THE INFLUENCE OF MIND OVER BODY

1 WHAT IS STRESS?

The term stress has been defined in several different ways. Sometimes the term is applied to stimuli or events in our environment that make physical and emotional demands on us, and sometimes it is applied to our emotional and physical reactions to such stimu1i. In this discussion, we will refer to the environmental stimuli or events as stressors and to emotional and physical reactions as stress.
Many sorts of events can be stressors, including disasters such as hur­ricanes or tornadoes, major life events such as divorce or the loss of a job, and daily hassles such as having to wait in line at the supermarket when you need to be somewhere else in ten minutes. What all these events have in common is that they interfere with or threaten our accustomed way of life. When we encounter such stressors, we must pull together our mental and physical resources in order to deal with the challenge. How well we succeed in doing so will determine how serious a toll the stress will take on our mental and physical well-being.

REACTING TO STRESSORS
The Canadian physiologist Hans Seyle has been the most inf1uential researcher and writer on stress. Seyle has proposed that both humans and other animals react to any stressor in three stages, collectively known as the general adaptation syndrome. The first stage, when the per­son or animal first becomes aware of the stressor, is the alarm reaction. In this stage. the organism becomes highly alert and aroused, energized by a burst of epinephrine. After the alarm reaction comes the stage of resistance, as the organism tries to adapt to the stressful stimulus or to scape from it. If these efforts are succesful, the state of the organism returns to normal. If the organism cannot adapt to continuing stress, however, it enters a stage of exhaustion or collapse.
Seyle developed his model of the general adaptation syndrome as a result of research with rats and other animals. In rats, certain stressors, such as painful tail-pulling, consistently lead to the same sorts of stress reactions. In humans, however, it is harder to predict what will be stressful to a particular person at a particular time. Whether a particular stimulus will be stressful depends on the person’s subjective appraisal of that stimulus. How threatening is it? How well have I handled this sort of thing in the past? How well will I be able to handle it this time? For one person, being called upon to give a talk in front of a class is a highly stressful stimulus that will immediately produce such elements of an alarm reaction as a pounding heart and a dry mouth. For another person, being called on to give a talk is not threatening at all, but facing a deadline to complete a term paper is extremely stressful. In humans, moreover, the specific stress reaction is likely to vary widely; some stressful situations give rise predominantly to emotions of fear, some to anger, some to helplessness and depression.


2 STRESS AND ILLNESS

In many stressful situations, the body's responses can improve our per­formance - we become more energetic more alert, better able to take effective action. But when stress is encountered continually, the body's reactions are more likely to be harmful than helpful to us. As will be seen later in this unit, the continual speeding up of bodily reactions and the production of stress-related hormones seem to make people more sus­ceptible to heart disease. And stress reactions can reduce the disease­-fighting effectiveness of the body's immune system, thereby increasing susceptibility to illnesses ranging from colds to cancer. Other diseases that can result at least in part from stress include arthritis, asthma, migraine headaches, and ulcers. Workers who experience the greatest degree of job pressures have been found to be especially likely to suffer from a large number of illnesses (House, 1981) . Moreover, many studies have shown that people who have experienced major changes in their lives are at unusually high risk for a variety of illnesses.
As an example of stress-induced illness, take the case of stomach ulcers, small lesions in the stomach wall that afflict one out of twenty people at some point in their lives. Ulcers are a common disorder among people who work in occupations that make heavy psychoiogical demands, from assembly-line workers to air-traffic controllers. In many cases, stress is the culprit. Stress leads to increased secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Hydrochloric acid normally helps to break down foods during digestion, but in excess amounts it can eat away at the stomach lining, producing ulcers.
Stress may also contribute to disease in less direct ways, by influenc­ing moods and behavior. People under stress may become anxious or depressed and as a result may eat too much or too little, have sleep dif­ficulties, smoke or drink more, or fail to exercise. These behavioral changes may, in tum, be harmful to their health. In addition, people are more likely to pay attention to certain bodily sensations, such as aches and pains, when they are under stress and to decide that they are "sick." If the person were not under stress, the same bodily sensations might not be perceived as symptoms and the person might continue to feel "well." Some researchers have suggested that assuming the role of a "sick per­son" is one way in which certain people try to cope with stress (Cohen, 1979). Instead of dealing with the stressful situation directly, these peo­pIe fall sick. After all, it is often more acceptable in our society to be sick and to seek medical help than it is to admit that one cannot cope with the stresses of life.

(Fuente: Seal, Bernard. Academic Encounters. Reading, study skills, and writing. Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pag. 5,6 y 11)