for reduced intake of fat and calories.

37. WHAT DO THE LABELS MEAN?
“All Natural” has no legal meaning. (can still have preservatives, artificial flavoring, and other additives)
“Light” or “Lite” is virtually meaningless. The term can refer to pale color, low sodium taste, reduced alcohol, fluffy texture.
“Sugarless” or “sugar-free” means no sucrose (table sugar) but it does not cover glucose, fructose, or sorbitol.
“Enriched” can mean that enriched foods have lost nutrients during processing and then replaced.
“Low Calorie” simply means that a food has less than 40 calories per serving and less than 0.4 calories per gram
“Fortified” mean that some nutrient has been added that was not there in the first place
“Fruit-blend” refers to as little as 10 percent juice and may be mostly sugar and water
“75% Lean” mean one-quarter fat by weight, which is a lot of fat.

38. Stress When stress is bad, we call it distress.
When stress is good and it leads to something desirable we call it eustress.
Any kind of change (+ or -) causes stress!!!
(Remember the Social Readjustment Rating Scale!)

39. Conflict Situations approach-approach conflict
avoidance-avoidance conflict
approach-avoidance conflict
double approach-avoidance conflicts