Stress: The Quiet Killer

Our seminar this week welcomes Professor Daryl O'Connor discussing the implications of stress

This talk will argue that stress may indirectly contribute to health risk and reduced longevity to the extent that it produces deleterious changes in diet and/or helps maintain maladaptive health behaviours as well as directly by influencing biological processes across the life scan (e.g., blood pressure, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning).

Studies investigating the relationship between chronic stress, perseverative cognition, the cortisol response and health outcomes will be presented. The second half of the talk will describe recent work investigating the effects of childhood trauma and the role of HPA axis responses to stress in vulnerability to suicide.

The importance of studying the effects of stress across the life course and developing stress management interventions will also be highlighted.