PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS

The role of psychological stress on health

The role of psychological stress on health

Introduction

The intensification of work in the psychological sense, the high pressure side at that time is accelerating and the urgency that is present at every stage, every moment of the life of the company replaced the dimension of hardship physical. This pressure also requires more attention, often in more detail what to do to meet a need for greater productivity. Breaks necessary for a minimum recovery can also be reduced. Physical stress is not so far away is excluded and in fact even if the workstation has been upgraded and qu'ne sédentaité came true in the business. Physical and psychological stress are now central issues encountered in business.

Chromosomes (structures formed by DNA located in the interior of cells and in which instructions are to make living things) have at their ends with DNA fragments which act as protecting the structural stability thereof. In fact, the length of these DNA fragments (which are shortened slightly each time there is a cell division), is vital to the cell, and when the telomeres reach a critical length, the cell stops dividing and dies. Against these telomere shortening irreversible, the cells are protected with telomerase, an enzyme (protein) responsible for maintaining telomeres above the critical values ??of length. Still, over the years, these telomeres get shorter, in fact this is one of the causes of the effects that occur in the natural aging of a human being.

Discussion

Excessive shortening of telomeres or telomerase activity inefficient, are risk factors for health and are associated with suffering from diseases like cancer or cardiovascular disorders. This occurs naturally with aging, but found that high levels of psychological distress or physiological cause a decrease in the levels and activity of telomerase (Coleman, 2006). This effect results in a greater shortening of telomeres, which may cause accelerated aging of the organism and an increasing risk of disease. Given this, a mechanism to halt this process would result in increased health and quality of life. The same it raised a team of researchers led by Tonya Jacobs (University of California at Davis, USA) and including Elizabeth Blackburn (University of California, San Francisco, USA), who received the Nobel work on telomeres and telomerase. The job was to pick a group of 30 male and female volunteers between 21 and 69 who underwent meditation practices 6 hours a day for 3 months in an isolated place (Shambhala Mountain center in northern Colorado, USA ) guided by a spiritual expert (Contrada & Baum, 2011). This group was compared with a control group of the same features that made ??their daily business as usual during the same period of time. The results were published.

At the end of this period, both groups were subjected to various psychological tests on vital attention, perception of external or internal experiences, emotional control, purpose in life, perception of the meaning of life, perception of life goals, happiness and neuroticism (presence of emotions negative, anxiety, moodiness, stress, ...