PSY 3171 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Immune System, Excessive Daytime Sleepiness, Hypnopompic

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 3171
• Professor: Mark Coates

Document Summary

Four linked biological systems that are particularly susceptible to psychological and environmental factors: autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic, which we have already discussed, endocrine system (hpa-axis, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Immune system: cells and organs that fight off pathogens such as cancer, viruses, bacteria. Stress allows us to be able to respond adaptively to the environment. Stress can be defined as the stimulus itself (a stressor) or the response to the stimulus (for example, autonomic arousal); Selye"s theory of the general adaptation syndrome: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Stress response and relaxation response: effects of stress, prenatal, maternal stress, depression, and anxiety linked to lower birthweight, higher baseline. Low quality care associated with higher hpa axis activity, and more behavioural problems later in life; In environments with extreme deprivation, lower than normal hpa axis activity is noted (down-regulation of the pituitary gland: adolescence. Sex hormone levels affect hpa activity, making it highly sensitive to stress: heightened levels of depression, anxiety, etc.