Module 3 Notes (2) PDF

Module 3: Environmental stress 3.1 Concept and type of stress. What Is Stress? Stress. It’s a six-letter word that many of us dread. Whether it’s a tense interaction with a boss or pressure from friends and family, we all face stressful situations from time to time. Have you ever been in a...

Module 3: Environmental stress 3.1 Concept and type of stress. What Is Stress? Stress. It’s a six-letter word that many of us dread. Whether it’s a tense interaction with a boss or pressure from friends and family, we all face stressful situations from time to time. Have you ever been in a situation in which you felt completely overwhelmed? Maybe you felt like you were unable to cope with what you were experiencing? If so, what you were feeling was stress. Stress occurs when an event or stimulus requires us to change in some way. Stress is our brain's way of saying, 'I know I have to change, but I don't have to like it!' Stress involves an imbalance between what is demanded of us and what we are able to cope with or respond to. Stress describes the unpleasant feelings or emotions that you may have when you feel overwhelmed. These emotions and feelings can get in the way of your daily living and affect how you react to the people around you. Stress varies based on the individual and situation. Most stress is temporary, although there are situations where stress can last for a long time. For example, people who work in sales and advertising generally find that there are high levels of stress associated with their careers. In these cases, stress must be managed. For example, a first-time parent may feel stress as a result of bringing a new baby home, but by the end of the first week, the parent has ideally learned how to cope with these demands and is no longer stressed. Stress can build over time if not managed properly, causing several health effects, including anxiety, headaches, problems sleeping, depression, and high blood pressure. It’s no secret that the long-term effects of distress can damage our health. Stress has the ability to negatively impact our lives. It can cause physical conditions, such as headaches, digestive issues, and sleep disturbances. It can also cause psychological and emotional strains, including confusion, anxiety, and depression. According to the American Psychological Association, untreated chronic stress, or stress that’s constant and lasts over an extended period of time, can result in high blood pressure or a weakened immune system. It can also contribute to the development of obesity and heart disease. Some stress is necessary for all living systems; it is the means by which they encounter and respond to the challenges and uncertainties of existence. The perception of danger sets off an automatic response system, known as the fight-or-flight response, that, activated through hormonal signals, prepares an animal to meet a threat or to flee from it. Types of Stress Eustress There are several different types of stress, and not all of them are necessarily unhealthy. The term "eustress" comes from the Greek root eu- which means "good" (as in "euphoria"). Eustress results when a person perceives a stressor as positive. Not all stress is the same. Some of the stress that we face in life can be more detrimental to our well-being, and some types of stress can actually be healthy for us. Eustress, on the other hand, can be beneficial and is actually necessary for our overall wellbeing. This is the type of "positive" stress that keeps us vital and excited about life. The excitement of a roller-coaster ride, a scary movie, or a fun challenge are all examples of eustress. The anticipation of a first date, the first day at a new job, or other exciting firsts also fall under the umbrella of eustress. Eustress is a type of stress that is actually important for us to have in our lives. Without it, we would become bored at best and, in more serious cases, depressed. We would begin to feel a lack of motivation to accomplish goals and a lack of meaning in life without enough eustress. Not striving for goals, not overcoming challenges, not having a reason to wake up in the morning would be damaging to us, so eustress is considered 'good' stress. It keeps us healthy and happy. Eustress is fun and exciting. It's known as a positive type of stress that can keep you energized. It's associated with surges of adrenaline, such as when you are skiing or racing to meet a deadline. A positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance, and emotional well-being. Distress: The word ‘Distress’ stems from the Latin root dis- (as in "dissonance" or "disagreement"). Medically defined distress is a threat to the quality of life. It occurs when a demand vastly exceeds a person's capabilities. It refers to the negative stress response, often involving negative affect and physiological reactivity: a type of stress that results from being overwhelmed by demands, losses, or perceived threats. It has a detrimental effect by generating physical and psychological maladaptation and posing serious health risks for individuals. This generally is the intended meaning of the word stress. Types of Distress: Acute stress: Acute stress is one of the least damaging types of stress, which is good because it is also the most common type. We experience acute stress multiple times throughout the day. Acute