The physiology of stress

It is generally agreed by the scientific community that stress is not what happens to someone. Stress is how a person reacts to stressors. Stress affects everyone differently.

Stressors can be positive -- exciting things like graduating, getting married, or going on vacation -- or stressors can be negative things, like worrying about the bills, breaking a leg, or dealing with traffic on your daily commute.

These stressors can be sudden, one-time occurrences or repeated, leading to a chronic problem. Stress can be a result of either physical or psychological factors. We often get stressed by expecting or imagining disasters that do not and may never occur.

The body’s response to stress is comprehensive and complex, and it affects the operation of many systems.

As noted above, the body has a similar set of responses to a broad array of stressors. These responses include:

1. Rapid mobilization of energy from storage.

2. Increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing to speed up the transport of nutrients and oxygen.

3. Halted digestion. The large intestine is stimulated to release previously digested food to reduce body weight.

4. Inhibited immunity to save the body’s energy for the crisis at hand.

5. Diminished perception of pain.

6. Improved cognitive and sensory skills. Memory improves, except in the case of prolonged or extreme stress. All of these responses are meant to be short-term in order to mobilize the body for action. They are short-sighted and inefficient, but they are important in a physical crisis situation.

Stress is the physical and emotional wear and tear resulting from real or imagined problems. These problems include: pressures of everyday life, conflicts including choices and arguments, f rustrations and another factors such as

a) Intimacy, community, and social support.

Social support is very protective for humans. This is true for both long-term and short-term instances of stress. People need to be needed; it gives purpose to life. Caring for and protecting children, pets, and other loved ones is a powerful motivator. Social interaction has been shown to be critical to life, and to mental and physical development. People with emotionally supportive relationships are less likely to respond to stress with illness than are adults without such support.

Date: 2015-09-26; view: 308; Нарушение авторских прав