04:189:101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Vagal Tone, Medulla Oblongata, Sympathetic Nervous System

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Communication and Informatio
• Course: 04:189:101
• Professor: Marie Haverfield

Document Summary

Communication & health- writing and verbally expressing traumatic, stressful, and emotional events can improve physical and psychological health. College students who wrote for 15 minutes about upsetting experiences vs. control group also had fewer visits to the health center and less days missed at work related to illness (pennebaker, 1997) Long-term effects have been found to improve immune systems, reduce blood pressure, improve lung and liver function, fewer days in hospitals, less depression, improved memory and athletic performance. Communication can improve our health in a positive way. Measures the electrical conductance of the skin, varies based on sweat. Sweat is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, thus gsr is an indicator of psychological or physiological arousal (emotional and sympathetic response) Highly sensitive to emotions such as fear, anger, and sexual response. Cortisol: hormone in our body-through spit, blood and hair samples. Cortisol is released to act as a defense against stressors mechanisms. Mobilizes the immune system to increase body defense.