stress response

(noun)

This halts or slows down various processes, such as sexual responses and digestive systems, to focus on the stressor situation; this usually causes negative effects like constipation, anorexia, difficulty urinating, and difficulty maintaining sexual arousal.

Related Terms

Examples of stress response in the following topics:

  • The Stress Response

    • The body's stress response is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
    • The body's stress response is mediated by the interplay between the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
    • The SNS plays a key role in mediating the neural response to stress known as the fight-or-flight response.
    • The hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is an endocrine cascade that mediates several aspects of physiological stress, including responses to acute stressors (i.e., fight-or-flight response) but it also causes chronic stress.
    • Distinguish between the nervous system and endrocrine system responses to stress

  • The Fight-or-Flight Response

    • The fight-or-flight response (also called the acute stress response) was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon.
    • This response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms.
    • The stress response halts or slows down various processes, such as sexual responses and digestive systems, to focus on the stressor situation.
    • Stress responses are sometimes a result of mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (in which the individual shows a stress response when remembering a past trauma) and in panic disorder (in which the stress response is activated by the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations).
    • Discuss the endocrine system's role in the fight-or-flight response to stress

  • Sympathetic Responses

    • The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system maintains internal organ homeostasis and initiates the stress response.
    • Stress—as in the hyperarousal of the flight-or-fight response—is thought to counteract the parasympathetic system, which generally works to promote maintenance of the body at rest.
    • The SNS is perhaps best known for mediating the neuronal and hormonal stress response commonly known as the fight-or-flight response, also known as sympatho-adrenal response of the body.
    • This response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms.
    • During stressful times, a mother is especially likely to show protective responses toward her offspring and affiliate with others for shared social responses to threats.

  • Stress and Disease

    • Over-activation of the stress response can result in pathology and disease.
    • Sensory input, memory formation, and stress response mechanisms are affected in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.
    • The regions of the brain involved in memory processing that are implicated in PTSD include the hippocampus, amygdala, and frontal cortex, while the heightened stress response is likely to involve the thalamus, hypothalamus, and locus coeruleus.
    • There is consistent evidence from MRI volumetric studies that hippocampal volume is reduced in post-traumatic stress disorder.
    • Describe the role played by the endocrine system in stress and disease

  • Stress and Immunity

    • In one study, individuals caring for spouses with dementia, representing the stress group, saw a significant decrease in immune response to an influenza-virus vaccine compared to a non-stressed control group.
    • Stress responses release a hormone called cortisol in the adrenocortex through a complex neuroendocrine pathway that is controlled by the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland.
    • Evolutionary biologists believe that this stress mechanism is intended to protect the immune system from becoming overactive to facilitate the fight-or-flight response, which would be weakened by inflammation.
    • Normally, stress responses are beneficial for the body, provided they are moderate and cortisol returns to normal levels after the stressful situation ends.
    • Other activities like meditation and listening to music have been found to calm the mind, which can relax the parts of the brain responsible for the stress response (such as the anterior pituitary gland).

  • Exhaustion

    • Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor (a stimulus that causes stress), real or imagined.
    • When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress response is in a state of alarm.
    • During this stage, adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the fight-or-flight response.
    • If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress.

  • Sympathetic Nervous System

    • Sympathetic ganglia are the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system that initiate fight-or-flight, stress-mediated responses.
    • They deliver information to the body about stress and impending danger, and are responsible for the familiar fight-or-flight response.
    • This response is also known as the sympathetico-adrenal response because the pre-ganglionic sympathetic fibers that end in the adrenal medulla—like all sympathetic fibers—secrete acetylcholine.
    • Therefore, this response is mediated directly via impulses transmitted through the sympathetic nervous system, and indirectly via catecholamines secreted from the adrenal medulla, and acts primarily on the cardiovascular system.

  • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

    • Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after exposure to an event that is so stressful for an individual that it becomes traumatic.
    • Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after exposure to an event that is so stressful for an individual that it becomes traumatic.
    • As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response.
    • Additionally, PTSD and other posttraumatic disturbances in parental psychological functioning can, despite the best efforts of traumatized parents, interfere with their response to their child as well as their child's response to trauma.
    • The HPA axis is a major biological mechanism of stress and stress response

  • The Resistance Reaction

    • Stress typically describes a negative concept that can have an impact on one's mental and physical well-being, but it is unclear what exactly defines stress and whether or not stress is a cause, an effect, or the process connecting the two.
    • Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor (any stimulus that causes stress), real or imagined.
    • Resistance is the second stage and the increased secretion of glucocorticoids plays a major role by intensifying the systemic response.
    • This response has lypolytic, catabolic, and antianabolic effects: increased glucose, fat and amino acid/protein concentration in blood.
    • Explain how the endocrine system reacts to stress in the resistance stage

  • Fibromyalgia

    • Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to pressure.
    • Fibromyalgia is a medical disorder characterized by chronic widespread pain and allodynia, which is a heightened and painful response to pressure .
    • It is frequently comorbid with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety, and stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
    • Some research suggests that these brain anomalies may be the result of childhood stress, or prolonged or severe stress, rather than an inherited disorder.