Health Psych Exam 3

Spending time in nature

- Lower depression and lower blood pressure - Higher energy and personal well-being - lower stress and stress related illness - better physical and mental health - People who live with less than 10% tree canopy more likely to report depression, stress, and anxiety

Research on mindfulness

- Meditation increases: connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex, Neuroplasticity, Speed at which attention can be allocated and relocated, Depth of information processing -Mindfulness-based stress reduction training: Engages prefrontal cortex region of brain, Regulates affect and downregulates activity in limbic system, Decreases stress, anxiety, depression, Decreases blood pressure, "Decreases" pain, Helps with quitting smoking, dieting, substance abuse

LGBT health disparities

- Studies estimate that 25% of trans people, 17% of queer people and 19% of bi people are currently uninsured (compared to 8.8% as a whole) - could be due to lack of protection - if states don't recognize same sex partners, you couldn't get on partners health insurance - affordable care act prohibited sex discrimination including LGBT, but in June government said "no, LGBT not included)

Recent meta analysis on health

- affiliative humor: to tell jokes, reduce tension, strengthen bonds, - self enhancing: humor about stressful things - aggressive humor: downgrades others - self defeating: directing humor towards health - self defeating: negative mental health - affiliative and self enhancing: positive mental health

Learned Helplessness (textbook)

- belief that they were powerless to do anything about the noxious stimulation they were receiving - - most failed to even try; they seemed to just give up and passively accept any shocks the experimenters chose to administer. In comparison, dogs who were previously allowed to escape the shocks tended to jump the partition and escape the pain

Alcohol consumption

- biggest peak in 1980s - not really reaching huge proprtions now but people are acting like we are - there is rise now, but not crazy

Effects of too little sleep (Blood sugar regulation)

- chronic sleep loss decreases ability to secrete and respond to insulin - less insulin secreted and cells become insulin resistant - can aggravate diabetes

What aspects of our culture are anti-mindfulness

- concept of multitasking - pressure to always work - US has longer workdays with less vacations - future focused (school prepares for college prepares for career)

Types of problem focused coping

- confrontative coping (stand your ground, expressed anger to person who caused it, fight for what you think is right) - planful problem solving (I knew what had to be done so I doubled my efforts, I made a plan) - seeking problem focused social support (talk to someone who can do something about it, get professional help)

Exercise

- considered to be the most effective strategy for minimizing impact of stressful events on health - physiologically: enhances blood flow to brain, stimulates autonomic nervous system, and triggers release of hormones/neurotransmitters (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, growth hormone). Aerobically fit individuals display more rapid physiological recovery following mental laboratory stress - Physcologically: change of pace, reduces depression and anxiety

Problem focused coping

- coping focused on changing the objective situation - not really dealing with emotions, but actually dealing with stressor

Rural health disparities

- deaths caused by unintentional injury higher in rural - across variety of causes, higher risk of dying in rural compared to urban Why? - less access to medical care in general in rural areas - may have to drive 3-4 hours to get to hospital, especially hard for women in labor - could be access to emergency medical care, every minute counts in medical emergency (not backed up by research)

Effects of too little sleep (Cardiovascular system)

- decreases vagal tone (vagal tone is good) (vagus nerve quickly affects heart rate. low vagus tone means vagus isn't as quick at responding) - less control of heart through nervous system - increase risk of developing heart disease - increase blood pressure overtime - can aggravate hypertension

ted talk vid - problem with race based medicine

- doctors treat people by race - interpret GFR (kidney function) by race - assumption that african americans have more muscle mass - why not just use it on individual basis - multiple tests like this - black and latinos less likely to get pain meds for same bone fractures as white people - race specific medicine - many doctors still use outdated diagnostic tool developed in slavery - still believe black people have lower lung capacity - spirometer "corrects" for race

Ted talk vid race disparities

- every 7 minutes, black person dies prematurely in US - more to the story than just income differences - at every level of education, white people live longer than black peole - higher levels of discrimination associated with many diseases - people have unconscious subtle biases, even well meaning people - 1978 - black households ear 59 cents for every $1 white families - still true in 2015

History of alcohol promotion

- government didn't promote alcohol for cardiovascular benefits, there's other less risky options - people say red wine in particular is good for you, but red wine is no better than other alcohol - the wine industry good at promoting this idea

