A) Can stress ever be a positive social determinant of health?
Stress a term used to describe the human response to pressure when faced with challenges or even dangerous situations, resulting in an increase in our energy and alertness, a prolonged exposure to stressful stimuli can lead to harmful effect on health, a functional definition of stress may be hard to establish, the research of stress probably started with Selye Hans (1956) using the term “stress” in his book “the stress of life” referring to stress as the unpleasant environmental events and the physiological reaction toward it, examining the effect of anxious but different physical and emotional stimuli on laboratory animals, suggesting that persistence exposure to stress caused these animals to develop diseases similar to those seen in humans.
The Solid facts document of the World Health Organization (2003) identifies stress as a powerful social determinants of health, indicating the harmful effect of the prolonged hormonal, physiological response to stressful stimuli, on the cardiovascular and immune systems of the human body.
Eustress
When Selye first defined stress he has carefully distinguished between the stressors and the physiological and emotional reaction toward the stress (stress reaction), differentiating between the cause and consequence, the term eustress, was developed by Selye to describe the positive and healthy cognitive response to stress, providing the humans with the drive and motivation to achieve tasks and accomplish goals, when the challenge is addressed, eustress is correlated with positive life satisfaction and well-being.
Eustress is how stress can have a positive impact on our health and well-being, by overcoming the stressor and...
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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.
Recently, studies of stress have shifted from demonstrating relationships between psychological factors and somatic outcomes, to investigations of the mediational pathways involved in these associations. For example, (Cohen and Williamson, 1991) have built on the work of Lazarus’ model by suggesting that once an environmental event is encountered, it is appraised, and an affective response is made. After this response is made, a cascade of behavioral and physiological processes is activated. Behavioral factors such as increased alcohol use, reduced exercise, changes in sleep quantity/quality, and changes in diet, have shown to be related to stress. In turn, stress-related changes are associated with many hormonal fluctuations known to influence susceptibility to disease (Schedlowski and Tewes, 1999).
Chorousos et al. (1988) define stress as “the recognition by the body of a stressor and therefore the state of threatened homeostasis”. Schaffer (2000) defines stress as “the arousal of mind and body in response to demands made on them. And according to Sapolsky (1994 p7) a stressor is anything that throws the body out of homeostatic balance, for example, an illness, loud noise, an injury etc. Cox (1978 p. 180) defines stress as a “complex and dynamic system of transaction between the person and his environment”. Based on the published definitions of stress, the author therefore defines stress as anything that causes the body to be uncomforted. Stress can be caused by several different factors ranging from physical (such as fear of something dangerous) to emotional such as worry over children, job, marriage etc.
To a great extent, stress can be a helpful response, especially for prehistoric humans. During this era, our species needed to react quickly to outside stimuli through a response of “fight or flight”. Through stress, certain hormones are released to help the individual resist the stressor, which may have meant running away from a natural predator. Thus, stress is a positive response that ensures the survival of the species. However, stress over a prolonged period of time causes exhaustion in the individual. Consequently, although stress can be helpful for individuals today, many often experience chronic stress, inflicting varying degrees of damage to their bodies.
The phenomenon of stress is presented in our lives more and more strongly. In the media, on the internet or at the doctor, we hear about it constantly. But what exactly is this phenomenon? “A large number of studies during the past several decades have explored relationships among environmental stimuli, psychological processes and organismic responses. Those studies that have investigated the various ways in which environmental changes or the perceived threat of such changes lead organisms to make specific adaptive responses are often subsumed under the rubric of stress research.”( Field, Mccabe, Schneiderman, 1985).
Stress, as defined as a reaction to a stimulus that breaks our physical and mental harmony, is ubiquitous. However, stress has two sides – the bad and the good, in which the latter is mostly overlooked as most people suffer from the affliction of the former.
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.
What is Stress actually? Hans Selye, the noted stress researcher, once said, “Stress is a scientific concept which has suffered from the mixed blessing of being too well known and too little understood. Physicians, psychologists, biologists, engineers, and students may each have a different meaning in mind when they talk about stress”. One useful definition of stress is that it is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of the mind and body.
(AC 1) Stress is defined as the state when people are experiencing difficulties in coping with the situations they are in due to the lacking of abilities or knowledge to handle them (Anxiety UK, ND). These situations are often referred as stressors. The way how individuals are reacting to these stressors is referred as stress response.
Considering the effect of stress on human functioning may be an effective way to understand the relationship between behavior and environment; it can help one begin to identify the environmental qualities that interfere with human functioning (Evans & Cohen, 1987). Most researchers agree that the concept of stress is “a state that occurs when people are faced with demands from the environment that requires them to change in some way” (Vetch & Arkkelin, 1995, p. 118). However, it is unclear whether that demand is stress or if stress is a person’s response to the demand. Therefore, there are several theoretical perspectives regarding the concept of stress. Below are just two of the theoretical perspectives (Veitch & Arkkelin, 1995).
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.
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.
The first type of stress is eustress which is a positive stress. Positive stress may enhance the good feelings of stressors. According to Meenakshisundaram (2012), eustress is an interesting stress and keep us more essential. Indeed, this type of stress can energize, motivate and raise stressors up in difficulties instead of improve their health. For example, events such as getting married, having a child may increase the motivation of the stressors to the pleasureable.
Stress is defined as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).
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 different people. Some people define stress as events or situations that cause them to feel tension, pressure or negative emotions such as anxiety or anger (Patel, 15). Other people may view stress as a process involving a person’s interpretation and response to a threatening event. In any case, stress has many facets of how one perceives and responds to the certain predicament that is ailing them.