CHAPTER 10 Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing

• Stress is the process by which we appraise and respond to stressors—events that challenge or threaten us. If we appraise an event as challenging, we will be aroused and focused in preparation for success. If we appraise an event as a threat, we will experience a stress reaction, and our health may suffer.

• The three main types of stressors are catastrophes, significant life changes, and daily hassles.

• Walter Cannon viewed our body’s response to stress as a fight-or-flight system.

• Hans Selye proposed a general three-phase (alarm, resistance, exhaustion) general adaptation syndrome (GAS).

• People may react to stress by withdrawing, turning to alcohol, or becoming emotionally insensitive (more common in men) or by showing a tend-and-befriend response (more common in women), such as when helping others after natural disasters.

Stress Effects and Health

• Stress takes energy away from the immune system, inhibiting the activities of its B and T lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer (NK) cells. This leaves us more vulnerable to illness and disease. Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of these mind-body interactions.

• Although stress does not cause diseases such as AIDS and cancer, it may make us more vulnerable to them and influence their progression.

• Stress is directly connected to coronary heart disease, the United States’ leading cause of death.

• Heart disease has been linked with the competitive, hard-driving, impatient, and (especially) anger-prone Type A personality. Type A people secrete more stress hormones. Chronic stress contributes to persistent inflammation, which is associated with heart and other health problems, including depression.

• Type B personalities are more relaxed and easygoing and less likely to experience heart disease.

• The fight-or-flight stress reaction may divert blood from the liver to the muscles, leaving excess cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream. Stress can also trigger altered heart rhythms.

• Stress may not directly cause illness, but it does make us more vulnerable, by influencing our behaviors and our physiology.

Coping With Stress

• We use direct, problem-focused coping strategies when we feel a sense of control over a situation, and these are usually most effective.

• When lacking that sense of control, we may need to use emotion-focused coping strategies to protect our long-term well-being. These strategies can be harmful if misused.

• Feelings of loss of personal control can trigger physical symptoms, such as increased stress hormones and rising blood pressure. A series of uncontrollable events can lead to learned helplessness.

• Those with an internal locus of control achieve more in school and work, act more independently, enjoy better health, and feel less depressed than do those with an external locus of control.

• Those who develop and maintain self-control earn higher income, get better grades, and are healthier.

• Optimists (those expecting positive outcomes) tend to be in better health than pessimists (those expecting negative outcomes).

• Studies of people with an optimistic outlook show that their immune system is stronger, their blood pressure does not increase as sharply in response to stress, their recovery from heart bypass surgery is faster, and their life expectancy is longer. Yet excessive optimism can blind us to real risks; realistic anxiety over possible future failures can help motivate us to do better.

• Social support promotes health by calming us, by reducing blood pressure and stress hormones, and by fostering stronger immune function. We can significantly reduce our stress and increase our health by building and maintaining relationships with family and friends, and by finding meaning even in difficult times.

Managing Stress Effects

• Aerobic exercise is sustained activity that increases heart and lung fitness, which leads to greater well-being.

• Exercise increases arousal and triggers serotonin activity. It also reduces depression and anxiety.

• Relaxation and meditation have been shown to reduce stress by relaxing muscles, lowering blood pressure, improving immune functioning, and lessening anxiety and depression. Mindfulness meditation is a reflective practice of attending to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner. Massage therapy also relaxes muscles and reduces depression.

• Counseling Type A heart attack survivors to slow down and relax has helped lower rates of recurring attacks.

• Religious involvement predicts better health and longevity. This may be explained by the healthier lifestyles of religiously active people, the social support that comes along with practicing a faith in community, and the positive emotions often found among people who regularly attend religious services.

Happiness

• A good mood brightens people’s perceptions of the world. Happy people tend to be healthy, energized, and satisfied with life. They also are more willing to help others (the feel-good, do-good phenomenon).

• Even significant good or bad events don’t usually change our subjective well-being for long. Happiness is relative to our own experiences (the adaptation-level phenomenon) and to others’ success (the relative deprivation principle).

• Tips for increasing happiness levels: take charge of your schedule, act happy, seek meaningful work and leisure, buy shared experiences rather than things, exercise, sleep enough, foster friendships, focus beyond the self, and nurture gratitude and spirituality.