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The Biology of Stress

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The Biology of Stress Maia Thompson Independent Biology Study Ms. Howe The Biology of Stress Introduction As a senior in high school, the last two years have been filled with important tests with scores that reflect the opportunities that will be made available to me as college approaches. Being a student instigates stress quite naturally as classwork is daily, homework is never rare and tests are seen weekly. Just in the last month of May, students have Advanced Placement exams, finals and final projects. Students also have to navigate the social aspect of school, dealing with their own teenager insecurities and finding their self-identities. I took two AP tests, worked on this project, took my class finals, and took my Emergency Medical Technician finals and practicals all while keeping up with regular schoolwork and hanging out with friends. This is a typical schedule for many students.This project is important to me, to show the effect of stress in students as they prepare for tests, hopefully to create awareness of the preparation these students go through and the hard work they present with. In this independent study I studied the biological reaction of stress in the body along with an experiment to see if I can decrease the stress of students before an AP test using a therapy dog. Context First, what is stress and why is it so important? Stress often seems like a negative and debilitating reaction from our body, but this reaction was necessary for our survival. Our perceived stress originates from a fight-or-flight response in the body that has helped humans to survive. When there is a perceived threat, we experience an acute stress response. Sensory neurons inform the hypothalamus in the brain which in turn signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic (ACTH) and the adrenal glands to release epinephrine into the bloodstream. When the ACTH molecules in the blood stream reach the adrenal cortex, the production of cortisol is activated. As cortisol is released into the bloodstream, it signals a cascade of fight-or-flight responses in the body. This sympathetic response includes increased heart rate and respirations, the constriction of the pupils, increased blood pressure and slowed digestion. This initial response is called an acute stress response. Often this reaction in the body is an adrenaline rush during a time of danger and excitement, heightening the senses. This stress is temporary and subsides as the danger or excitement is no longer present. The acute stress response in the body is the positive stress response that has helped us to survive and what we still need to continue to survive. Chronic stress is what people most often think of when asked about stress. This type of stress is the reaction in the body that can be debilitating in our daily life. Chronic stress is longer lasting and occurs when stressors are present for a long period of time. These stressors can include family dysfunction, a high-demanding job or traumatic experiences (can range from childhood experiences to PTSD in veterans). According to the American Psychological Association, this prolonged exposure to stressors can cause serious health risks such as anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system. The transition from an acute stress response to chronic stress can be seen in the General Adaptation Syndrome identified by Hans Selye. During the Alarm reaction, ​ ​ resources are mobilized and our body goes through an acute stress response. These resources are the sympathetic responses in the body described earlier and the initial increase in cortisol. The second phase is resistance, when the body must cope with the stressors. Cortisol levels in the body stay elevated and epinephrine may increase as well to sustain energy and blood sugar levels. This is the chronic stress response described earlier with symptoms such as insomnia due to the prolonged elevated cortisol levels. The last phase is exhaustion when the body loses its ability to adapt and “burns out”. Both cortisol and epinephrine levels are low and symptoms such as severe fatigue and inability to sleep through the night occur. Task and Object For this project, my subjects were tested the hour before taking a high-stakes Advanced Placement test. These students, all seniors and juniors, have been preparing all year to take either the AP Physics test or the AP Statistics test. Because they have spent so much time learning and reviewing the material in class and on their own time, the stakes are high. They also have the opportunity to receive college credit if they perform well enough. This potential to earn college credits not only saves them money, but also looks good on college applications. The object of this experiment was to take advantage of this high stress situation and see if I could lower their cortisol levels using a therapy dog. Not only is this an interesting experiment for me with lots of learning opportunities, but I hoped to relax students before their test and lessen their stress! According to Yerkes-Dodson Law, difficult tasks are performed best with ​ ​ low to moderate levels of arousal while easy tasks are performed best with higher levels of arousal (as seen on the graph below). Taking an Advanced Placement test is most definitely a difficult task, so helping these students to relax will hopefully let them perform to the best of their ability. Design Figuring out the most efficient but accurate method to carry out this experiment was one of the most difficult aspects of designing this experiment. Originally, I planned to individually interview students in a study hall the day before they took an AP test. This method was not only time consuming, but there was concerns that students’ stress levels would not be high enough to cause a significant change if the therapy dog did in fact decrease stress levels. It was decided that the best time to test participants would be immediately before their exam, when stress would presumably be the highest. Independent Variable: I decided to use the presence of a therapy dog as the ​ therapeutic intervention because I was interested in the effect an animal could have on the secretion of chemicals in the body. This therapy dog was my own dog that passed the Therapy Dogs International test to become certified with ​ ​ me. We visit as a therapy team in the special education classes at Longfellow. I was curious if his presence actually lowered stress in kids. Dependent Variable: In this experiment I will be using a Cortisol Competitive ELISA kit. An ​ ELISA kit is an Enzyme Linked-Immunosorbent Assay that can detect and quantify substances. I will be using this kit to detect the amount of cortisol levels in the saliva of the participants before and after being with a therapy dog and then comparing any change that is found. The Setting: The experiment used Advanced Placement testing as the stressor because there ​ would be many students taking these exams that could participate. Applying this experiment about stress to the students in my own school I thought would have a greater effect and mean more to me than an impersonal subject. Sample Group: Participants that signed up were assigned to either the control or experimental ​ group randomly through each class. Six people signed up from Mrs. Riese’s sixth hour, so I randomly assigned three to the experimental group and three to the control group using a random generator website. I did this for each class, creating a stratified random assignment. ● Control Group: Students without a therapy dog present (no therapeutic interventions) ​ ​ ● Experimental Group: Students with a therapy dog present (therapeutic intervention) ​ ​ Constants: ● Same two conference rooms ● Same questionnaire ● Same therapy dog ● Same time of day-2 afternoon tests Uncontrolled variable: ● Grade level ● # of tests student has already taken/will take ● Pre-existing anxiety from other stressors in student’s life ● Fear/nervousness around dogs ● Different helpers running the experiment ○ Physics: Hanah Geboy, Tyler Thompson and Anica Chestnut ○ Statistics: Hanah Geboy, Tyler Thompson and Mr. Peterson ● # of students in each room (physics had a smaller sample than stats) ● Amount of time interacting with the dog versus time interacting with other participants ● Time of day-students experienced very different mornings ○ If students stayed home for the morning or went to their morning classes Method Day 1: May 13th, AP Physics C One control group of 3 students in a conference room with two helpers ● One saliva sample taken as they enter the classroom ● Spend 10-15 minutes filling out stress questionnaire ● 25 minutes after the first sample was taken, the second saliva sample taken as they leave One experimental group of 3 students in a conference room with me and one other helper ● One saliva sample taken as they enter the classroom ● Spend 10-15 minutes filling out stress questionnaire ● Time spent with therapy dog ● Second saliva sample taken as they leave 25 minutes after the first sample was taken Day 2: May 16th, AP Statistics One control group of 9 students in a conference room with Ms. Howe and a helper ● One saliva sample taken as they enter the classroom ● Spend 10-15 minutes filling out stress questionnaire ● Second saliva sample taken as they leave One experimental group of 7 students in a conference room with me and a helper ● One saliva sample taken as they enter the classroom ● Spend 10-15 minutes filling out stress questionnaire ● Time spent with therapy dog ● Second saliva sample taken as they leave Data Collection Procedure: Students first spit into a plastic cup labeled with their participant number immediately when they came in to the room and then we wrote down their participant number on a white board with the the time they would have to give us their final sample (25 minutes later).
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