Stress

Stress

A negative emotion with predictable biochemical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes that intends to resolve or accommodate a stressful physical or psychological experience

Acute stressors

Stressors that require immediate response but can be quickly resolved, often physical

Chronic stressors

Stressors that do not require immediate response but cannot be quickly resolved, often psychological

Cumulative stressors

Sum of all chronic stressors

Daily stressors

Low-level short-term stressors regularly arising from everyday life

Interaction of chronic and daily stressors

Increased effect of daily stressors on likelihood of overall physical illness symptoms

Fight or flight behavior

Walter Cannon’s description of physiological and behavioral responses to stress

General adaptation syndrome

Hans Selye’s stress-induced illness with symptoms of enlarged adrenal glands, shrunken lymph nodes, and bleeding ulcers

Alarm

The first stage of “general adaptation syndrome,” described as the immediate physiological reaction to stress

Resistance

The second stage of “general adaptation syndrome,” described as adaptation to stress and cumulative stress

Exhaustion

The third stage of “general adaptation syndrome,” described as the stage of stress causing physical illness

Stressful life events

First examination of stress in humans by Holmes and Rahe, quantifying the stress value of life events

Stress appraisal

Lazarus’s concept that perception and interpretation of an event determines the effect of the event

Primary appraisal

Component of stress appraisal determining if an event is positive, negative, or neutral

Primary negative appraisal

Component of stress appraisal determining if an event is harmful, threatening, or challenging

Negative appraisal experimental effects

Increased heart rate and subjective distress

Secondary appraisal

Component of stress appraisal determining if coping ability and resources can overcome the harm, threat, or challenge of an event

Tend or befriend

Taylor et al’s description of female behavioral responses to stress

Adapted traits

Advantageous traits adopted through evolution

Sympathetic nervous system

Neural system that releases catecholamines in response to stress

HPA axis

Neural system that releases corticosteroids in response to stress, particularly social threats and uncontrollable stressors

Self-perpetuating stress loop

Physical symptoms occurring as both a stress response and stressor

Energy mobilization

Physiological stress response that results in fatigue and diabetes

Heart rate and blood pressure increase

Physiological stress response that results in cardiovascular disease, strokes, and heart attacks

Slowed digestion

Physiological stress response that results in colitis, bowel issues, and ulcers if H. pylori is present

Slowed growth

Physiological stress response that results in stress dwarfism and osteoporosis

Slowed reproduction

Physiological stress response that results in impotence, low libido, delayed ovulation, and miscarriage

Blunted pain

Physiological stress response that results in worsened injury

Accelerated aging

Physiological stress response that results in 1.5 to 2.5 additional months of aging per year

Suppressed immune system

Physiological stress response that results in infection, healing problems, and serious illness