stress is experienced as an immediate perceived threat, either physical, emotional or psychological. These threats don't need to be intensely threatening—they can be mild stressors like an alarm clock going off, a new assignment at work, or even a phone call that needs to be answered when you're relaxing on the couch and your phone is across the room. Acute stress can also be more serious, like being pulled over for speeding, getting into an argument with a friend, or taking a test. This is the type of stress we most often encounter in day-to-day life. Acute stress happens to everyone. It’s the body’s immediate reaction to a new and challenging situation. It’s the kind of stress you might feel when you narrowly escape a car accident. During an acute stress response, the autonomic nervous system is activated and the body experiences increased levels of cortisol, adrenaline and other hormones that produce an increased heart rate, quickened breathing rate, and higher blood pressure. Blood is pushed from the extremities to the big muscles, preparing the body to fight or run away. This is also known as the fight-or-flight response. They might even be good for you. Stressful situations give your body and brain practice in developing the best response to future stressful situations. Once the danger passes, your body systems should return to normal. Chronic stress: Repeated instances of acute stress, however, can bring more of a toll. Either multiple instances of different acute stressors (a series of unrelated stressful events) or repeated occurrences of the same acute stressors (experiencing the same stress repeatedly) can add up to a state of chronic stress where the body's stress response is constantly triggered. Chronic stress is a prolonged and constant feeling of stress that can negatively affect your health if it goes untreated. It can be caused by the everyday pressures of family and work or by traumatic situations. When you have high-stress levels for an extended period of time, you have chronic stress. Long-term stress like this can have a negative impact on your health. Chronic stress occurs when the body experiences stressors with such frequency or intensity that the autonomic nervous system does not have an adequate chance to activate the relaxation response on a regular basis. This means that the body remains in a constant state of physiological arousal. Chronic stress is stress that seems never-ending and inescapable, like the stress of a bad marriage or an extremely taxing job; chronic stress can also stem from traumatic experiences and childhood trauma. It may contribute to: anxiety cardiovascular disease depression high blood pressure a weakened immune system Chronic stress can also lead to frequent ailments such as headaches, an upset stomach, and sleep difficulties. Gaining insights into the different types of stress and how to recognize them may help. What is Stress? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dERu8051t4w Eustress and Distress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwfyGA369TI Acute vs Chronic stress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zw4-q7xaYU 3.2 Sources of stressors: Cataclysmic, Ambient stressors, Daily hassles. For an individual to experience stress, he must first encounter a potential stressor. In general, stressors can be placed into one of two broad categories: chronic and acute. Chronic stressors include events that persist over an extended period of time, such as caring for a parent with dementia, long-term unemployment, or imprisonment. Acute stressors involve brief focal events that sometimes continue to be experienced as overwhelming well after the event has ended, such as falling on an icy sidewalk and breaking your leg (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007). Whether chronic or acute, potential stressors come in many shapes and sizes. They can include major traumatic events, significant life changes, daily hassles, as well as other situations in which a person is regularly exposed to threat, challenge, or danger. CATACLYSMIC EVENTS: Cataclysmic stressors are events that occur suddenly and usually affect a lot of people simultaneously. An earthquake would be an example of a cataclysmic event. Another example would be a terrorist attack. Something that’s cataclysmic is violently destructive. The word often refers to natural disasters, like a cataclysmic earthquake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, landslides and other natural disasters are often described as cataclysmic when they cause great devastation. Some stressors involve traumatic events or situations in which a person is exposed to actual or threatened death or serious injury. Stressors in this category include exposure to military combat, threatened or actual physical assaults, terrorist attacks, natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, floods, hurricanes), and automobile accidents. Some individuals who are exposed to stressors of extreme magnitude develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a chronic stress reaction characterized by experiences and behaviors that may include intrusive and painful memories of the stressor event, jumpiness, persistent negative emotional states, detachment from others, angry outbursts, and avoidance of reminders of the event. Natural disasters are caused by