The Physiology of Stress - Essay Sample

Introduction

To most people, the term stress merely implies an emotional state often experienced either when they are under pressure or when let down by the family of friends. However, the term stress encompasses certain physiological, psychological and behavioral that people exude when they are threatened. Scientifically, the term stress is defined as those factors; psychological or physiological, that compromises the healthy body functioning. Stress can be termed good or bad depending on a person's state of mind. For instance, to some people like marathon runners, stress is just a catalyst he/she needs to finish the race. In most cases though, stress is considered harmful especially if not effectively managed. This paper highlights the effect of stress on body chemistry and the best ways to address them.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Generally the causes of stress always varies from one individual to another, thus stress is different for every individual and what stresses you out might not cause stress to another person and human body reacts differently to various stress (Cohen et.al, 2002) .When our body system reacts to stress various signs like rapid breathing, our body producing sweat or even by being tense up, stress can also increase amount of energy produced by our body system.

Sometimes stress can be good in our lives and this can increase our critical thinking and body metabolic reactions to different activities thus motivate our actions. For example when one is giving public speech for the first time in a lifetime, we may feel weak, sweat or just freeze but after a short time it will be overtaken by courage, the athletes or people in the sport industry have always taken the advantage of positive stress in order to increase their energy and motivation during the competition.

Normally this positive stressor only last for a very short time but it's very important to help our body to go through the tough situation (Fraser & Ritchie, 1975). Again stress can be negative, this is usually caused by bad moments in our lives for example when one is having a relationship or marriage problems and even divorce and recent breakup, and also the death of a family member or a friend can cause negative stress.in our life stress can affect us in almost all aspects of life which include our thinking ability, our emotions, and even our physical health, this is because no part of the body is resistant to stressor symptoms of stress can vary because there are long term and short term.

Physiology of stress mainly focuses on how our body reacts to stress, thus the metabolic reactions to stress, to suppress stress, to contain stress or the health result of the stress. All important and critical physiological systems of the human body are connected and work together for metabolic functions of human body, the systems like breathing systems, digestion systems, respiratory systems and even reproductive systems are all metabolic systems of the human body and are being affected by stress differently.

All the critical physiologic organs of the body are correlatively programmed, fine-tuning to preserve a future steady state, that is, homeostasis, which is basic for life and well-being. This maximum balance is regularly challenged by various forces which are internal or external, actual or even perceived, and are referred to as stressors. Stress is described as a state of disharmony that is allostasis. The adaptive feedback of every individual to stress is described by a multiple of genetic factors such as environmental and developmental issues. Changes in the capability to respond to stressors such as excessive and reactions inadequate may result to disease (Cohen et.al, 2002). Again, chronic stressors may have detrimental effects on several physiologic functions, including, reproduction, metabolism reactions, growth and immune reactions, and on the development of a person. For instance, infancy, prenatal life, and adolescence are vital periods in the process of enhancing the adaptive stress response, enhanced by an increasingly prone to stressors.

The stress system consists of a complex diversity of neurosensory which makes blood-borne and limbic signals to reach at the stress system destinations through specific pathways (Vrrj, 1993). Severe stress can actively enhanced limited changes with time, both that touches on personality and physical system, normally; these conditional changes are adaptive and facilitate the chances to survive. Mostly, the components of the stress system tend to follows a specific pathway but the specificity of the adaptive response reduces in order to present the non-specific stress syndrome phenomenology following exposure to the potential stressors as the potentiality of stress increases. Behavioral changes may include arousal, vigilance, alertness, and analgesia. Physical adaptation enforces redirection of body functions. The physical changes may include increases in the cardiovascular beat, respiratory rate, and metabolism work. Again, oxygen and nutrients are basically directed to stressed body parts.

When the human body senses or imagines the presence of a stressor element, signals are sent to the brain to cause the arousal of the Autonomic Nervous System(ANS) which is also responsible for the Sympathetic Nervous System(SNS). According to Vrrj (1993) the SNS helps the human body cope with very stressful situations by increasing the heart rate, enhancing muscle strength, shooting up fat and sugar levels, slow down blood clotting and enhancing the brain activity. Sympathetic response can also slow down intestinal movements and narrow peripheral blood vessels when they are not required in particular stressful situations. With the help of these adrenal glands, situated right on top of kidneys, the Sympathetic Nervous System connected to the adrenal medulla by nerves, causes it to release adrenaline and non-adrenaline into the blood flow leading to an increased heart rate and an enhancement of metabolism rate. Increased blood pressure causes the heart to oxygenate blood much faster.

Conclusion

In conclusion, physiological stress has become a key component in understanding human life. Everybody experiences stressful situations which the human mind has evolved to employ relevant adaptive responses. In various cases, our survival depends on the ability to identify, cope with and adapt to potential stressors. However, physiological stress may influence the manner in which an individual approaches stressful situations, preparing the body to overcome the challenge with focus and strength. The body can react to stress by "non-specific" internal responses to anything it consciously or non-consciously feels as a threat, both real and imagined. Physiological stress has been known to influence people into bad coping habits such as chronic smoking, substance abuse, insomnia and eating disorders. Living in stressful environments has also been linked to fatal accidents. Adopting healthy self-medication practices such as meditation and yoga are encouraged in fighting these stress related disorders to avoid developing severe mental health problems.

References

Boussiba, S. (2000). Carotenogenesis in the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis: cellular physiology and stress response. Physiologia Plantarum, 108(2), 111-117. Boussiba, 2000

Cohen, C. A., Colantonio, A., & Vernich, L. (2002). Positive aspects of caregiving: rounding out the caregiver experience. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 17(2), 184-188.

Fraser, D., Fraser, A. F., & Ritchie, J. S. D. (1975). The term "stress" in a veterinary context. British Veterinary Journal, 131(6), 653-662.

Vrij, A. (1993). Credibility judgments of detectives: The impact of nonverbal behavior, social skills, and physical characteristics on impression formation. The Journal of social psychology, 133(5), 601-610.