Health disparity

- health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage - disparities exist based on race, age, gender, education, income, sexual orientation, etc - race disparities better than studied than other disparities

Longitudinal studies sleep

- higher chance of dying younger when chronically sleep deprived - the average adult doesn't get enough sleep

Why do people drink (social learning theory)

- immediate positive reinforcement (immediately makes you feel good) - negative reinforcement (removes tenstion for some people, get rid of hangover) Modeling (learn to drink by observing others) (family and friends) Punishment? - throwing up, making fool of self - but, punishers don't happen every time - sometimes you drink you only feel reinforcement - in order for punishment to work, it has to be consistent and immediate

Effects of too little sleep (Immune system functioning)

- more likely to get colds - people with less sleep in study 3x more likely to get cold - weaker response to vaccination - reduces natural killer cell activity - once you get enough sleep again, immune system recovers

Optimists way of coping

- more likely to make challenge appraisals - more problem focused coping - problem focused social support - positive reappraisal - less likely to compromise health beh - more likely to use healthy health habits

Pessimists way of coping

- more likely to use distancing or denial (escape/avoid) - in some ways, less likely to use emotional coping b/c they ruminate - more likely to disengage from goal that's causing stress (Ex: don't apply to grad school cause it's stressful) - more cancer mortality

Hardiness and health

- people who are hardy are more likely to be physically and mentally healthy - more likely to have challenge appraisals - more problem focused coping - less likely to be avoidant coping - less of a decrease in health beh when stressed

Effects of too little sleep (Pain)

- reduces pain tolerance - poor sleep appears to cause more pain in patients w/ cancer

Why do people drink? (Alcohol expectencies)

- scale - what do you expect to get from drinking? - Alcohol is a global, positive transforming agent - Alcohol enhances physical and social pleasure - Alcohol enhances sexual experience - Alcohol enhances power and aggression - Alcohol increases social expressiveness - Alcohol reduces tension - psychological effects differ between people and depend on expectencies - if you think alcohol increases aggression, you'll be more agressive - only one that isn't true even with expectancy: enhance sexual experience - alcohol actually reduces sexual experience physiologically - people who think it reduces tension more likely to be dependent on alcohol - since alcohol reduces inhibition, what's left is the expectancy so you do it

Effects of too little sleep (clumsiness)

- slower and less precise motor skills - still trying to figure out why - less focus on what we're doing - less balance and depth perception - microsleep (fall asleep for 1 second don't even realize it)

Types of emotion focused coping

- social support (accepted sympathy and understanding from someone) - positive reappraisal (changing or growing as a person in a good way, rediscovered what was important in life) - self control (tried to keep others from knowing how bad things were, try not to follow first hunch, keep feelings to self) - distancing (put it at arms length, made light of situation, tried not to get too serious) (not as far as denial) - accepting responsibility (criticize yourself, make promise things will be different next time - escape/avoidance (tried to make self feel better by drinking eating, could be sleeping too much)

Coping scales

- some focus on specific events (the one we did in class) - others focus on average coping strategies of person - there are good and bad things about each strategy - argument that how we cope depends on situation

Coping

- something we're doing to manage stressful situations - cognitive, behavioral, emotional ways to manage stress - it's closely related to appraisals - since appraisals are dynamic, coping strategies are dynamic - coping is goal directed - point is to manage the stress

Humor research

- study found simulated laughter better than spontaneous laughter - exposure to comedy helps people with pain tolerance and threshold - mixed results that humor helps immune functioning - longest prospective study - those w/ higher senses of humor died younger, in terms of producers of humor (if you're producing humor, more pressure on you) - largest correlational study: sense of humor not related to objective health, but related to satisfaction with health

Stress management

- variety of psychological methods designed to reduce the impact of potentially stressful experiences - exercise - mindfulness training - spending time in nature

Issues in humor health research

- what does sense of humor mean? - what's an appropriate control group? weak evidence for humor effecting health

ted talk vid - gender

- when hear patient is transgender, doctor says get HIV test w/o listening to anything else - 72% of health care providers do not feel well informed in care for LGBT - average med student spends 5hrs in med school on LGBT issues - figure it out as they go along

