PSY 255 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Common Cold, Situation Two, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Document Summary
College students see stress as main barrier to optimal academic performance. Young people tend to be more stressed than those who are older. Stress is a transaction between a person and environment perceptions. You must find the medium level of stress from you that allows you to be awake and engaged and respond well. Releases norepinephrine/epinephrine (neurotransmitters) to increase breathing/heart rate and slow digestion. Release cortisol: increased availability of energy; decrease inflammation response. See diagram for fight of flight model. Maintenance if physiological and psychological balance with appropriate level of activation to meet challenges of a situation. Sympathetic ns: activate body systems in response to stressors, fight or flight stress response, increase in heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, perspiration, decreases digestion. Parasympathetic ns: relaxation response, opposite activity of the sympathetic ns, you need this in order for your body to function. Endocrinologist studied stress as relationship to physical illness.
