Stress as a Social Determinant of Health Essay

The definition of stress according to the Oxford dictionary is “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.”

“Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances”. It is generally known as “pattern of disruptive physiological and psychological reaction to events that threaten the ability to cope” (Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2017).

Stress is defined as the “non specific response of the body to any demand for change”. It was coined by Hans Selye in 1936. A highly subjective phenomenon. There are many signs of having/getting stress; Physical, Psychological, Behavioural and Emotional.

Stress is a nonspecific response of the human organism to any demand make upon it. It can influence the way we perform on tests and homework and how we act at home or work. There are different types of stress that can occur in the body. Acute stress is the body’s response to imminent danger. This short-term stress usually occurs when we are told we will have a quiz or have to give a speech in class. Chronic stress is a prolonged physical or emotional stress. This can cause damage to the body if the stress lasts for too long. Optimal stress is intense enough to motivate and physically prepare us to perform well but not enough to cause harm to the body.

This scholarly paper is about stress, one of the social determinants of health, and how stress occurs and how it influences the health and wellbeing of an individual. Stress affects the mental and psychological health of a person, which reflects in their thoughts and emotions, ultimately, making them think or act in a different way than normal. This abnormal behaviour could potentially lead to further severe mental damage. Stress also affects a person’s family and people near them, resulting in separation or loss of friendship, marriage and other social bonds with communities. The paper also endeavours to look into some of the strategies to overcome stress and the ways to fit into a healthy and happy life

Stress is a physical, mental, or emotional stimuli that causes bodily or mental tension. People often associate stress as experiencing feelings of anxiety. People who go through stress often report feeling overwhelmed and edgy. Stress can be

Substantial progress has been made by academic researchers to gain insight into social determinants of health. Consequently, the Centre for Urban Health at the WHO Regional Office for Europe approached the International Centre for Health and Society at University College Hospital London to help summarise research work on social determinants of health in ten messages with the main aim of translating research advances into action (Marmot and Wilkinson, 2005). The ten messages were subsequently published as The Solid Facts (Wilkinson and Marmot 1998) which include stress, social gradient, early life, social exclusion, work, unemployment, social support, addiction, food and transport. The aim of this brief essay is to demonstrate the impact of stress as a social determinant of health.

Stress could be defined as a normal physiological response by the body to situations or stimuli which the brain perceives as dangerous or threatening to the body. The body is a complex system and over time developed a way of responding that was designed to keep us safe. Our subconscious mind is alert for anything that might threaten our well being and when the brain perceives a threat a physiological response occurs that prepares us

     First, stress is defined as an unpleasant state of emotional and physiological arousal that people experience in situations that they perceive as dangerous or threatening to their well being (Patel, 14). Stress is a universal feeling to everyone but the word stress means different things to

Psychological stress is a result of many factors and should be dealt with very carefully. Stress can be defined as “An excess of demand made upon the adaptive capabilities of the mind and body”.(Joseph 1). Another way of putting it, is that there are some things that put certain demands on us. The effects of stress should not be limited to unpleasant emotional states. Many studies have concluded that the effects on our physical health from stress can be extremely detrimental. These adverse physical effects include heart disease and formations of cancer. There are also some societal issues that psychological stress can hamper.

So what is stress? Stress is a normal physical response that happens when you feel threatened or upset. When you feel that you are in danger whether it is real or imaged. Your body has a response when stress occurs and it is a way of actually protecting you. Many times, stress helps people stay more focussed and energetic.

Hans Selye (1982) points out that few people define the concept of stress in the same way or even bother to attempt a clear-cut definition. According to Selye, an important aspect of stress is that a wide variety of dissimilar situations are capable of producing the stress response such as fatigue, effort, pain, fear, and even success. This has led to several definitions of stress, each of which highlights different aspects of stress. One of the most comprehensive models of stress is the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress (Bernard & Krupat, 1994). According to the Biopsychosocial Model of Stress, stress involves three components: an external component, an internal component, and the interaction between the external and internal components.

Distress is the type of stress that has negative implications, whereas eustress has a positive form of stress, usually related to desirable events in someone’s life. Therefore, I would characterize the Genentech’s employees as experiencing eustress. For example, all these programs that Genentech offers to its employees make life less stressful. The employees, who work for Genentech, enjoy working and they are proud of the cancer-fighting drugs their company produce, and also the egalitarian policies.

And this last one, to a certain extent, is true. Some stress is good for us. It keeps us excited, challenged and gives us a sense of urgency. Two psychologists, Robert M Yerkes and John Dillinger Dodson, identified way back in 1908 that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.

Based on these findings from research done previously I feel that this study is important. Firstly, we need to understand what causes the stressors and how it affects the individual. For example, if you have an entire university with stressed students, not being productive, not performing well academically perhaps thinking of dropping out of university because of the overwhelming anxiety; it can be detrimental to the institution in terms of status and students in terms of individual realisation. Secondly, we soon have to formulate effective and efficient stress management guidelines as we