PSY340H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Psychoneuroimmunology
Document Summary
The combination of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and an outpouring of stress hormones prepares the body for a brief period of physical action in response to a threat: try to activate parasympathetic to calm down (ex. breathing exercises, meditation, etc. ) Bacteria is a single living cell that can infect your body and make you sick: can reproduce on their own, symbiotic bacteria = good bacteria, immune system detects bad bacteria (cid:224) identifies them and fights them to get rid of them, white blood cells are located in circulatory system and are responsible for this. When you have a response to stress you have a startle reflex (alarm) and then a fight or flight response: the immune system is enhanced initially (cid:224) you produce more white blood cells, when the body becomes exhausted you can"t produce more white blood cells and the immune system looses strength so you become sick.
