The relationship between stress and illness is intricate. People get stressed over various reasons. Some of the factors include adapting to a new environment or a group of people with different personalities, lack of social support during such situations can cause stress. Stress can have both negative and positive impacts to our health. "Some kinds of stress can be very short-term, that last only a matter of minutes, actually redistribute cells in the bloodstream in a way that could be helpful," says Suzanne Segerstrom (2012), an associate professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky who has conducted studies on stress and the immune system (para.4). This paper will outline the how stress is linked with illness and the damage it can …show more content…
(1984) sought to investigate if there is an effect on the functioning of immune system during an important examination. The experiment was conducted with 75 medical year students, 49 males and 26 females in which all the subjects were volunteers. Blood samples were derived from the students one month prior to the examination and also during the examinations, as it was believed that these two situations can express both low and high stress. Functioning of the immune system was evaluated by estimating T cell movement in the blood tests. Additionally, students were offered to answer questionnaires to evaluate mental factors, life occasions and loneliness during both events. The volunteers were likewise evaluated by means of behavioral measures. This was on account of there are hypotheses which recommend that each of the 3 are related with expanded levels of stress. The blood test taken from the students before the exam contained more T cells comparatively than the other group of students amid the exams. Researcher also found that students who have complained of loneliness and also individuals who were encountering other distressing life occasions and mental side effects, for example, depression or anxiety had particularly feeble immune system. This finding indicated that it was hard to unwind the relationship for certain whether stress leads to illness or being ill is a cause for stress. Stress due to exam reduced the effectiveness of the immune system. Nevertheless, the experiment concluded further that stress does have a negative impact on the immune system and decreases the efficiency of the immune system. Therefore, depending on the experiment it is evident that stress does relate to illness as of T cells were found more in the blood samples of group of students taken prior to exam as they were relatively prone to stress more than the other group of
Therefore, prolonged stress included adverse psychological and physical health effects as well as the increased risk of premature death (Denollet, J., et al.
Stress comes from many areas of life especially as an adult student incorporating school at a time in life when family and work are paramount. “Adults just returning to school have substantially higher anxiety about school in general and writing in particular than younger students.”3 Stress, best described by its "synonyms: strain, pressure, (nervous) tension, worry, anxiety, trouble, difficultly"1 has a medical history "According to the American Psychological Association, the majority of office visits to the doctor involve stress-related complaints, and stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide."2 If managed, stress can be a way to inform me; learning how to recognize my level of stress capacity is important. The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory 5 http://www.stress.org/holmes-rahe-stress-inventory/ is a list of stressful events that contribute to illness. My personal score on this life stress inventory is 236; I fall in the category of about a fifty percent chance of a major health breakdown in the next...
The purpose of this paper is to define stress and how it effects the body's physiological systems. This paper will include the normal functions and organs involved in the following five physiological systems, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, immune and musculoskeletal. This paper will also include a description of a chronic illness associated with each physiological system and how the illness is affected by stress.
Also, the percentage of first year students feeling stressed is greater than thirty percent (National Health Ministries, 2006). If the problem of stress is not resolved properly, there might be some serious consequences.... ... middle of paper ... ... Kingston, Peter (2008).
There is overwhelming evidence that daily stress may be harmful to the overall health of humans (Cohen, Tyrrell, and Smith, 1991; Glaser, Rice, and Sheridan, 1987; and Schleifer, and Keller, 1991). The mechanism by which stress influences health outcomes is thought to involve the immune system.
The term ‘stress’ was generally thought to have been a concept created by Robert Hooke in the 17th century. He worked on the design of physical structures, such as bridges; his concept of stress came from how much pressure a structure could withstand. However, Lazarus (1993) pointed out that the term ‘stress’ has been used as far back as the 14th century, when it meant hardship or adversity. Back then it referred to the external stressor, such as the death of a spouse or financial worry; in the 20th century, there are many different schools of thought on this area. Hans Selye (1956), brought together the work of Cannon and Bernard and devised a comprehensive system of physiological stress; which he termed the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’, and is a 3-stage process. He theorised that a certain level of stress called ‘eustress’ (Cox, 1978) could actually be beneficial to our overall performance. Later In 1976, Cox & Mackay devised another model called the ‘Transactional model’. This model takes into account the individual differences in the perception of the amount of stress experienced by the person. The main difference between these two models is that Selye’s model only accounts for the physiological side of stress, whereas Cox’s model takes into account both the physiological and psychological aspects of stress. Therefore, both models will have slight similarities and differences in their explanation for how stress occurs in individuals, which is the main focus of this essay.
