Psychological Causes Of Homeostasis

Stress can be defined as anything that threatens or actuates physiological or psychosocial harm to the body, thus affecting the body’s homeostasis (Smith & Fawcett, 2006). Cannon (1932) developed the term homeostasis, describing it as the body’s ability to maintain a balance while reacting to a range of triggers. These triggers, or stressors, involve a variety of physiological and psychological factors, and can include disease, overwork or trauma (Walker, Payne, Smith & Jarrett, 2007). Homeostasis is key to the stress response; in order to remain healthy the body will strive to return to normal balance as soon as possible following exposure to a stressor (Cohen, 2012; Eysenck & Flanagan, 2000). According to Sarafino and Smith (2014) this process is controlled by the hypothalamus in the

For example, a body violently shivering in the cold over extended periods would create wear and tear on the body systems trying to maintain a stable bodily temperature (Lovallo, 2015). This idea of physiological fluctuations within bodily systems to meet demands for homeostasis is known as allostasis. McEwen and Stellar (1993) developed this and coined the term allostatic load to capture the cost to the body of enduring exposure to challenging demands resulting from some form of chronic stress. They went on to say that ongoing demands can have a detrimental effect on health as they reduce the body’s ability to cope with new and future stressors. An example of this is shown in research conducted by Miller, Chen and Parker (2011), which explored the idea that adult health can be seriously impacted by high allostatic load in childhood. They concluded that, as a result of high childhood stress, an individual’s response to stressors will become slower and the risk of future serious disease will