To what extent does research support a link between stress and illness? When you are stressed, your stress response system is activated and in order for your stress response system to work effectively, your body must shut down other systems, e.g. the digestive system and the immune system. Seeing as your immune system shuts down, this will make you more prone to illness. The stress response is experienced when you feel like you’re encountering a threat and don’t know how to deal with it.
There has been a lot of research that suggests that the immune system can be severely affected by stress. Kiecolt-Glaser did an experiment to evaluate the effect of acute stressors on the immune system. She had a group of students who were about to have their medical exams. She took the blood sample one month before the exams and another during the exam period. She measured the NK cell activity to see how the immune system was effected and found that the NK cell activity had dropped significantly in the second blood sample that had been taken shows that stress had caused to lower the efficiency of the immune system and made the students were vulnerable to stress-related illnesses.
These students showed an increase in sIgA whereas during the examination period, which stretched over several weeks, the levels of sIgA decreased. He proposed that short-term acute stress may actually up regulation therefore increasing efficiency but chronic stress may cause down-regulation. Lazarus criticised both these studies as he says that it is difficult to establish a relationship between stress and illness. He suggests that health is
The first group was given acetaminophen, and the second was given a placebo. They were instructed to take one 500mg pill each morning when the woke up, and one 500mg pill one hour before sleeping every day for three weeks. During this phase they were also instructed to keep a journal reflecting their emotional state, describing any instances of experiencing social rejection or hurt feelings. Because the data was nonindependent, the researchers used a multilevel modeling system to create the statistical analysis. The results showed that the experimental group showed a significant change in their self-reported emotional state than those in the control group.
He tested whether the stress of important medical examination has an effect on the functioning of the immune system. His experiment was natural and he used 75 medical students. Blood samples were taken a month before the final exams which was the low stress condition and again during the exam period representing the high stress condition. Immune functioning was tested by the T cell activity in the blood samples. Students were also asked to fill out questionnaires to assess their psychological variables such as life events and
Furthermore, I concur outside views may determine alternative options and resolutions before making a decision. Mr. Mauboussin demonstrates a paleontologist at Harvard University, Stephen Jay Gould, after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, “his doctor explained that only half of the people diagnosed with this rare cancer only lived for eight months” (p. 27). Gould the smart person he was ran his own research and prediction and found that the other half of patients diagnosed with this cancer lived much longer. Mr. Gould took into count his young age at the time of the diagnosis and figured he had a much larger percentage of living a longer life than the eight months the doctor granted him. Since Gould, was able to ask the questions he needed answered in determining his life span.
According to National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) (2007) each year more than 200 000 falls are reported in hospitals across England and Wales. In addition, the cost of immediate treatment after falls has been estimated at £15 millions every year (NPSA, 2007). The consequences after a fall for the patient can vary from no harm to severe long-term health problems and death. Therefore it is important that the nurses and healthcare professionals identify and implement a falls prevention strategy for the patients who are at a high risk of falling during hospital admission. However, all preventive measures need to consider the patient’s dignity, choice, independence and potential for rehabilitation (NPSA, 2007).
This same study concluded that rescreening soldiers several months after their return from Iraq identified a large cohort missed on initial screening. The large clinical burden recently reported among veterans presenting to Veterans Affairs facilities seems to exist within months of returning home, highlighting the need to enhance military mental health care during this period. Increased relationship problems underscore shortcomings in services for family members as well. Reserve component soldiers who had returned to civilian status were referred at higher rates on the PDHRA, which could reflect their concerns about their ongoing health
Beccaria, Turi, Cristofolini, Colombo, Leggieri, Vinciguerra, Zangrillo (2010) stated “out of hospital cardiac arrest claims 225,000 lives each year in the United States, even when resuscitation efforts are successful” (p.1). In 1980’s the thoughts of cooling was brought up again after having positive outcomes from using animals in experiments for having good neurologic outcomes. Patients that are post cardiac arrest can possibly have a tremendous neurological damage if they live through the heart attack. Any one that presents with ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, unresponsive, and is resuscitated is a potential candidate for therapeutic hypothermia. Therapeutic hypothermia is considered when the core temperature of one is consistent with 32-34 degrees Celsius after having cardiac arrest with patients whom don’t regain consciousness after circulation returns.
When the body detects stress, the SNS is activated which leads to raised heart rate, which leads to higher blood pressure which can lead to Chronic Heart Disease, heart attack, stroke etc. The Beta Blocker is taken then and it acts by reducing activity of adrenaline and noradrenaline and also binds to the receptors of the heart and other areas of the body stimulated by arousal. As a result of blocking these receptors, it is therefore harder to stimulate them and so the heart beat is slowed, and therefore lower blood pressure. A strength of drug treatment is that they are proven to be affective, for example Kahn et al tested 250 participants over 8 weeks, and found that BZs were better than a placebo. The drugs are also very quick and easy to use, and do not require extra effort or stress that could be incurred using other, longer methods of stress management.