COVID disparities

- whites and Asians fewer deaths - blacks and hispanics more deaths than would be expected by chance Why? - lack of access to covid test, if you cant get tested you wont get treatment - trust in healthcare system - no proven by research: doctors implicit bias when turning away patients from crowded hospital - black people have more disease like high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease - makes covid death more likely (systematic and interpersonal racism contributes to this) - people who have less money tend to live in higher populated areas and living w/ more people - more people of color are frontline workers

Mindfulness training

- you are in the here and now, not focusing on other things - Systematic training in meditation to enable people to self-regulate their reactions to stress and the negative emotions that may result - it can be a state or a trait (at any moment you can be or less mindful, but some are generally more mindful than others)

4 models on how humor may affect health

1. Laughter - laughter itself may produce physiological changes in body, and these may influence health - if you find something funny and don't laugh it doesn't count 2. Humor produces a positive emotional state, and this positive state may influence health - positive emotions increase pain tolerance, enhance immunity, reduce effects of stress 3. Humor may decrease stress, which then increases health -humorous outlook on life and ability to see the funny side of one's problems may enable people to cope more effectively with stress 4. Humor may increase social support, which then increases health. -individuals who use humor effectively to reduce interpersonal conflict and tension and to enhance positive feelings in others may enjoy more numerous and satisfying social relationships

Sleep emotional functioning

Amygdala - process if info is threatening - people who missed a night of sleep had 60% more activity in amygdala when see upsetting image - decreased communication of amygdala with prefrontal cortex Memory for negative events - people deprived of sleep night before recalled negative info better than controls - had worse recall of positive and neutral emotions Processing of other's emotions - sleep deprived rate angry and happy as less angry and happy (but not the case with sad)

Effects of Too little sleep (Weight gain)

Appetite and weight gain - body produces less leptin (hormone that curbs appetite) - body produces more grehlin (hunger stimulating hormone) - sleep helps to regulate growth hormone - tend to choose sugars and carbohydrates when having sleep loss (makes sense cause they give you energy) - decrease self control - harder to reduce caloric intake - correlation between chronic sleep loss and weight (sleep less weigh more, sleep too much weight more (J shaped curve)) - short term effects (study 10 days total - 5 nights of sleep restriction, those people gained 3 pounds average) - estimates that just losing 15 mins of sleep a night a year correlate with 10 lb weight gain - In children, effect of sleep loss on obesity appears to be of larger size than is the effect of TV watching & parental obesity - adults need 7-9 hrs, teens 8-10 - kids and teens dont get enough sleep

Prevalence

Current drinker: did you have a drink in the last year (79% of americans have) - did you have a drink in the last month (56% of americans have) Binge drinking: maybe 5 or more drinks in one sitting, drinking enough to have blood concentration of .08 (typically 4-5 drinks in 2 hours) Heavy drinking - depends on person - 4 or more drinks a day for women, 5 for men - 32% of men had at least one day of heavy drinking in last year, 19% of women - 69% of college graduates drink on regular basis vs 35% w/ less college experience (has to do with college, not age) - older adults = lowest rates of drinking (people who were heavy drinkers don't make it to old age as much)

Social capital

Degree of civic engagement, levels of interpersonal trust and norms of reciprocity - Social capital has been steadily declining in the U.S. - High social capital can increase the odds of good health by 27% (according to a meta-analysis) - Social capital variables such as reciprocity and trust increased the odds of good health by 39% and 32%, respectively.

Disease model (why people drink)

Disease: an abnormal condition of an organism or part, especially as a consequence of infection, inherent weakness or environmental stress, that impairs normal physiological functioning - biological and genetic basis for alcohol dependency - heritability is .357 for males and .262 for females - some people are predisposed - Located a gene in some alcohol abusers that alters the function of dopamine receptor DRD2 - Personality of people most likely to abuse alcohol: quick temper, impulsive, intolerance to frustration, vulnerability in depression, general attraction to excitement - More relapse in people who believe in disease model than those who don't - it being a disease seems like you don't have control

Social support (textbook)

