Shadow Health Digestive
ANSWERS
It is complicated how stress and illness interact. Different people are more or less susceptible to stress. Genetic vulnerability, coping mechanisms, personality type, and social support are some variables that affect susceptibility to stress. Not all forms of stress are harmful. Short-term stress has been found to increase immunity, but persistent stress significantly negatively impacts the immune system, ultimately leading to sickness. The immune system is suppressed by raising catecholamine and suppressor T cell levels. Therefore, the risk of contracting a virus rises due to this inhibition. Stress also causes the release of histamine, which can cause significant bronchoconstriction in asthmatics. Stress raises the risk of diabetes mellitus, particularly in overweight people, because it changes how the body uses insulin.
Additionally, stress changes the amount of acid in the stomach, which increases the risk of peptic ulcers, stress ulcers, and ulcerative colitis. A high-fat diet, inactivity, and chronic stress are all risk factors for atherosclerosis, a plaque deposit in the arteries. Stressful life circumstances are more frequently associated with psychiatric diseases than physical or medical conditions. The neuroses have the most vital link between stress and psychiatric illness, followed by depression and schizophrenia. The alterations in the immune system and the emergence of cancer are not proven to be related in a cause-and-effect manner by science. Recent research, however, has linked stress to the growth of tumors and to the suppression of natural killer (NK) cells, which are crucial for stopping metastasis and eliminating tiny metastases.
Stress is characterized as a process in which the demands of the environment put a strain on an organism’s capacity to adapt, leading to psychological and biological changes that could put the organism at risk for illness. Stressors are things that make us anxious. Everyone is impacted by stress, young and old, wealthy and poor. Life is a stressful place. We must all learn to deal with stress because it is a constant. It comes in all kinds and sizes; even our thoughts can stress us out and increase our susceptibility to disease. Environmental stress, psychological (emotional), and biological stress are the three ideas or perspectives about stress. The environmental stress perspective emphasizes the assessment of environmental circumstances or experiences that are objectively connected to high adaptive needs. The psychological stress viewpoint emphasizes how individuals perceive their capacity to meet the demands of particular circumstances and experiences. The biological stress perspective, which is the final one, stresses how the body’s physiological systems function and are controlled by mentally and physically stressful situations.
It is complicated how stress and illness interact. Different people are more or less susceptible to stress. An incident that causes disease in one individual might not do so in another. To manifest as an illness, events must interact with various background circumstances. Genetic vulnerability, coping mechanisms, personality type, and social support are some variables that affect susceptibility to stress. When faced with a problem, we evaluate its seriousness and determine whether or not we have the resources needed to solve it. We will consider ourselves under stress if we believe the issue to be essential and do not have the means to address it. Our vulnerability to illness and general well-being are influenced by how we respond to different situations.
QUESTION
Shadow Health Digestive
- After completing Module 5 in Shadow Health, discuss two key gastrointestinal alterations (such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Crohn’s Disease – there are several mentioned in the Shadow Health module) and how the pathophysiologic changes will affect daily life for these patients. This will need to include a brief discussion of the pathophysiology leading to the effects on daily life.
- Include a summary of what was helpful in this module or what was not helpful.