Health and Well-being

Western Model

The absence of disease. Patients are the passive recipients of disease. Focus is on medical treatments

Psychologists and most health-care professionals take a more integrated approach to health and we'll bring, where the individual plays a more active rile

Well-being health psychology

A field that integrates research on health and in psychology; it involves the application of psychological principles in promoting health and well-being

Biopsychosocial model

Integrates effects of biological, behavioral, and social factors on health and illness

Health disparities

Black Americans have a lower life expectancy than white Americans

Access to affordable health care, and cultural factors such as dietary and exercise habits

Obesity

Level of excess body fat for an individual that places a person at risk for health problems. Rates have roughly tripled in the US in the past 40 years

Overeating

Most people who lose weight through dieting eventually regain the weight

More activity in the reward regions of the brain when looking at good-tasting foods. Highly processed foods → excess body weights

Social and genetic influences of obesity

BMI is socially contagious.

BMI of adopted children strongly correlated with BMI of biological parents

Identical twins tend to have similar body weights whether they are raised together or apart

Views of Obesity

Stigma - Being affected by obesity can give rise to various psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem

Some countries view it as a sign of the upper class. Western cultures tend to exemplified more thin body types.

Cycle of restrictive dieting

Person starts dieting

Body enters starvation mode

Diet fails as person ends diet

Body enters feast response

Exercise

Lowers risk of cancer and cardiac problems

Middle age fitness → strong correlation with living longer

Improves memory

Self-confidence, energy, motivation

Decreases stress, depression, and aids in addiction treatments

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Not always transmitted through sexual contact

Each year in US, there are nearly 20 million new cases of STIs

About half of these infections are in people ranging from 15-24 years old

Protection from STIs

1. Abstinence

2. Sex education

3. Vaccination

Smoking and tobacco use

Smoking causes numerous health problems:

Heart disease, respiratory ailments, various cancers

According to WHO, tobacco causes 8 million deaths worldwide yearly

Most people start young

Stress

A group of physical processes occurring when events exceed the organisms ability to respond in a healthy way

Stressors → stress response

Different types of stressors: major life stressors, daily hassles

Stress responses: physical, psychological, or behavioral

Some stressors are major and other are minor

Eustress

Positive stress

Distress

Negative stress

Mediating factors

AKA resilience factors

Things like personality and coping strategies

General Adaptation Syndrome

Alarm stage (emergency response) → resistance stage (defenses maximized) → exhaustion stage (systems fail)

Organs weak prior to stressors are first to fail in exhaustion stage → diseases, poor health outcomes, mental health, etc

Immune response

Short term stress boosts immune system, like at the end of the fight or flight response

Chronic stress weakens it, leaving the body less able to deal with infection

Fight or flight response

Physiological preparedness of animals to deal with danger

Tend and befriend response

Tendency to respond by stressors by protecting and caring for offspring and forming social alliances

Negative stress response

When people are stressed, they also eat junk food, smoke, use drugs, and drink

Type A Behavior

Competitive, achievement oriented, hard to relax, hostility, restlessness, impatience, inability to relax

Type B pattern

Noncompetitive, relaxed, easygoing, and accommodating

Primary Appraisals

Part of coping that involves making decisions about whether a stimulus is stressful or not

Secondary Appraisals

Aspect of coping that involves deciding how to manage and respond to a stressful stimulus

Emotion focused ciping

Attempt to prevent an emotional response to a stressor

Problem focused coping

Taking direct steps to confront or minimize a stressor

Hardiness

Being capable of adapting to life changes by viewing events constructively.

Involves commitment, challenge, and control

Resilience

Better able to cope in the face of adversity

Broaden and build theory

Positive emotions promote people to consider novel solutions to their problems

Happiness

3 components:

1. Positive emotions and pleasure

2. Engagement in life

3. Meaningful life

Aspects of well being

1. Career enjoyment

2. Having supportive social relations

3. Having financial security

4. Feeling safe and having pride in community

5. Being in good health

Mindfulness

A state of mind in which you are sensitive to the present moment

Living a purposeful, meaningful life

People who believe their lives are meaningful/have purpose report high levels of well-being

Develop meaningful goals

Health benefits of positive well being

High levels of hope → reduces risk of all studies diseases

Higher levels of curiosity → strong association with reduces risk of both hypertension and diabetes

Social support

Helps people cope and maintain health in 2 memain ways:

1. People with social support experience less overall stress

2. Social support enables people to better cope with stressful events

Gratitude

Redirects your mind to positive thoughts, eliciting positive emotions

Increased life satisfaction, optimism, and happiness

Less anxiety and lower blood pressure

Religion/spirituality

Provide a sense of meaning and purpose. Can help people achieve and maintain well being through the social support provided by faith communities