intense and powerful natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods. They can also occur because of drought and famine. These and other cataclysmic events are some of the most threatening situations a person can experience. In a sudden and uncontrollable manner, natural forces can take lives and dramatically alter the environment. Natural disasters vary widely in predictability and impact. Earthquakes are virtually unpredictable, whereas hurricanes can be tracked for days before they hit land. However, consequences such as the extent of physical destruction and disruption of daily life often take victims by surprise, even after the more predictable types of events. Months of cleaning and rebuilding can follow initial rescue work and recovery of human remains. Moreover, drawn-out and complicated insurance, litigation, and financial issues may compound adjustment difficulties following disasters (Green et al. 1990). Cataclysmic natural phenomena are widespread, and long-term psychological effects of natural disasters are being studied in the realm of trauma research. Reactions to trauma vary among individuals, and research has focused on documenting the effects of disasters by comparing groups who had different degrees of exposure to the event and predicting who copes well and who does not. Adjustment to natural disasters has been studied in response to hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods. Severe and long-lasting consequences of natural disasters may be exacerbated by characteristics of their onset. For example, sudden disasters with lack of warning are especially devastating. Disaster characteristics such as duration and intensity also influence how people cope with such events. Even events of short duration, such as an earthquake, may cause disruption and threat that last months beyond the acute phase of the disaster. Other characteristics of the disaster experience include threat to one's life, witnessing the death of others, injury to oneself or others, loss of social cohesion and resources of the community, loss of possessions and finances, and separation from family. As with all life changes, adjusting to a new way of being can be difficult. We must begin to think and adjust to new responsibilities, new practical challenges and new ways of thinking in order to solve the problems we face as a result of the life event. While these challenges can be stressful and we can find ourselves rising to the challenge, we can also find ourselves becoming short tempered, frequently angry and easily upset. The resulting emotions associated with these events can include depression and grief, fears about financial fall-out, anger, anxiety and of course, stress. Life changes: Most stressors that we encounter are not nearly as intense as the ones described above. Many potential stressors we face involve events or situations that require us to make changes in our ongoing lives and require time as we adjust to those changes. Examples include death of a close family member, marriage, divorce, and moving. In the 1960s, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe wanted to examine the link between life stressors and physical illness, based on the hypothesis that life events requiring significant changes in a person’s normal life routines are stressful, whether these events are desirable or undesirable. They developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), consisting of 43 life events that require varying degrees of personal readjustment (Holmes & Rahe, 1967). Many life events that most people would consider pleasant (e.g., holidays, retirement, marriage) are among those listed on the SRRS; these are examples of eustress. Holmes and Rahe also proposed that life events can add up over time, and that experiencing a cluster of stressful events increases one’s risk of developing physical illnesses. AMBIENT STRESSORS What types of items are embedded in your current life environment as ambient stress? Have you ever moved out of a situation because of excessive ambient stress? Ambient stress which is a term described as chronic negative conditions that although not urgent, are negatively valued and place adaptive demands on people. Many kinds of stress come from the environmental circumstances that individuals share with others. Examples of this type of stress would consist of excessive noise, traffic, pollution, crowding. The concept of "ambient stressor" is developed to address certain shortcomings in current formulations of environmental stress. Characteristics of ambient stressors are that they are chronic, negatively valued, nonurgent, physically perceptible, and intractable to the efforts of individuals to change them. Distinctions are drawn between the concepts of ambient stressors, acute stressors, and daily hassles. Particular attention is given to differences in psychological appraisals of ambient stressors and daily hassles. Factors are identified that influence appraisal processes (namely, characteristics of the contexts on which ambient stressors impinge) and personal, experiential influences. Life is full of environmental stressors that cause minor irritations. For example, when I use an alarm clock to wake every day, the loud noise from the alarm acts as an environmental stressor. Even though I anticipate the alarm to go off, it still causes that sudden