Chronic Stress Case Study

This analysis persists of key points, about The article “Stress and the brain by Janet Elder”. The author forged an excellent informative piece to educate the reader on the effects of stress on the brain. The author states that “Stress can be both good and bad. It is part of life, and your brain and body respond to it”. The author clarifies that, "Whether stress is harmful or helpful depends on the amount of stress, how severe it is, and how long it lasts".

In Prospero 's case in Masque of the Red Death Prince Prospero, was faced with the threat of survival, surviving the Red Death, a plague sweeping his kingdom killing all it comes into contact with. To produce the fight-or-flight response, the hypothalamus activates two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The sympathetic nervous system uses nerve pathways to initiate reactions in the body, and the adrenal-cortical system uses the bloodstream. The combined effects of these two systems are the fight-or-flight response.When the hypothalamus tells the sympathetic nervous system to kick into gear, the overall effect is that the body speeds up, tenses up and becomes generally very alert. If there 's a burglar at the door, you 're going to have to take action fast. The sympathetic nervous system sends out impulses to glands and smooth muscles and tells the adrenal medulla to release epinephrine and norepinephrine into the bloodstream. These "stress hormones" cause several changes in the body, including an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.At the same time, the hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor into the pituitary gland, activating the adrenal-cortical system. The pituitary gland secretes the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). ACTH moves through the bloodstream and ultimately arrives at the adrenal cortex, where it activates the release of approximately thirty different

The biological purpose of the stress response is to help the body to survive either some sort of attack or a serious illness like a stroke or heart attack. During the stress response glucocorticoids divert the bodies energy to the areas necessary for survival like the muscles and the brain and it shuts down the areas that are not necessary for survival like the digestive and immune systems (Sopolsky, 2009). Chronic Stress in this context, is to experience this physical effect on regular or long term basis. This has become a public health issue for humans because we experience this chronic biological response on a too frequent a basis for psychological reasons (Stress, 2008).

“When this response is chronically activated, people can suffer from decreased immunity and other health problems” (Good). Many other health problems can also occur when people have fight or flight constantly. Those who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) constantly live with the feeling of fight or flight. This can affect how they see normal stress throughout their day. Professionals work with people's mental health trying to allow them a harder trigger into the panic of a stressful situation, so get prescribed medical drugs to remain calm. The hypothalamus is a bit like a command center that controls the brain. It allows the brain to send signals through the nervous system throughout the body.Researcher at Harvard states, “While the amygdala sends a distress signal which can happen during work sudden deadline, or a persistent worry about losing a job can cause a mental shut down in the normal functions” (Harvard). it is most commonly found in humans, but humans are not the only things to use the fight or flight technique, animals and plants also take advantage of this

Health behaviors is a topic were we can cover a broad spectrum of issues, but for this week’s assignment we’re covering risk factors for health behaviors. We will take a look at the County Health Ranking Website and identify health behavior in Orange County Ca. and our local counties. After identifying four health behaviors for the two counties, we will briefly discuss our local county’s health outcomes. In addition, we will provide risk factors for each of the health behaviors identified.

Acute stress causes the arousal of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS comprises of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which prepares the individual for ‘fight or flight’ and the parasympathetic branch, which returns the individual to their original state of relaxation. Part of the SNS response is the sympathetic adrenal system (SAM), this system along with the SNS is collectively called the sympathomedullary pathway. The SNS is activated when the neurotransmitter noradrenaline is released and travels to the organs of the body preparing them for rapid action. Common responses to this would be increased heart rate, increased pupil size and metabolic changes such as a release of

