Psychology - Stress (AQA A)

This is the body's response to acute (short term) stressors. 

Stressor is perceived by the brain which activates the hypothalamus.

This activates the adrenal medulla which releases adreanaline and noradreanaline

This results in bodily changes preparing the body for 'fight or flight'

Parasympathetic nervous system calms the body (about 20 minutes after the event)

This is the body's response to chronic (long term) stressors

Hypothalamus figures the ongoing stress input which causes it to release ACTH

ACTH activates the adrenal cortex causing it to release corticosteroids such as cortisol

Maintains energy levels in the body BUT it supresses the immune system

Inflicted a 'punch' biopsy (piercing) in the mouth of students

This was done either during the summer holidays or three days before an exam

The wounds given BEFORE the exam took 40% longer to heal than the wounds given during the holidays

Shows that stress DOES effect the immune system

A meta-analysis of 293 studies conducted over 30 years.

What they found:

- Short-term - acute stressors can boost the immune system by prompting it to ready itself for the possibility of infection

- Long-term - chronic stressors leads to the supression of the immune system

Conducted a study to see whether aner was related to heart disease

13,000 people completed a 10 question survey designed to measure how angry they are

Six years latr 256 people had suffered from a heart attack - keep in mind that none of  the participants had any sort of cardiovascular disease when the survey was conducted

It was found whoever scored 'highly' on the questionnaire (implying that they are angry) were two and a half times more likely to have a heart attack than those who have lower anger ratings

Suggests that anger may lead to cardiovascular disease