PYSC 1650 Exam 2

Exam 2

What is health psychology?

a field within psychology that studies how psychological, social, and biological factors influence health and illness

• is relatively new, and it was developed in part as a function of the fact that most of the top 10 causes of death in the US are lifestyle diseases

Adolescent deaths _____ ____% between 1935-1985 due to ________

dropped 90%

due to vaccines

Top 10 causes of death are ______ related

lifestyle

What are health defeating behaviors ?

smoking, not exercising or not sleeping/eating

What is the Illusion of Invulnerability?

individuals underestimate the probability of something bad happening to them

• the false belief that one is safe from danger or misfortune

A child believes they wont get caught when stealing a cookie, what is this an example of?

Illusion of Invulnerability

What is someone who is Optimism Bias?

thinks bad things happen to other people but not them

ENgels 1977 Science Article and the acknowledgment that _______ factors alone could not account for illness

Biological

What is the biopsychosocial model of health psychology?

a holistic model that considers biological, psychological, and social factors in health and illness

Placebo effect is when?

an individual experiences the positive effects of a medication/supplement/surgery that they expect to get

• works in sham surgeries

• there are institutes to study it

Nocebo Effects is when

the individual experiences unwelcome side effects

where is nocebo most common?

in disorders with emotional bend to them (pain and depression)

What matters during the placeo effect?

• color of the pill ( yellow is considered the most “effective )

• price ( a $1.00 pill has more of an effect than one costing $0.25 yet they are the exact same medication )

If a placebo “pain cream” is administered, an _______ measures brain activity, you will see the release of our own _______ in certain brain areas

MRI

Pain Killers (endorphins)

What is the Federal Law for pills?

the active ingredient has to be the same in NAME and GENERIC brands

What is Classical Conditioning?

it plays a role, combined with expectancy

• a type of learning where a neutral stimulus (like a sound) becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus (like food), causing the neutral stimulus to eventually trigger a response (like salivation) on its own

Who introduced the experimental field of stress physiology?

Hans Selye

What did Hans Selye develop?

GAS

General Adaptations Syndrome

What are stressors of the General Adaptations Syndrome?

cold, heat or even electric shock

What are the 3 stages of GAS

Alarm: bells go off ( body is thrown out of wack) and it senses something is wrong

Resistance or Adaptation: stress response and the return to homeostasis

Exhaustion: If the stress continues, you start to run out of the good things in your body. ( can lead to depression or chronic fatigue)

What are the two branches of the autonomic nervous system

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic

The half of the brain that is turned ON is called

Sympathetic Nervous System

Where does the sympathetic nervous system originate from?

in the brain and then it goes through the spine and exits to branch out to nearly ever organ, blood vessel and blood gland in your body.

What are important neurotransmitters for sympathetic arousal?

Epinephrine, Dopamine, and Norepinephrine.

What does NE, E, and DA do in the brain?

turn ON amygdale and OFF the prefrontal cortex

What half of the brain is turned OFF in the autonomic nervous system?

Parasympathetic Nervous System

What does the parasympathetic nervous system do?

mediates calm and vegetative activities

• Its primary role is to promote relaxation and digestion, also known as the "rest and digest" response

What is the classic stress hormone

cortisol

What are glucocorticoids

• stress hormone

• released from HPA

• class of steroid hormone

• great for mobilizing energy

• short term : immune enhancing

• long term: immune suppressive

What is cortisol?

classic stress hormone ( peak is 20 minutes after stressor happens )

What is also released during stress?

Glucagon, Prolactin, ADH and endorphins/enkephalins

What are reproductive hormoones

estrogen and testosterone

What is the growth hormone

insulin

Glucagon breaks down?

glucose

ADH is what makes you ________

pee

• antidiuretic hormone

What is prolactin

suppresses reproduction

What is an important caveat concerning the stress response

psychological context matters

• 2 exact stressors may cause different responses

• determined to a large part by how a stressor is appraised (primary) and coping possibility (secondary)

The examined HPA response ?

cortisol responds as as result of appraisal of stressor

Appraisal Matters

how you view a stressor totally determines your physiological response

What are the most common HEART ATTACK symptoms in WOMEN

extreme fatigue, lightheadedness/dizziness, neck and jaw pain (could be without chest pain), upper back pain, shortness of breath, chest pressure, vomiting/nausea, feeling of heartburn/indigestion, and discomfort/tigning in one or both arms

What are the most common HEART ATTACK symptoms in MEN

sudden cold sweat, discomfort/tingling in the back/shoulders/arms/neck/or jaw, chest pain/pressure, shortness or breath and nausea

what kind of stress response is very important?

Cardiovascular

In the heart, the top is _____ → _______ and the bottom is the ________ → ________

atria → veins

ventricles → arteries

Right side of the heart pumps blood through the ______.

lungs

Left side of the heart pumps blood to the __________.

peripheral organs

Systole

force of blood leaving

Diastole

force of blood returning

Whats important for survival

blood with its energy source needs to be more available to places that need it

Arteries to your _______ dilate so more blood is available and _______ (decreased flow) to places like your gut and you can also see decreased blood flow to ________.

muscles

constrict

kidneys

What is Chronic Stress

case of stressors your system works exactly like you want

• a prolonged state of mental and physical strain that persists over an extended period

what system is #1 on the bad effects list from chronic stress?

