HLWL 2230 Stress Management Quiz #1

Who is the physiologist who fist coined the term fight-or-flight?

Walter Cannon

What is the definition of stress?

(inability to cope with) a PERCEIVED threat (real or imagined) to our mind, body, spirit, or emotions

What are the 2 kinds of distress? Explain.

Acute stress is intense and short-lived Chronic stress is of lower intensity and prolonged in time

Distress

Distress is the bad stress that causes physiological harm.

Eustress

Eustress is known as good stress, which comes from motivating or inspiring situations and are generally enjoyable and not threatening. It serves as a positive motivation.

Neustress

Neustress is stress, or sensory stimuli, that do not have any consequential effect and is either good nor bad.

Be familiar with physiological reactions in fight-or-flight. Do any of the reactions produce a decrease in function?

Increased heart rate Increased blood pressure Increased ventilation Increased vasodilation to periphery Increased serum glucose Increased free fatty acid mobilization Increased blood coagulation Increased neural activity to muscles DECREASED gastric movement and abdominal blood flow Increased perspiration

Generally speaking, how do men & women react differently to stress?

Men are prone to act more hostile and think their way through problems by looking for solutions. Their usual stress response is fight-or flight. Women use the tend and befriend response as an inherent nurturing response for offspring and means for befriending others to create strong social support systems, due to DNA and hormones. The support systems allow women to talk about their stress and stressors.

What is fight-or-flight?

Process that describes the dynamics involved in the body's physiological arousal to survive a threat. From studying animals, Cannon found that the body prepares itself for two ways for immediate response to stress- fight (attack, defend) or flight (escape danger).

What are the 4 stages of fight-or-flight (stress response)?

Stage 1: Stimulus sent to brain Stage 2: Brain deciphers stimulus- not threat, end of response; threat, nervous and endocrine systems activated for survival Stage 3: Body stays activated and aroused until threat is over Stage 4: Body returns to homeostasis (physiological calmness) until threat is gone

What does Tend & Befriend refer to?

Tend and Befriend refers to Shelley Taylor's theory of the female stress response, to differentiate responses between genders.

Briefly, what does the Yerkes-Dodson curve illustrate?

The Yerkes-Dodson curve illustrates the relationship between stress levels and performance as well as the relationship between eustress, distress, and health. It shows that stress (eustress) increases performance to a certain point and is necessary to reach maximum performance/health, but afterwards it becomes distress and decreases performance/health.