Long-Term Synthesis

In an acute stressor, the immune system is heightened. But is suppressed in a chronic stressor. In this situation the cortisol levels rise, and weaken the immune system. This weaken system can make the human body more susceptible to serious disease, infections

When put under stress, both humans and baboons have cortisol and adrenaline found in their blood. These hormones are critical for survival, and other physical changes in the body such as a racing heart, increased blood pressure, and quickly responding muscles are all present when the body is put under stress. However, in regard to humans, these same physical responses can occur when the body is not in a life in death situation. Instead, it is common for psychological stresses such as public speaking, taking a test, paying taxes, or driving a vehicle to invoke the same physiological responses as someone in a critical situation. This can be unhealthy for the human body, as many people can get worked up over multiple stressors in one day,

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).

Viewed from an evolutionary standpoint, in early times stress caused the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in an outpouring of the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucocorticoids that were essential to the life-preserving fight or flight reactions of primitive man (Anthony 1988). However, the nature of stress for the individual today is different. It is only occasionally and unexpectedly that one is confronted with overwhelming, life-threatening stresses. Present stresses arise from everyday stresses of work, finances and school. The problem is that the body still continues to respond in the same fashion as primitive times. This makes the large release of hormones very harmful. They can cause an increase in blood pressure, damage muscle tissue, lead to infertility, inhibit growth, damage the hippocampus and suppress the immune system (Carlson 1994). It is therefore, important that individuals learn to control the stresses in their lives. The more detrimental coping behaviors will cause a larger change

Most people have heard about cortisol and that it is related to both stress and to weight gain, but not a lot of people understand much about it beyond that. It is actually a hormone that is released naturally by your adrenal glands. This happens naturally when you are under stress. The point of it is to help your body respond to what is going on around you. The trouble occurs when the levels stay high for too long. When people remain in a constant state of stress, they have increased cortisol levels. This, in turn, can cause health problems. Some of the problems that this can cause or exacerbate are weight gain, disrupted sleep, high blood pressure, low energy, and a bad mood.

These adaptive mechanisms can become maladaptive if unresolved after precipitating events have passed, leading to interferences in emotional regulation (Liston, McEwen, & Casey, 2009; Juster et al., 2011). Imaging studies show alterations in the brain structures that assist in regulation of the stress response—the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex—due to prolonged exposure to stress (Carrion et al. 2010; Rao et al. 2010). The over activation of this fear circuitry in the brain can lead to distorted processing, contributing to depression (Thienkrua et al., 2006; Neria, Besser, Kiper, & Westphal, 2010; Rao et al., 2010), anxiety (Derryberry and Reed, 2002; Goldin et al., 2009; Graham and Milad, 2014), and mood impairments (Kobasa, 1979; Linehan, 1993; Haller and Miles, 2004). These cognitive changes can also contribute to insomnia, chronic pain, addictive disorders, impairment of immunity, and development of coping mechanisms such as smoking, use of alcohol or drugs, overeating, and other survival mechanisms (Raja, 2012). The allostatic load of a chronically over-activated hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system can lead to development of comorbid health conditions such as cardiovascular disease,

After a stressful event, the levels of hormones ACTH (adrenocorticotrophin) and CRH (corticotropin) increase, making a rise in cortisol levels. When there is inadequate or excess amounts or cortisol present, a negative feedback system functions on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland which then alerts these areas to reduce the amount of ACTH and CRH to help reduce cortisol secretion till there is an adequate level

Cortisol has been shown to have the greatest effect on the health of a person. Cortisol is a hormone released in stressful situations. Cortisol levels in young children have been shown to increase when the child is left in the care of someone they are unfamiliar with and when they attempt to interact or play with large groups of other children. (Turvett 2008) Lack of control in a situation is associated with a lack of recovery of cortisol, which can lead to a range of negative health effects. (Ursin 2004)

Cortisol has a main function, this is to restore homeostasis following exposure to stress (Randall’12, 2011), the effects of cortisol are felt over the entire body and “impact several homeostatic mechanisms. While cortisol’s primary targets are metabolic, it also affects ion transport, the immune response, and even memory” (Randall’12, 2011). Stress even over relatively short periods and in different contexts, “tend to produce similar results: prolonged healing times, reduction in ability to cope with vaccinations, and heightened vulnerability to viral infection. The long-term effects of constant cortisol exposure associated with chronic stress produces further symptoms, including impaired cognition, decreased thyroid function, and accumulation

“The kingdom of heaven is within the mind of a person, not within the collective mindlessness of a crowd.” In the articles, “The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent”, by Jeffery R. Holland and “Propaganda under a dictatorship”, by Aldous Huxley are two totally different topics. This paper will be a breaking down of the two articles and finding the similarities between the two of them. It will be interesting, but nothing is impossible. The two topics are Hitler wanting so much power and control over the people and the Trinity and how other religions do not think we are Christians because we do not believe in the Trinity; I will be breaking down how God, Jesus Christ, and Hitler all want power, but in different

Within the hippocampus, long-term potentiation (LTP) results due to the increased activity between a presynaptic and a postsynaptic neuron. The stimulation and subsequent depolarisation of a presynaptic CA3 pyramidal neuron results in the opening of voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC). Thus, an influx in Ca2+ occurs, and glutamate vesicles are fused via synaptotagmin. The fusing of these vesicles allows the release of glutamate, a neurotransmitter which will bind to AMPA receptors and induce the influx of Na+ into the postsynaptic CA1 pyramidal neuron. This will result in the depolarisation of the postsynaptic neuron, which is one of the requirements for the opening and consequent induction of Ca2+ through the NMDA receptor. Through a cascade

showed that prenatal stress decreases cell turnover and proliferation in the hypothalamus of adult rats, which reduces structural plasticity and reduces the response to stress in adulthood. This study also showed that when prenatally stressed rats were stressed in adulthood the females showed an increase in corticotropin-releasing hormone suggesting it to be an up-regulation in the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis. Males showed no elevation of corticosterone levels. Increase in adrenocorticotropic hormone with no effect of adult stress and a decrease in the corticotropin-releasing hormone mRNA in the hypothalamus showed a down-regulation. The author concludes that this makes prenatally stressed females less reactive to later life stressors than

One of these hormones (cortisol) is associated with the chronic stress (Ursin and Olff, 1993). The major influence of the increase of these hormones in the animal is to reduce inflammations and to increase glucose metabolism (Stephens, 1980), in addition, the emotional reaction might change the animal behaviors. Meanwhile, individuality, species, breed, past experiences of an animal and the nature and severity of the stressors, could influence the magnitude and type of the stress response (Clark et al., 1997). The word stress should be used for that part of poor welfare, especially chronic stress that involves failure to cope, and influence on biological fitness of animal (Moberg, 2000; Bartolomé et al.,

There is also the problem of prolonged and severe stress as many people’s lifestyles can easily produce stressors and this increases their chances of a stress related illness. Much of the research regarding stressors and their long-term effects on the body comes from Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome (1956). A lot of Seyle’s research was based on using laboratory animals and his results showed that constant exposure to severe stressors produces three physiological phases, the first phase is alarm reaction, and this showed the bodies physiological response to a situation with stressful stimuli. Phase two was known as the stage of resistance in which if the stressful stimuli (stressor) persists or is not dealt with correctly the body seeks to maintain arousal at a constant lower level. The final phase was the stage of exhaustion where by eventually the continued high arousal levels exhaust the body’s resources producing both negative physiological and psychological effects.

The alarm stage is divided into two parts, at first the individual finds itself in a phase of shock