The Physiology of Stress

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What is a stressor?

There can be many different definitions of stressor, but the type that occurs in the stress response is physiological. Taking this into consideration, a stressor is anything that causes a person stress either physically or psychologically. It is something that is either inflicted on us by an outside force or something that we perceive in our mind. Stressors can take the form of an outside agent, an event, or an environmental condition. Anything in a person’s day to day life may be a stressor whether it is losing a job, a fight with a friend, or misplacing car keys. Stressors can have a wide range of effects on the body. It is responsible for decreasing performance and mental capacity. A stressor is one of the most important parts because it initiates the stress response.

What is stress?

Physiologically speaking, stress is the reaction that occurs in our body when a stressor throws our body off of homeostasis. In order for our bodies to function normally, it needs to be in a constant equilibrium. When our bodies perceive a stressor, it throws the body off of that equilibrium whether it be physically or psychologically. This perceived stressor causes the body to react and that reaction is called stress. Stress can be a good and bad thing. It is good because it can be the extra push a person needs in order to achieve a goal. However, chronic stress is not healthy. Stress causes many different physiological effects on the body that with long term effects can be extremely bad on ones health.

What parts of the body are involved in the stress response?

Stress is mainly the function of the nervous system and endocrine system. Once the body perceives the stressor, it stimulates the nervous and endocrine systems. ...

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...porary storage sites in the body and those nutrients flood into the bloodstream, supplying energy to all parts of the body. If the stressor remains to be on going, the hypothalamus activates the HPA Axis. The process is very similar to the one I described before. The main difference is that the amount of cortisol released is increased and continuous to allow the stress response to be carried on for a longer period of time. When the stressor minimizes, the cortisol levels begin to decrease and the parasympathetic nervous system dampens the stress response to bring it back to homeostasis.This whole process is done in order to give our bodies the boost of energy it needs in order to overcome a stressor. That’s why we are able to stay up all night in order to finish a report due the next day or why we feel a rush of adrenaline when we perceive our lives to be in danger.

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