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Additional Slides
Chapter Intro
At the beginning of this century, most people died from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis; now most deaths are related to an individual's behavior. Health psychology is the branch of psychology that studies such influences on health and illness.
Most people could not get through a day without hearing the word stress; and many of us believe we are frequently under great stress. Hans Selye used the term stress to describe the body's response to demands made on it. He also described the body's three stage sequence--the general adaptation syndrome--consisting of the alarm, resistance, and exhaustion stages.
The potential causes of stress--called stressors-- include catastrophes, major life events, traumas, and everyday hassles. Whether these actually cause stress depends on our interpretations of the events. Stress can influence the functioning of the immune system and thus leave us more vulnerable to disease.
Whether we are healthy or ill depends to a great extent on our lifestyle decisions. Smoking is associated with a number of diseases; it is a difficult but not impossible habit to overcome. One reason often cited by those who smoke for not stopping is a fear of gaining weight. This is not a myth, but the weight gain is not as great as often feared.
A number of factors, that are not under our control such as heredity, influence our risk of heart disease; other factors such as physical inactivity are under our control. Type A behavior is a collection of characteristics that may increase the risk of heart disease; hostility appears to be the component of Type A behavior that is responsible for the increased risk.
Much attention has been focused on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is the leading cause of death among men between 25 and 44 years of age. Programs directed at reducing high risk behaviors such as unprotected sex and sharing hypodermic needles are the major ways of reducing the risk of HIV infection.
At the beginning of the century, the major problems related to nutrition involved obtaining sufficient amounts of vitamins and nutrients. Today the major problems relate to being either overweight or weighing too little. Biology plays a significant role in how much we weigh. Hereditary factors probably influence our set point weight--a range of weight the body defends by adjusting its metabolic rate. However, we are not powerless to influence our weight; for example, exercise can burn calories. Two eating disorders are especially prevalent among young women--anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is a potentially life- threatening disorder in which a fear of becoming fat leads to self starvation. In bulimia an individual alternately consumes large amounts of food and then empties the stomach, usually by induced vomiting.
Some people exhibit a characteristic called hardiness that can make them less vulnerable to the effects of stress. Social support and a sense of humor can also have positive effects on health. Several techniques can reduce the effects of the alarm stage of the general adaptation syndrome: these include relaxation techniques such as progressive relaxation and physical activity. Current guidelines suggest we engage in about 30 minutes of physical activity per day.
[ Chapter 2 Supplement ] [ Chapter Slides ] [ Know for Test ] [ Review Test ] [ Chapter Notes ] [Chapter outline] [Chapter Summary