Cardiovascular System

what can you think of your heart and blood vessels as?

heart as a pump and your blood vessels as a hose.

• use them too much too forcefully, they’ll wear out.

What are steps of Stress-Related Diseases

Hypertension, Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Bifurcation, Atherosclerosis Plaque, CRP, Thrombus, Angina Pectoris, and Ulcers

What is it called when your blood pressure is chronically high ?

Hypertension (stress raises blood pressure)

What can increase your chance for an irregular heart beat?

left ventricular hypertrophy

• a condition where the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart, becomes thickened and enlarged

What is Bifurcation?

division of something into two branches or parts, and blood vessels undergo this

• no cell in your body is more than 5 cells from a blood vessel

How much body mass does the circulatory system take up?

3%

What is the buildup of fatty deposits, cholesterol, calcium and other substances on the inner lining of the arteries?

Atherosclerosis Plaque

• it can narrow the arteries and reduce blood flow to vital organs

What is CRP

C-Reactive Protein

• a protein produced in the LIVER in response to inflammation to the body but this protein is nonspecific.

What is a better predictor of Cardiovascular disease then cholesterol?

CRP

What is a clot called?

Thrombus

What happens when thrombus clogs up a coronary artery?

heart attack

What happens when thrombus clogs up a vessel in the brain?

stroke

What is it called when you have chest pain/discomfort due to the heart muscle not receiving enough oxygen rich blood?

angina pectoris

• might occur due to stress

What characteristics does the immune system have?

the ability to differentiate self from non-self and to exhibit specificity and memory

What are the two main cells in the immune system?

T cells

B cells

Macrophages

What are the two types of T cells

Helper and Cytotoxic

What do Helper T Cells Do?

help with all of kinds of immune responses

• includes those caused by antigen (flu virus or developed cancer by your own cells)

• help cytotoxic T cells

What do Cytotoxic T Cells do?

help with your own cells becoming altered due to cancer

• directly destroy infected cells

What is a macrophage

they do just about everything on their own

• destroy some antigens and help T/B Cells combat them as well.

What is PNI?

psychoneuroimmunology

Who started PNI ?

behavioral psychologist Dr. Ader who was studying classical conditioning at the time

Can you condition immune responses?

YES

1. There is neural innervation of immune tissue

2. On immune cells there are receptors for E, NE DA and Cortisol

3. Immune cells produce all of these chemicals as well

What is released as a part of the stress response and can affect your immune system?

Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, ect and Cortisol

Was research able to determine that stress will make you sick ?

yes

What are the important studies in PNI

Rats and control

Girl with lupus

PNI Study Rats and Control

control of a stressor to led to a significant decrease in susceptibility to cancer

PNI study Girl with Lupus

compound CS, every 3 months 1 time Cytoxan, 2 Saline

• at end of year she had 4 Cytoxan as opposed to 12 exposures to Cytoxan.

What is autoimmunity?

the result of an overactive immune system

Does stress suppress the immune system ?

yes

Why is stress NOT good?

because the cortisol hormone works differently centrally as opposed to peripherally

How does chronic stress causes cardiovascular disease

stress response causes sympathetic arousal, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure

What is the first step in CVD resulting from Chronic Stress?

hypertension (high blood pressure)

• its more complicated then increase in BP from sympathetic activation (fight or flight)

Chronic stress causes high blood pressure leading to?

high blood pressure : due to your blood forcefully pushing through your veins to your heart. When chronic stress happens …

smaller blood vessels have difficulty in controlling the gushing blood so develop muscle to help have better control

What is vascular resistance?

inability for freely flowing blood

• can lead to a PERMANENT INCREASE in blood pressure

left ventricular hypertrophy is

enlargement of the heart leading to irregular heartbeat

• also there might not be enough blood available for the bigger heart

• blood is slamming into the left ventricle (blood returns to heart)

What is the development of plaques due from?

the development of small tears in points of bifurcation in the cardiovascular network.

What do plaques do?

narrow the vessel making blood more hindered

What happens when the plaque breaks off

THRMOBUS (clot)

what is hyperphagic

overeating

• stress makes 2/3 of people develop this

• stress eat

True or False: Is cortisol an appetite suppressant?

true

Once cortisol is released, what happens?

stimulates appetite

• makes us hungry for starchy, sugary, fatty foods.

What else does cortisol do, other then increasing appetite?

increases the storage of that food by causing fat cells to produce an enzyme that breaks down the circulating nutrients into their storage forms

Nutrients are stored in ______ cells

fat cells

Visceral Fat Cells are

fat cells around your belly leading to the “apple” shape

Gluteal Fat Cells are

fat cells around your rear leading to the “pear” shape

Where does cortisol stimulate fat deposition?

abdomen (promotes the apple shape)

True or False: Abdominal fat cells are less sensitive to cortisol?

false

• they are more sensitive because they have more receptors that respond to them and activate those fat storing enzymes

Having too much visceral fat (apple shape) is at more risk for ?

cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorder because fat released from those cells more readily find its way to the liver