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- All Subjects: College students
- All Subjects: Stress
- Creators: College of Health Solutions
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
The following paper explores the various effects of stress on the endocrine system. Many understand that being stressed can jeopardize maintaining adequate health, but what specifically happens when humans are stressed? Why does stress affect human health? This paper delves into background information, previous research, and the depths to which stress negatively affects the body. The effects stress has on the endocrine system, specifically on the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), is discussed, and additionally, at home de-stressing methods are researched. The study included a set of participants at Arizona State University. The method took place over the course of 2 weeks: one normal week, and the other with the implementation of a de-stressing method. The normal week involved the participants living their daily lives with the addition of a stress-measuring survey, while the second week involved implementing a de-stressing method and stress-measuring survey. The purpose of this study was to discover if there was a correlation between performing these relaxation activities and decreasing stress levels in ASU students. The results found that students reported they felt more relaxed and calm after the activities. Overall, this thesis provides information and first hand research on the effects of stress and stress-reducing activities and discusses the importance of maintaining lower stress levels throughout everyday life.
This paper is regarding the nutritional choices college students in Arizona choose. This is based on many factors, but ranks and investigates why students choose this one factor. Students value time over all other factors, money, health, and location.
The following paper explores the various effects of stress on the endocrine system. Many understand that being stressed can jeopardize maintaining adequate health, but what specifically happens when humans are stressed? Why does stress affect human health? This paper delves into background information, previous research, and the depths to which stress negatively affects the body. The effects stress has on the endocrine system, specifically on the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), is discussed, and additionally, at home de-stressing methods are researched. The study included a set of participants at Arizona State University. The method took place over the course of 2 weeks: one normal week, and the other with the implementation of a de-stressing method. The normal week involved the participants living their daily lives with the addition of a stress-measuring survey, while the second week involved implementing a de-stressing method and stress-measuring survey. The purpose of this study was to discover if there was a correlation between performing these relaxation activities and decreasing stress levels in ASU students. The results found that students reported they felt more relaxed and calm after the activities. Overall, this thesis provides information and first hand research on the effects of stress and stress-reducing activities and discusses the importance of maintaining lower stress levels throughout everyday life.
Stress is a necessary and functional part of human physiology. From responding to life-threatening situations to getting people out of bed in the morning, stress serves a major purpose in human survival. However, when consistent and high levels of stress are experienced, it can pose a threat to human health. One of the major mediators of physiological stress is a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is a well-defined substance and its function in normal physiology is well understood. Scientific research indicates that consistent and high levels of this hormone may be an aid in cancer’s ability to evade the human immune response. Despite this, there is not much known about its relationship with cancer. I used immunofluorescence to determine cell-to-cell variability of vimentin expression and DNA content for cells that were exposed to cortisol at consistent and frequent doses overtime and those not exposed to cortisol to determine if cortisol altered the variability of vimentin expression and DNA content. I observed no change in the variability in vimentin expression across both cell conditions. I did observe variability in DNA content across both cell conditions, with more variability in the population affected by cortisol. These results suggest that there might be a relationship between the stress induced by cortisol, taking place at the genomic level but may have no impact on specific protein expression. Potential implications of the research conducted are looks to preventative medicine in the context of stress experienced by members of marginalized groups as a way of preventing cancer development.
For my senior undergraduate thesis, I created a self-exploration project to understand stress management. The Alexander Technique, created by F.M. Alexander, is an educational “hands-on” awareness practice that has spurred variations since its inception (Gelb, 2003). Primal AlexanderTM (PATM), a variation of the Alexander technique developed by Mio Morales, is taught on online platforms, chiefly Zoom and other equivalent video communication. PATM shares with the traditional teachings of the Alexander Technique that learning the practice has many benefits – one of these benefits being effective internal stress management. After being introduced to Primal AlexanderTM by Faculty Honors Advisor Robert Kaplan of Arizona State University, I began researching stress management while also practicing Primal AlexanderTM. Considering that nearly half of U.S adults report that stress has a negative effect on their health, it is fair to assume that properly managing stress in individuals continues to be a major obstacle in healthcare (SingleCare, 2022). My personal afflictions that were a result of stress were beginning to affect my mental, emotional, and physical states of health. Learning PATM inspired my support for clinical application of the practice as a stress management technique as I recognized changes within my body that suggested effective, internal stress management.
The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative investigation to provide a baseline understanding of the typical experiences of food insecure college students and their understanding of what it means to be food insecure. Because of the stigma that is associated with food insecurity and emergency food resources, it may be difficult for students to discuss these topics openly with university administration or even with each other. For this reason, an asynchronous remote community allowed students to share their experiences anonymously. The narrative data collected in this study is meant to share the stories of students who live with the reality of food insecurity every day.