How Stress affects the Body. Know the Real Facts.

Causes of stress.

 Many experts consider modern life particularly stressful because it exposes people to many stressors. Some physical stressors remain, including natural disasters, illnesses, and noise. Certain life experiences, such as the death of a loved one, are major stressors. Day-to-day problems, such as taking tests or driving in traffic jams, may also be stressful. In addition, the increasing demands of jobs, school, and other activities are stressors for children and their overworked parents. 

People need not experience events directly to feel stress. Television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet flood people with information about crime, disasters, terrorism, and other upsetting occurrences throughout the world. People can also imagine future misfortunes and regret past failures, causing stress.

  How stress affects the body. 

The Canadian scientist Hans Selye pioneered studies of stress in the 1930s.

He used the term general adaptation syndrome to describe the body's reaction to stressors. The first part of the general adaptation response, called an alarm reaction, occurs when a person or other animal first senses danger. 

An alarm reaction begins in the brain when a frightening experience activates an area called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus then sends nerve signals to the adrenal glands, which sit above the kidneys. These nerve signals stimulate the medulla (inner core) of the adrenals to release chemical messengers called hormones. One important hormone is epinephrine, which is also called adrenalin. Epinephrine raises the heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and the amount of sugar in the blood. These effects increase alertness and deliver more blood, oxygen, and food to active muscles. 

If the danger persists, a stage called resistance follows the alarm reaction. During the resistance, the body attempts to return to a state of balance. Breathing and heart rate decrease to normal levels. But the hypothalamus sends a hormone signal to a nearby gland in the brain called the pituitary. The pituitary gland then releases a special type of hormone, called ACTH. ACTH travels to the cortex (outer layer) of the adrenal glands. The adrenal cortex responds by releasing hormones called glucocorticoids. These hormones keep blood sugar high to provide extra energy. 

If stress continues at high levels, the body enters the final stage of the general adaptation syndrome, called exhaustion. In exhaustion, energy reserves are used up, leading to extreme fatigue and an inability to resist new stressors. 

Scientists have found that women respond to stress differently than men do. In addition to the fight-or-flight response, women may react to a stressor with a nurturing and protecting response, where they tend to seek the support of others. This response may be due in part to the release of oxytocin, a hormone that also prompts childbirth and milk production in females' activity stick, he is late for a critical assembly, observing the minutes go by. Your hypothalamus, the little control tower in your brain, chooses to send a command: Send push hormones! These stretch hormones are the same ones that trigger your body's reaction to "battle or flight". Your heart beats speedier, your breathing is quicker, and your muscles are prepared to work. This reaction is planned to secure your body in a crisis by planning you to reply quickly. But when the reaction to stretch proceeds to burn, day by day, it can put your well-being at the chance.

Impacts of Stretch on Your Body Sitting on an activity stick, he is late for a critical assembly, observing the minutes go by. Your hypothalamus, the little control tower in your brain, chooses to send a command: Send push hormones! These stretch hormones are the same ones that trigger your body's reaction to "battle or flight". Your heart beats speedier, your breathing is quicker, and your muscles are prepared to work. This reaction is planned to secure your body in a crisis by planning you to reply quickly. But when the reaction to stretch proceeds to burn, day by day, it can put your well-being at the chance.