Stress: A 21st Century Health Epidemic

Study Notes

The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies stress as a major health concern in the 21st century.

Stress is a multifaceted concept studied from different perspectives.
Some researchers define stress as situations threatening well-being or the responses to those situations.
Others view stress as a process of evaluating and coping with threatening situations.
Stress can also refer to the experience of being threatened by challenging circumstances.

Stressors: Various external and internal stimuli that trigger stress.
Types of Stressors:
- Cataclysmic events: Extreme stressors like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados, causing fear, injury, and unpredictable outcomes.
- Personal stressors: Negative life events such as death, job loss, divorce, and academic transitions.
- Daily hassles: Chronic, low-intensity events and frustrations, including losing things, traffic jams, etc.

Stress is an inherent part of life.
Moderate stress can be beneficial, motivating learning, growth, and goal achievement.

Physiological Pathway: This pathway involves the nervous and endocrine systems.
Psychological Pathway: This pathway involves psychological processes like thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Nervous system: Controls vital functions like vision, hearing, smell, temperature regulation, and responses to danger.
Nervous & endocrine systems: Work together to maintain homeostasis (balance) for survival and well-being.
Central Nervous System (CNS): Main control center.
Somatic Nervous System: Responsible for external environmental changes, including sensory input and voluntary movements.
Autonomic Nervous System: Regulates internal environment and involuntary functions.

Autonomic nervous system: Governs automatic bodily responses.
Responsible for “fight or flight” response:
- Sympathetic Nervous system: activates the body in response to stress, mobilizing energy and preparing for action.
Responsible for “rest and digest” response:
- Parasympathetic Nervous System: Calms the body after stress, conserving and restoring energy.

In today's society, stressors are often chronic and prolonged.
This can lead to prolonged activation of the sympathetic nervous system which often overrides the parasympathetic nervous system.

The hypothalamus is the central command center for the stress response, activating the pituitary gland.
The senses sharpen in response to stress.
Blood pressure rises.
Breathing quickens, and the lungs take in more oxygen.
Heart beats faster.
Glucose and fats are released into the bloodstream for energy.
The adrenal glands release cortisol, adrenaline (epinephrine), and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), further amplifying the stress response.