Physiology of Stress and Its Managements
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Sharma DK, J Med Stud Res 2018, 1: 001 DOI: 10.24966/MSR-5657/100001 HSOA Journal of Medicine: Study & Research Review Article Though stress is commonly associated with disagreeable states and Physiology of Stress and its experiences, but it is not always the case. Stress is simply a response to physical and emotional demands. Whenever we feel stressed this Managements usually means that the demands of the situation exceed all our avail- Dushyant Kumar Sharma* able resources. Generally when we talk about the stress in our lives we are talking about ‘stressors’. Department of Zoology, Government Model Science College, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India Any factor or event that causes stress is called a stressor. Stressors can be of many types: physical or physiological changes in the body, changes in the environment, life events or behaviours. Even an unreal (imaginary) situation can act as a stressor and could be the reason of stress. In fact in most of the cases it is just an imagination which is the cause of a stress. Hence, it is very important how we perceive an event or a situation. Types of Stress Abstract Depending on the nature, duration and impact on the body, stress Today stress has become a major problem. Most of the people can be seen in the state of stress. Even young children are not an can be categorized into different categories: exception. It is essential to understand the physiology of stress if we Good and bad stress wish to cope with the stress. The stress response involves the in- volvement of both nervous as well as endocrine systems. Though re- Do all types of stress are harmful or have negative impact on the search on stress has provided invaluable insight and increased our body. The answer is “NO”. All types of stress are not harmful. There understanding about the physiological and metabolic complications are stressors which can be fun, exciting and motivating. Such stresses of stress. Stress affects most of the body systems. Though stress usually called Good stress or Eustress not only help in restoring our management has still remained a big challenge, we can manage stress by making some little changes in our lifestyle. energy but also improve heart function and increase our stamina and strength. They sharpen our thinking and enhance mental ability. Dis- Keywords: ACTH; Corticoids; HPA axis; Stress; Stressor; Stress tress on the other hand, is the stress which has negative or bad impact hormones on the body. It is the stress which causes anxiety or a feeling of dis- pleasure. Distress normally has a negative impact on our performance Introduction and can lead to mental as well as physical problems. ‘Stress’ is the word which is known to everyone. We often use the Acute stress, episodic stress, and chronic stress term in our daily lives. Stress is not a situation or a condition during Acute stress is the stress that occurs for a short period of time. an adverse condition, as it is generally assumed. In fact, it is a way It comes on quickly and also goes quickly. It is usually short lived. by which the body overcomes a demanding or undesirable situation. Acute stress is generally recognized with symptoms such as anger, Whenever we are in some unfavourable condition (whether it is phys- anxiety, irritability and acute periods of depression. Some time it may ical or mental) our body tries to maintain the homeostasis (internal bring thrill, pleasure and excitement in our lives. When acute stress is milieu) and protect itself from such events adopting some ‘changes’. felt too frequently it is called episodic stress. Episodic acute stress in Stress is a series of events our body follows to cope with such situa- some people occurs due to a series of stressful challenges occurring tions. Selye used the term ‘stress’ to represent the effects of anything one after another in their lives. When a stress persists for longer dura- that seriously threatens homeostasis of the body [1]. Both external tion it is called chronic stress. Chronic stress is brought about by the and internal factors affect the homeostasis of the body. long term exposure to stressors. Chronic stressors may not be as in- *Corresponding author: Dushyant Kumar Sharma, Department of Zoology, tense as acute stressors but they are more harmful than acute stressors. Government Model Science College, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India, Tel: +91 This is because the effect of chronic stress is the accumulated effects 9425770641; E-mail: [email protected] of stressor for a long time. Chronic stress not only affects the physical Citation: Sharma DK (2018) Physiology of Stress and its Management. J Med health but is equally harmful for mental health. The effects occur due Stud Res 1: 001. to accumulated stress. Received: February 23, 2018; Accepted: April 26, 2018; Published: May 10, Stress Response 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Sharma