alert when the time comes. Extreme temperatures can also be environmental stressors that lead to discomfort. The ambient stress refers to chronic negative conditions embedded in the environment which are negatively valued and place adaptive demands on people. Many kinds of stress come from the environmental circumstances that individuals share with others which threaten wellbeing, mental and physical health. A study conducted by Evan Kempen in 2006 studied the effects of aircraft and road traffic noise exposure on children's blood pressure and heart rate. After pooling the data, aircraft noise exposure at school was related to an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2078159/ DAILY HASSLES According to Kanner et al. (1981) daily hassles are a source of stress that include irritating, frustrating and distressing demands that people face on a day-to-day basis. Examples of daily hassles could include concerns about weight, health of a family member, rising prices, home maintenance, too many things to do, misplacing or losing things and physical appearance, or all of the above. Potential stressors do not always involve major life events. Daily hassles—the minor irritations and annoyances that are part of our everyday lives (e.g., lost keys, obnoxious co- workers, inclement weather, arguments with friends or family)—can build on one another and leave us just as stressed as life change events (Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981). Researchers have demonstrated that the frequency of daily hassles is actually a better predictor of both physical and psychological health than are life change units. In a well- known study of San Francisco residents, the frequency of daily hassles was found to be more strongly associated with physical health problems than were life change events (DeLongis, Coyne, Dakof, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1982). In addition, daily minor hassles, especially interpersonal conflicts, often lead to negative and distressed mood states (Bolger, DeLongis, Kessler, & Schilling, 1989). Cyber hassles that occur on social media may represent a new source of stress. In one investigation, undergraduates who, over a 10-week period, reported greater Facebook-induced stress (e.g., guilt or discomfort over rejecting friend requests and anger or sadness over being unfriended by another) experienced increased rates of upper respiratory infections, especially if they had larger social networks (Campisi et al., 2012). Clearly, daily hassles can add up and take a toll on us both emotionally and physically. Sources of stressors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO46gFypWKM&t=28s 3.3 Pollutions: noise, air, water, chemical and their consequences. It is generally accepted that all types of pollution can indeed cause public health problems and also harm plant and animal life. 1. Air Pollution Air pollution is a mixture of solid, liquid and gas particles suspended in the air. It can harm us when it accumulates in the air in high enough concentrations. Car emissions, chemicals from factories, and dust are a few examples. Some air pollutants can be poisonous and inhaling them can increase the chance for you to have health problems. People with lung or heart diseases, older adults and children are at greater risk from air pollution. People exposed to high enough levels of certain air pollutants may experience: Irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and breathing difficulties Worsening of existing lung and heart problems, such as asthma Increased risk of heart attack In addition, long-term exposure to air pollution can cause cancer and damage to the immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems. In extreme cases, it can even cause death. 2. Water pollution Water pollution occurs when harmful substances contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment. These toxins can exert tremendous effects on the natural world, leading to environmental degradation and problems like acid rain. Contaminated water can make you ill. Every year, unsafe water sickens about 1 billion people. And low-income communities are at high risk because their homes are often closest to the most polluting industries. Diseases spread by unsafe water include cholera and typhoid. Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater contaminate waterways as well. These contaminants are toxic to aquatic life—most often reducing an organism’s life span. Management of sewage waste products and garbage have posed serious problems for the governments, municipalities and corporations. When our sewage disposals are flushed as it is into the rivers, they lead to water pollution and such water becomes unfit for human use. Water of sacred rivers of the country like Ganga and Yamuna and many other rivers are now unfit for consumption because of pollution by human beings.  