In one classic study, nearly 7,000 Alameda County, California, residents were followed over 9 years. Those who had previously indicated that they lacked social and community ties were more likely to die during the follow-up period than those with more extensive social networks. Compared to those with the most social contacts, isolated men and women were, respectively, 2.3 and 2.8 times more likely to die. These trends persisted even after controlling for a variety of health-related variables, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, self-reported health at the beginning of the study, and physical activity

Coping and health

Indirect effects - coping can influence health behavior - b/c it influences beh, it ends up influencing health - Ex: stress causes sleeping too much, which will affect health Direct effects - coping can have direct affect on health through physiological changes - Ex: reflective coping style (taking a step back) - these people had lower blood pressure

interventions aimed at individuals

Interventions aimed at tacking inequalities at an individual level have shown mixed results. - People living and working in disadvantaged circumstances have fewer resources (time, space, money) with which to manage the process of change. - Health-threatening behaviors tend to increase in difficult or stressful circumstances as they provide a means of coping. - There may have been a lack of sensitivity to the difficult circumstances in which people work and live that constrain the competence to change. - There has been a tendency to blame the victim (e.g., cancer and smoking) - Many health determinants are beyond the control of individual, psychological interventions.

Benefits of alcohol use

J shaped curve - people who don't drink alcohol at all have more risk of dying than light drinkers Decreases in cardiovascular disease with light use - Elevates high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) - Small amounts reduce blood pressure - Reduced stroke risk in elderly (blood thinner) - May protect against blood clots - More likely to survive heart attack if have drank alcohol in past 24 hours However, alcohol related to cancer - increased evidence for this

Explanations for inequalities in health

Microsystems - families, schools, neighborhoods - Low birth weight - Family instability - Poor diet/nutrition - Parental smoking and drinking - Overcrowding - Poor schools and educational outcomes - Poor neighborhoods Mesosystems - peer groups -- Bullying, violence - Smoking - Drinking - Drugs - Unprotected sex Exosystems - parental support systems, parental workplaces - Low personal control - Less social support - Unemployment or unstable employment - High stress levels - Low self-esteem - Poorer physical and mental health Macrosystems - political philosophy, social policy - Poverty - Poor housing - Environmental pollution - Unemployment or unstable employment - Occupational hazards - Poorer access to health servicies - Inadequate social service

Personality and Health (Optimism)

Studies linking optimism and health - Less physical symptoms at end of semester - Less negative effect of stress on immune system - Report less fatigue, aches & pains - Faster recovery rate after bypass surgery(& other medical procedures) - Live longer with AIDS - Significantly lower mortality over 3-year period (by 19%)

Emotion focused coping

coping that focuses on controlling the emotional distress associated with the situation

Coping effectiveness

depends on situation - in general if something can be done about it, problem focused is better - sometimes you cant do something about it, like death of loved one - for emotion focused coping positive reappraisal is good - in general, people who use problem focused coping had better mental health (when looking at habitual coping strategies) - confrontative coping: negative health outcomes (problem focused but not necessarily doing something about problem, more just getting angry at it) - seeking emotional social support: negative correlation to health (venting every time but not engaging in other coping) - distancing, accepting responsibility, and escape/avoidance: poor health associations (if you habitually take responsibility for everything it can be too much) - problem focused social support is good (seeking therapy) - self control (emotional focused) is better physical health but worse mental health (good physical: not flying off the handle, bad mental: keeping feelings to self Time frame - avoidant sometimes can help control emotions in short term but it's not good in the long term (Ex: parents w/ kids w/ leukemia who used avoidant: better mental health at first, worse off when kid died)

Reducing inequalities

no good answers - strengthen individuals (interventions aimed at individual health beliefs and behaviors) - strengthen communities (access to services) - encourage macroeconomic and cultural change

Two general types of coping

problem and emotion focused

Hardiness

resistant to stress 1. commitment - tendency to involve oneself in whatever they do 2. control - sense that one causes events that happen in one's life 3. challenge - willingness to undertake change and confront new activities

Sleep cognitive functioning

sleep can facilitate problem solving - REM helps with memory and problem solving - the more we sleep, the more we're in REM - if you remind someone of something during REM sleep, more likely to remember - sleep helps to consolidate in information Not enough sleep: - more indecisiveness, especially with meaningless decisions - split second decisions take longer - decreased grades - alzheimers? found in mice