DK. This is an open-access article distributed Whenever the body is exposed to a stressor, which may be a real under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits or just imagined a response is elicited to overcome it. The response unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the is not uniform in all individuals. Besides the intensity and duration original author and source are credited. of the stressor several other factors such as age, gender, personality, Citation: Sharma DK (2018) Physiology of Stress and its Management. J Med Stud Res 1: 001. • Page 2 of 5 • physical and mental health and past experiences of the person also of these hormones - epinephrine and nor epinephrine last for few sec- influence the stress response. Hans Selye developed General Adapta- onds. The functions of parasympathetic nervous system are opposite tion Syndrome (GAS), a profile of how organisms respond to stress to that of sympathetic nervous system and help in energy conservation [1]. There are three stages in stress response: 1. Alarm 2. Adaptation and relaxation. and 3. Exhaustion or recovery. Alarm is the first stage that involves the ‘fight-or-flight’ response. This is the stage which enables us to CRH acts at the anterior pituitary gland an endocrine gland lo- deal with the difficult (adverse) situations. The body is prepared either cated in the brain. Pituitary gland is also called ‘master gland’, as to face the perceived threat, or to escape from it. This stage invokes it controls the secretion of other endocrine glands in the body. On various reactions in the body such as release of stress hormones: cor- stimulation by CRH, anterior pituitary secretes Adrenocorticotropin tisol, nor adrenaline and adrenaline from the adrenal glands, increased Hormone (ACTH). According to Scantamburlo et al., arginine vaso- heart rate, rise in blood sugar level, increase in blood pressure, etc. pressin modulates the effect of CRH on ACTH secretion [2]. If the stressful situation isn’t resolved the body uses all its resourc- ACTH released from anterior pituitary gland in response to CRH es (for example, continuous secretion of stress hormones to provide stimulates adrenal glands located on the kidneys. There are two parts energy to deal with the situation) to adapt to the stressful situation. of adrenal - the outer part called cortex and the inner part known as This is the adaptation stage. This results in various types of physical medulla. (sleep problems, general tiredness, muscular pains, indigestion, aller- ACTH stimulates adrenal cortex to release corticoids (glucocorti- gies, minor infections like common colds etc.,), mental (lack of con- coids and mineralocorticoids). The major function of glucocorticoids centration), emotional (impatience and irritability) and behavioural is to release energy, which is required to cope with the ill effects of problems (smoking and drinking). stressor. The energy is released by conversion of glycogen into glu- If the body’s compensation mechanisms have succeeded in over- cose (glycogenolysis) and also by breakdown of fats into fatty acids coming the stressor’s effect there follows the recovery stage. But if and glycerol (lipolysis). In addition to this corticoids have several the body has used up its resources and is unable to maintain normal other functions such as: increased urea production, appetite suppres- function it leads to exhaustion stage. If exhaustion stage persists for sion, suppression of immune system, exacerbation of gastric irrita- a long time it can cause long term effects where the individual is at tion, associated feeling of depression and loss of control. These are risk of suffering from more serious health conditions. It may lead to the symptoms generally seen in a person under stress. Mineralocor- + + depression, hypertension and coronary diseases. ticoid (aldosterone) promotes Na retention and elimination of K . It increases blood pressure by increasing blood volume. The medulla Mechanism of Stress part of the adrenal gland secretes epinephrine and norepinephrine. The functions of these hormones are the same as that of those secreted Following a stressful event the body acts at different levels to cope from nerve endings of sympathetic nervous system. These hormones with the stressor. This is achieved through two major changes in the secreted by adrenal medulla, reinforce the functions of sympathetic body: 1. change in pattern/amount of the release of the energy and nervous system. The release of these hormones from adrenal medulla 2. change in the distribution of energy. Several events occur to bring acts as a backup system to ensure the most efficient means of physical these changes. All such events are collectively called stress or the survival. The effects brought out by epinephrine and norepinephrine stress response. Stress is a multidimensional phenomenon which in- from the sympathetic nervous system may be termed as immediate volves both nervous and endocrine system.