Laughter Is the Best Therapy for Happiness and Healthy Life Expectancy
Goh Cheng Soon, Gerard Bodeker, Kishan Kariippanon in Healthy Ageing in Asia, 2022
Cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease and stroke, not only are the leading causes of death in Japan but also are closely related to healthy life expectancy. It has been reported that, besides physical risk factors, psychosocial risk factors, including psychological stress and depression, are associated with the incidence and mortality of cardiovascular diseases and lifestyle-related diseases. In Japan, prospective epidemiological studies have shown that depressive symptoms are associated with stroke in a community-based population (Ohira et al., 2001), subjective stress increases the risk of death from ischemic heart disease (Iso et al., 2002), and social support reduces the risk of stroke death in men (Ikehara et al., 2008). Additionally, psychological stress has been implicated in cardiovascular risk factors, such as depression being associated with the accelerated sympathetic nervous system and abnormalities in glucose metabolism and suppressed anger being associated with the development of hypertension (Ohira et al., 2013). Moreover, psychological stress is known to affect various diseases, such as peptic ulcers, bronchial asthma, chronic low back pain, atopic dermatitis, and dizziness. Hence, psychological stress must be coped with to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and lifestyle-related diseases and to prolong healthy life expectancy.
Stress and Coping
Deborah Fish Ragin in Health Psychology, 2017
Research suggests that physiological symptoms such as an inability to sleep, atypical eating behavior, and increased irritability are common responses to psychosocial or psychological stress (Epel, Lapidus, McEwen, & Brownell, 2001; Haynes, Lee, & Yeomans, 2003; Pawlyk, Morrison, Ross, & Brennan, 2008; Orsal, Orsal, Alparslan & Unsal, 2012). For example, Orsal, Orsal, Alparslan, and Unsal (2012) found an association between psychological stress among college students and sleep disturbances. Results from their study with Turkish male and female college students showed that the student’s perceptions of the new demands of college, together with additional worries about living away from home, financial worries, and concerns about moral behavior led to higher reports of poor sleep quality among female students. Male students, by comparison, reported no significant impact on sleep quality.
Cancer and Physical Exercise
Paloma Tejero, Hernán Pinto in Aesthetic Treatments for the Oncology Patient, 2020
Another discipline for combating psychological stress is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a practice related to Buddhist meditation that was created in 1979 by Kabat Zinn, physician and founder of the Clinic of Stress Reduction at the University of Massachusetts. It is a technique that teaches us to live in balance with what we think, feel, and do, focusing on the present. Mindfulness focuses on self-regulation of attention and a state of consciousness that is associated with nonjudgmental, moment-to-moment, awareness, patience, and calmness, nonstriving, letting go, and compassion [4]. The practice of mindfulness contributes mainly to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. There is evidence that it improves the quality of sleep and fatigue (two serious problems in oncological patients) and also promotes personal growth [34].
Job-related stress and tobacco smoking: A systematic review
Published in Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 2021
Zahra Khorrami, Farzaneh Zolala, AliAkbar Haghdoost, Ali Sadatmoosavi, Ziyad Ben Taleb, Anthony Kondracki, Kenneth D. Ward, Mohammad Shahbaz, Mohammad Ebrahimi Kalan
Tobacco use is the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, with more than 8 million smoking-related deaths annually (WHO, 2019). A large body of literature across several populations shows that psychosocial stress is associated with smoking initiation, maintenance, intensity, and relapse (Allen et al., 2019; Cohen & Lichtenstein, 1990; Crittenden, Manfredi, Cho, & Dolecek, 2007; Kassel, Stroud, & Paronis, 2003). Psychological stress is defined as “a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Stress in general and job-related stress, in particular, are identified as important determinants of smoking (Grappasonni et al., 2019; Jeżewska & Iversen, 2012).
The associations with work stress, social support and overweight/obesity among hospital nurses: A cross-sectional study
Published in Contemporary Nurse, 2018
Li Fang, Li-Ping Hsiao, Shu-Hui Fang, Bao-Chen Chen
Nursing work is considered to be facilitated with high working pressure because of taking care of an aging population with comorbidities and higher acuity, and among all the 160,101 nursing staff in the workplace in Taiwan 97.6% of them are female (Taiwan Union of Nurses Association, 2017). High psychological stress may cause eating disorders, reduced physical activity, increased television viewing time, and higher body mass index (BMI) (Mouchacca, Abbott, & Ball, 2013). According to Han, Trinkoff, Storr, and Geiger-Brown (2011), 55% of the 2103 female nurses recruited from the United States are obese or overweight (BMI, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2). Nurses with obesity are prone to fatigue, sleepiness and occupational injury problems and increase in the cost of healthcare and medical resources (Han et al., 2011). Nurses’ health problems will also have a big impact on the quality of patient care (Melnyk et al., 2018).
Impact of sleep-wake features on fatigue among female shift work nurses
Published in Annals of Medicine, 2023
Xin Zhang, Xuesong Dai, Jing Jiao, Shih-Yu Lee
Sleep disturbances could trigger a stress response with a subsequent activation of the psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) pathway that impacts health and work performance [22]. Rober Ader introduced the PNI concept in 1980 [22]. PNI focuses on the associations between mental processes and health by examining the interaction between psychological function and the body’s nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Psychological stress triggers the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine responses resulting in a fight-or-flight reaction. Repetition of this process due to chronicle stress over a long period leads to wear-and-tear adverse impacts on physical and mental conditions [22,23]. The most immediate observable consequence of such adverse effects is sleep disturbances resulting from inadequate total sleep time or sleep disruption. Studies exploring the link between sleep disturbances as a stressor to CAR, salivary cortisol, and work performance are rare. Based on the PNI theory [22], behavioural (i.e. shift work), neurological (i.e. alertness), and endocrine (i.e. cortisol) processes of adaptation have an impact on health.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Anxiety
- Motivation
- Myocardial Infarction
- Ulcer
- Stroke
- Depression
- Psychology
- Psychological Pain
- Diathesis–Stress Model
- Pre-Existing Condition