Chapter 5: Psychology & Physical Health

5.1 Stress, Personality, and Illness

personality, emotions, and heart disease
- coronary heart disease: reduction of blood flow in coronary arteries
  - caused by atherosclerosis; narrowing of coronary arteries caused by fatty buildup
    - can lead to myocardia ischemia; temporarily blocked
    - or myocardial infarction; abrupt interruption of blood flow resulting in heart attack
connection between coronary risk and pattern of behavior
- type a personality: strong competitive orientation, impatience and time urgency, anger and hostility
  - perfectionists, do many things at once
  - strong link between anger, hostility and coronary risk
    - greater physiological reactivity in response to stress
- type b personality: relaxed, patient, easygoing, amicable
  - less competitive, less easily angered than type a
- type d personality: display negative affect & social inhibition
  - shown to have more risk to coronary implications
depression & heart disease
- emotional dysfunction may cause heart disease
stress and cancer
- patients deal with the stress of how they can get better and if they ever can
stress and immune functioning
- usually lower when stress is implicated

5.2 Habits, Lifestyles, and Health

smoking
- peer pressure
- control weight
- alleviate mood
- suppress hunger
- more prevalent in men than women
- health effects
  - much greater risk of premature death
- give up on smoking, health risks decline
drinking
- extremely prevalent on college campuses
- influenced by social settings, mood, reduce stress
- risks and problems
  - hangover
  - negative effect on intellectual functioning and perceptual-motor coordination
  - twice the risk of death than those who don’t
  - alcohol dependence or misuse
overeating and obesity
- BMI (body mass index)
- responsible for mortality, elevated risk of mortality
- determinants for obesity
  - heredity
  - excessive eating, inadequate exercise, sedentary activities
  - set-point theory: the body monitors fat-cell levels to keep then stable
    - weight also drifts around the level that food consumption and energy expenditure achieve equilibrium
    - weight stays stable as long as there is no drastic changes
  - losing weight may be harder for others
poor nutrition
- high salt
- high sugar
- not enough protein or vegetables
- no balance between foods
behavior and AIDS
- acquired immune deficiency syndrome: immune system is gradually weakened and eventually disabled by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

5.3 Reactions to Illness