3. Land and soil pollution Land and soil pollution is largely the product of poor agricultural practices, inefficient irrigation, improper hazardous chemicals and nuclear waste management, and a range of industrial, military and extractive activities. The Main Causes of Land Pollution include mining, agriculture, Urbanization and Construction and litter. While urbanization is not in itself littering, large quantities of people living, producing trash and littering in a dense area does inevitably lead to land pollution. To accommodate this increased population, construction activities also occur, which result in large waste materials, such as metal, plastic, wood, and bricks. When these materials are not properly disposed of, it contributes to the land pollution of that area Land pollution touches essentially every area of the living world, including: Polluted soil, which leads to a loss of fertile land for agriculture Habitat shifting, where some animals are forced to flee where they live in order to survive 4. Noise Pollution Refers to consistent exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects in humans or other living organisms. Noise pollution is human-produced sound that can damage ecosystems and quality of life. We contribute to noise pollution by driving cars, playing loud music, and operating other loud equipment. Studies have shown that noise pollution is directly linked to reduced sleep times in humans and other animals, which increases stress, promotes disease, and increases the occurrence of mental illness. This type of pollution is so present in today’s society that we often fail to even notice it anymore: street traffic sounds from cars, buses, pedestrians, ambulances etc. construction sounds like drilling or other heavy machinery in operation airports, with constant elevated sounds from air traffic, i.e., planes taking off or landing workplace sounds, often common in open-space offices constant loud music in or near commercial venues industrial sounds like fans, generators, compressor, mills train stations traffic Human Diseases Caused by Noise Pollution: Whether we realize we are subjected to it or not, noise pollution can be hazardous to our health in various ways.  Hypertension is, in this case, a direct result of noise pollution causing elevated blood levels for a longer period of time. Hearing loss can be directly caused by noise pollution, whether listening to loud music in your headphones or being exposed to loud drilling noises at work, heavy air or land traffic, or separate incidents in which noise levels reach dangerous intervals, such as around 140 dB for adults or 120 dB for children. Sleep disturbances are usually caused by constant air or land traffic at night, and they are a serious condition in that they can affect everyday performance and lead to serious diseases. Child development. Children appear to be more sensitive to noise pollution, and a number of noise-pollution-related diseases and dysfunctions are known to affect children, from hearing impairment to psychological and physical effects. Also, children who regularly use music players at high volumes are at risk of developing hearing dysfunctions. In 2001, it was estimated that 12.5% of American children between the ages of 6 to 19 years had impaired hearing in one or both ears Various cardiovascular dysfunctions. Elevated blood pressure caused by noise pollution, especially during the night, can lead to various cardiovascular diseases. 5. Chemical Pollution Chemical pollution is defined as the presence or increase in our environment of chemical pollutants that are not naturally present there or are found in amounts higher than their natural background values. Most of the chemicals that pollute the environment are man-made, resulted from the various activities in which toxic chemicals are used for various purposes. Chemical pollutants mostly result from various human activities like the manufacturing, handling, storing, and disposing of chemicals. These occur in industrial places and activities such as oil refineries, coal power plants, construction, mining & smelting, transportation, agricultural use of pesticides and insecticides, as well as household activities. The chemical industry is another example in this sense, mainly because it is usually linked to polluted waste streams. In fact, the waste streams from chemical industry are now strictly controlled and treated before being released into the environment. But this was not always the case in the past and many rivers and surface water bodies were contaminated by the numerous waste streams coming from various chemical plants, as well as other industrial sources. Even though measures were taken to reduce this type of pollution, its effects are still visible. Household chemicals involve a variety of chemical products and mixtures that can easily become chemical pollutants when released into the environment. Even the everyday detergents are chemical compounds that may pollute our environment! Read the labels of detergent products to confirm that they contain a variety of potentially hazardous chemicals. Chemical pollution can be caused by a variety of chemicals from a variety of sources and can involve a variety of health effects from simple digestive problems to chemical intoxication and sudden death by poisoning. The effects are usually related to the exposure to high amounts of chemicals. Chemical pollution leads to various serious diseases, generally by consuming poisonous food, drinking highly contaminated water, or breathing highly contaminated air. Chemical intoxication can have severe health effects that may trigger immediate symptoms and diseases or delayed effects which may appear after weeks or months since the exposure occurred. This is based on the type of pollutants and on the amounts to which you are exposed.