Stress And The Immune System The immune system is a very important part of our bodily functions as its main function is to protect the body against millions of antigens, which attack our cells and try to reproduce viruses and diseases. The immune system can protect the body in three different ways, in which are: 1. It creates a barrier that prevents the antigens from initially entering the body. 2.
Getting sick is another negative factor of being overly stressed. Chronic stress compromises your immune system and stress hormones affect the body’s ability to fight off illness due to the fact that thymus’s ability to stimulate and coordinate the white blood cell activity.
Stress is “the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response.” Many people realize that stress has a great impact on psychological health; however, they do not realize that physical health can be compromised as well. When the body is put under stress, physiological changes take place, such as increased heart rate or blood pressure. Many individuals do not know the extent to which stress can impact their bodies because they cannot see the changes taking place. If stress is prolonged, physical symptoms may begin to arise. These symptoms are real; however, they may or may not be due to some sort of physical disorder. Stress-induced anxiety may begin to form within the individual because of a constant fear that they have a serious medical condition. The cycle will repeat itself with potentially worsening symptoms.
Topic: Stress and Health. Thesis statement: Stress can impact you in many ways, not just mentally but physically, and can have a significant negative effect on your body, mind, relationships, happiness, work, and your overall health and well-being. While a little bit of stress can be healthy, it can safely push you to put in more effort in both your personal and professional life, and likely won’t cause any severe problems, being stressed out all the time or feeling huge bouts of stress regularly, is detrimental to your health. Search strategy and evaluation of resources:
Stress is the combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that people have in response to events that threaten or challenge them. Stress can be good or bad. Sometimes, stress is helpful, providing people with the extra energy or alertness they need. Stress could give a runner the edge he or she needs to persevere in a marathon, for example. This good kind of stress is called eustress. Unfortunately, stress is often not helpful and can even be harmful when not managed effectively. Stress could make a salesperson buckle under the pressure while trying to make a sales pitch at an important business meeting, for example. Moreover, stress can increase the risk of developing health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders. This bad kind of stress is called distress, the kind of stress that people usually are referring to when they use the word stress.
"Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress; 75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints; stress is linked to the six leading causes of death--heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide." (Miller, 1993, p.12) " Stress plays havoc with our health, our productivity, our pocketbooks, and our lives, but it is necessary, even desirable." (Oxford, 1998, p.29)
Suppression of the Immunity System: stress causes the immune system of the body to be weakened because it fights of the stress from the stressor. This makes the body even more vulnerable to certain infections, like multiple sclerosis and arthritis. It has been discovered that stress slows the body’s rate of recovery from infections.
Despite that many don 't realize the dangers, stress is one of the most significant problems of modern times, causing serious problems on physical and mental health. Stress symptoms may be affecting a patients health, even though a doctor may not realize it. Don 't assume that an illness is to blame for that excruciating headache or your sleep deprivation. Let 's face it, everyone copes with stress. Sometimes stress is in our favor, but other times it could feel like stress is taking over. " Stress is a normal physical response your body uses to protect itself from challenges life throws at it each day"(Stress and Health: How Stress Affects Your Health) Stress affects everyone differently, so it 's important to understand what may be causing
Stress on individuals can bring numerous numbers of health problems, for example; heart disease. Researches have declared that having stress increase heart rate and blood flow, and causes release of cholesterol and triglycerides into the bloodstream. Another example is the Alzheimer’s disease, stress could potentially worsen Alzheimer’s disease causing its brain lesions to form more quickly. Individuals should be aware that being stressed could lead to major problems in the long run, but with the proper care and staying positive could help prevent further damages.