Psychological And Sociological Factors Of Stress

Society defines stress as anything which forces us to change. Through technical terms stress is defined as “a negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taking or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope.” To explaining stress researchers came up with the “Cognitive appraisal model”, this system works to tell us whether we believe we have enough resources to deal with the situation without becoming stressed. For instance as a now college student those who have had previous experience taking finales in high school can have less stress than those who have not taken it. This is because they have previous experience with taking the tests and learning how to study while those who have never taken one can become extremely stressed over the unknown of the test. Stress is one of the sub branches that is attached to the world of health psychology. Health psychology is a quickly growing branch that deals with the way the mind and body work together. Psychologists that work in the health field came up with the biopsychosocial model. This model explains the complex interaction with biological, psychological, and social factors.

Once your brain has decided there’s a danger, in stressful situations, it sends immediate nerve signals down your spinal cord to the pituitary gland and all the ways to the kidneys where your adrenal gland resides, which is how adrenaline is released. Once released, adrenaline increases the amount of sugar in your blood, increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure. The brain’s hypothalamus also sends signals to your pituitary gland, which allows the body to release Cortisol: Cortisol is a stress response that allows the blood and sugar pressure to remain high, which helps when escaping from danger. For instance, in an interview, which presents a challenge, simulated the same biological reaction that a threat to your life does.

When the sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear, the body speeds and tenses up, and, overall, becomes extremely alert. It then sends out impulses to glands and smooth muscles, while alerting the adrenal medulla to release the stress hormones, norepinephrine and epinephrine, into the bloodstream. At the same time, the hypothalamus releases the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)

Stress generates autonomic and endocrine responses that promote physiological coping (Chrousos and Gold, 1992; Myers et al., 2013). Stress responses are initiated in part by brainstem noradrenergic (NE) neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract (A2 region), as depletion of A2 NE neurons reduces pressor responses to psychosocial stressors (Duale et al., 2007; Daubert et al., 2012). Cardioavascular stress responses are likely mediated by rich A2 projections to central cardioregulatory circuits, including the ventrolateral medulla (Ross et al., 1985), preautonomic subdivisions of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and/or the anteroventral subdivisions of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) (Ricardo and Koh, 1978; Swanson and Sawchenko, 1982; Riche et al., 1990). The A2 region also sends direct projections to medial parvocellular corticotrophin-relasing hormone (CRH) (Sawchenko and Swanson, 1982) neurons, which are responsible for activation of hypothalamo-pituitary adrenocortical (HPA) axis responses (Plotsky et al.,

The adrenal glands produce and secret important hormones that help control heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and the way the body reacts to stress or danger. (National Cancer Institute, 2014)

At the same time, the hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor into the pituitary gland, activating the adrenal-cortical system. This leads to behaviours such as increase in heartrate and blood pressure, pupils dilating to take in as much light as possible.

The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is part of the stress response system, and has the effect of changing the organism's behavior in order to increase the organism's chances to survive the stressful situation. When stress is present, the

The hypothalamus is the bridge between the nervous system and the endocrine system. In terms of the nervous system, the hypothalamus is involved as it receives information from different parts of the nervous system. The hypothalamus is responsible for maintaining homeostasis, including the controlling regulation for body temperature, thirst, and blood pressure. For example the hypothalamus acts as a thermometer for the body (temperature of blood passing hypothalamus acts as thermometer), and in response it stimulates sweating or vasodilation to cool down. Whereas an endocrine organ, the hypothalamus is involved with the pituitary gland. Hormones such as Gonadotropin-releasing hormone, anti-diuretic hormone or corticotrophin hormone are all secreted by the hypothalamus. The release of hormones means it may lead to inhibiting or releasing hormone from the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus is able to work things between the anterior and posterior pituitary due to

Epinephrine is a (stress) hormone that has a short life that immediately responses to challenges in the sympathetic nervous system and also acts as a neurotransmitter. Its side kick, norepinephrine is known for regulating blood pressure. When the body is put into stress, the chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla will build catecholamines and when released will bind to the protein plasma (albumin). Cortisol is also a hormone (glucocorticoid) produced by the adrenal cortex that is activated during stress by ACTH, but has a long-term effector and half- life. Catecholamines and cortisol are both (stress) hormones that are located in the adrenal gland/cortex. They both increase glucose production and release, increase hormone-sensitivity, and has actions on most of the same tissue / systems. In addition, together they can suppress the TH1 response causing Th2 to shift.

The hypothalamus secretes chemicals called releasing hormones and inhibiting hormones that either stimulate or inhibit the secretion of a specific anterior pituitary hormone by the adenohypophysis. Through negative feedback, the hypothalamus adjusts the secretions of the anterior

9 Physiologically stress is when a person’s brain detects a stressor and sends signals to the brain to deal with the stress. The hormone cortisol is released from the adrenal gland in the body after messages are sent from the pituitary gland. The cortisol molecules enter the bloodstream and are transported throughout the blood. Any target cells with the correct glycoproteins bind the cortisol and it prepares the body to deal with stress. This reaction is called the “fight

In short, the hypothalamus controls the flow of hormones in the body to maintain homeostatic levels.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) deals with regulating the response to stress, adrenal gland cortex to release

Stress is the main reason that CRH is released from the hypo thalamus. Stress is a potent activator of CRH release from the hypo-thalamus and the fiber pathways of the system, making CRH and GnRH having a direct connection. These hormones are known to be inside of the female reproduction system in the walls of the uterus, ovaries, and linings. But when a woman is over stress for long periods the results can be premature labor and or egg release and many other factors that affect reproduction. The Psychological effects are devastation from not carrying an embryo to mature into a baby and then full term delivering a healthy baby. Most women dream of having a healthy baby or babies and becoming a mother. To experience the feeling of motherhood

      Stress is an ongoing dilemma that occurs in each and everyone’s life. It is a factor that is undoubtedly a part of daily living. Due to the trivial problems that occur in people’s daily lives massive amounts of stress can arise. People perceive and manage stress in many different ways. The causes and effects of stress are numerous and one’s ability to manage stress is vital in maintaining healthy living.