The United States is viewed as one of the strongest and largest countries in the world, both population and average weight per citizen. The United States suffers roughly 300,000 deaths per year due to obesity, and that number is only getting higher (Obesity). While many people believe that this is strictly an eating issue, this is not the case. There are many other aspects that go into developing the unhealthy lifestyle that many Americans have. Some of these that will be discussed are mental health, time management, goal setting, physical activity, and finally diet/eating habits. Practicing the previously listed aspects will help an individual achieve a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Stress is commonly known to have damaging effects on our bodies. One might argue that we exhibit feelings of depression, anxiety, social discomfort, fatigue, weight changes and other undesirable symptoms. However, the most crucial consequence of long-term stress is brain damage. Long-term exposure to glucocorticoids results in deterioration of neurons that are located in the hippocampus (Carlson, 2013). The hippocampus hosts the formation for learning and memory. When this area is damaged due to exposure to long-term stress, memory and learning can be impaired. Impaired hippocampal neurogenesis is also an essential role player in cases of depression (Thomas, Hotsenpiller & Peterson, 2007; Carlson, 2013). Jensen, Genefke and Hyldebrandt (1982)

Smoking, alcoholism, obesity, lack of adequate physical activity and unhealthy dietary habits are the predominant disease-causing behaviors. Most healthcare professionals preach against these habits. However, it is disappointing to see that they are also involved

As discussed in one of the previous discussion posts about the flight or fight response – the sympathetic nervous system is responsible for this reaction within the body. When the body turns on its fight or flight mechanisms, our heart rate is elevated, bronchial tubes and pupils dilate, saliva production is decreased, and digestion may even come to a complete stop. It is very important that our body does not stay in this state for long periods of time because excess buildup of the stress hormones produced during this state are shown to cause issues with the entire autonomic nervous system. It can even lead to digestion

In fact, psychiatrists have been force to diagnose their patients with diagnoses that were politically acceptable by insurance companies in order to satisfy billing and reimbursement for services. To illustrate, a young person who has experienced traumatic events such as witnessing the death of a love one, extensive sexual/physical abuse, or parental divorce might begin to display disruptive behaviors. As a result, the psychiatrist diagnosed the youth with an adjustment disorder because the child’s insurance will not compensate for the diagnosis of stress related disorder. In the same manner, billing the insurance company for the diagnosis of conduct disorder is more likely to be reimburse oppose to stress related disorders.

The heart of this research is to surface the personal experiences of how students living in chronic stress at home perceive their high school as a place of support. Since the focus of this research will be the information solicited from human subjects, the approval of the Internal Review Board (IRB) is necessary. This approval will ensure that compliance with institutional, local, state, and federal laws as well as the compliance with all ethical principles outlined in the Belmont Report are followed throughout this study (Galvez, Rose, Hagemann, & Aburto, 2014). Through strict compliance with the ethical principles outlined by the Belmont Report as well as the principles outlined in the CITI Program training courses (CITI Program at the University of Miami, 2013), respect for persons, beneficence and justice will be exercised in creating methodologies and during the data collection portion of this research. In addition to minimizing risk to research subjects, the use of IRB approval processes will help to increase the confidence in methodology and the future validity of the data secured from subjects.

For some individual’s lack of sleep can cause the lack of comprehensive skills, poor coordination, and the ability to maintain their composure. Additionally, poor sleeping conditions can be caused from inadequate eating habits due to always being on the go and college students in general do not have the most nutritious

A fight or flight response is a result of acute stress, this response is found in the limbic system (Svec). The threats that are experienced in acute stress can be consciously or subconsciously perceived. Take video games as an example. The noise and the violent actions that are perceived can trigger a stress response, where the level of hormones are not balanced. Acute stress is also caused by hunger, isolation, infection, and even imagining a dangerous event or a threat. When the level of stress hormones is back to normal, which is when the Acute threat has passed, a relaxation response

Max is an African-American male in his late twenties and works at an auto parts factory on the assembly line. Married with kids and a great social structure composed of close friends and family he has been feeling a financial strain recently that has taken a toll with the relationship with his wife. The neighborhood he and his family lives in has recently become unsafe due to crime rates increasing. To cope with all the stress and strain he has, Max exercises regularly but then eats a high fat diet and smokes.