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Micah Curtis
Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
31 March 2016
The Mess of Stress
Stress is the bodys natural response to danger, though it is often felt when a person is not
at risk of physical harm. Various factors in peoples daily lives including their jobs, families, or
any number of things create stress. This kind of stress is referred to as psychosocial, and if
chronic, can wreak havoc on the body. The YouTube channel, Khan Academy Medicine,
uploaded a video in April of 2014 to educate people about stress. The moderator, Ryan Patton,
describes the effects of too much stress on the body in the video, Physical Effects of Stress.
Reciprocal, remote, proximate, and precipitating causes in Pattons video explain how an excess
amount of stress can damage a persons body systems.
The first section of the video demonstrates reciprocal cause when Patton describes the
effects of chronic stress on the heart. He explains there is a cycle of high blood pressure, also
known as hypertension, caused by stress, which can eventually lead to a heart attack. When a
person feels stressed their blood pressure naturally increases. However, if a person is chronically
stressed over time their high blood pressure will cause their blood vessels to distend, build more
muscle and become rigid. Rigid vessels require more force from the heart for the blood to
properly circulate which leads to even higher blood pressure and the cycle continues. This
pattern of increasing blood pressure leads to vascular disease or coronary artery disease and can
cause heart attacks. Although this is only a theory, the American Heart Association states stress
has not been proven to cause chronic high blood pressure, (Amer. Heart Assn.). The idea that

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stress is the cause of high blood pressure has not be proven to be true. The relationship between
stress and hypertension is not clear; it is possible that stress is a symptom and not a cause of
hypertension, but Patton never mentions this in his video which makes his information seem less
credible. This is an example of stacking the deck because he is only showing one side of the
argument. His use of the fallacy weakens his argument, but without extra research the argument
would appear to be acceptable.
Patton uses remote cause when explaining the effects of stress on the metabolism. He
does not directly state that stress is a cause of diabetes but he implies it. When the body
experiences stress, the hormones cortisol and glucagon are released; this is a natural response
and by itself would not cause problems. Glucagon is released as a part of the fight or flight
response, so the body can have more energy to leave the dangerous situation, but in psychosocial
situations the body will not use the extra energy. Patton states the extra glucose can really
exacerbate metabolic conditions like diabetes, because of the extra blood sugar. (Physical
Effects). This part of his argument is credible because of the way he makes his claim. Instead of
stating stress causes diabetes, he says stress can aggravate the condition. There are many factors
that would cause someone to develop diabetes, and stress is only one component of the
development and progression of the disease. The American Diabetes Association website also
makes the claim that chronic stress can be a factor in the onset of diabetes, although they go into
more detail about how stress affects the metabolism. The Association says people under stress
may not take good care of themselves, in addition to stress affecting the amount of sugar in their
blood (Amer. Diabetes Assn.). While this part of Patons argument is more credible than the
section about heart disease, there is still a fallacy present. Patton does not say anything in this
video about how stress may affect ones behavior in an unhealthy way that could lead to diabetes,

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once again misleading his audience. This is an example of faulty causality because he does not
acknowledge that diabetes can be caused by stress in more than one way. Patton does not look at
the multiple causes of diabetes and how they are related to stress. His use of remote cause would
have been successful if he had looked at more than one cause of diabetes instead of assuming
that stress only causes diabetes in one way.
Patton uses proximate cause to claim that stress negatively impacts the reproductive
systems in both men and women. This is a proximate cause because there is an immediate
reaction, especially in women. The female reproductive cycle is shut down as a part of the acute
stress response (Physical Effects). This serves an evolutionary purpose because it is better not to
have children when a person is in a dangerous environment. The cessation of the menstrual cycle
in women is an immediate result of stress. Males also experience a decrease in testosterone or
can acquire erectile dysfunction disorder from chronic stress. The drop in testosterone is
immediate as well. Both of these statements are confirmed by the American Psychological
Association. This part of Pattons video contains no fallacies and has no disputed information
unlike the first two sections in the video. His argument is logical and factually correct. His use of
proximate cause effectively explains the effects of stress on men and womens reproductive
systems.
The closing section of his argument is a precipitating cause. It is precipitating because
chronic stress can lead to a change in how the immune system works. Patton states that chronic
stress causes the body to stop activating the immune system response appropriately and our
immune system can become suppressed (Physical Effects). The body over uses the
inflammatory response and is eventually conditioned to the stress, so the immune system does
not work as well. He mentions an experiment directed by Sheldon Cohen to prove his point.

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Cohen, Tyrrell, and Smith conducted this experiment to prove that stress suppresses the immune
system. His results showed that stress does weaken the immune system and people are more
likely to become sick if they have been exposed to stress. In Cohens conclusion he stated there
is an increased risk of acute infectious respiratory illness (Cohen, Tyrell, and Smith 606). This
experiment validates what Patton says in his video about stress and how it changes the immune
system. This part of his argument offers the most evidence and is the most credible. This
argument contains no fallacies and has reliable undisputed information. Pattons use of
precipitating cause successfully explains the damage stress can cause in a persons immune
system.
The majority of Ryan Pattons video contains information that can be relied on. However,
in two of his explanations there are fallacies and he fails to explain the whole situation. Because
of this, his ethos is damaged. The causal argument he makes for damage to the heart and
metabolism are failures, but the arguments made about the reproductive and immune system are
successful. All of his arguments could have been successful if he had spent more time explaining
them and if he showed more sides of the argument. The purpose of this video was to inform
people about the negative effects of stress, but because it was missing information and only
showed one side therefore, Patton did not achieve his goal. There are so many flaws in his video
that viewers may dismiss any reliable evidence in it.

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Works Cited
American Diabetes Association. "Stress." Diabetes. Amer. Diabetes Assn., 6 Dec. 2013. Web. 15
Mar. 2016.
This website expresses the relationship between stress and diabetes. It says stress can affect the
way people live their lives in a way that causes diabetes. It also says that stress can be a
direct cause in diabetes.
American Heart Association. "Stress and Blood Pressure." Heart. Amer. Heart Assn., 4 Aug.
2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
This website describes the uncertain link between high blood pressure and stress. It explains that
stress could be a factor in heart disease, but it has never been proven. The site also claims
that stress can affect our bodies and minds in other ways.
American Psychological Association. "Stress Effects on the Body." Apa. Amer. Psychological
Assn., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
This website goes in detail about the effects of stress in each of the bodys systems. This website
is used specifically for details about the reproductive system. There is no conflicting
information with the video.
Cohen, Sheldon, David AJ Tyrrell, and Andrew P. Smith. "Psychological stress and susceptibility
to the common cold." New England journal of medicine 325.9 (1991): 606-612. Web. 15
Mar. 2016
This source explains the experiment Patton mentions in the video. Patton gets some of his
information from this experiment. The information matches what is in the video.
Patton, Ryan. "Physical Effects of Stress." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

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This video explains the damaging effects of stress on the body. It uses four different types of
causal arguments. He explains the effects of stress on four different systems in the body.