stress

(noun)

Emotional pressure suffered by a human being or other animal.

Related Terms

Examples of stress in the following topics:

  • Stress and Immunity

    • Evidence shows that stress has a negative effect on the body's immune system.
    • Participants were infected with the virus and given a stress index.
    • Normally, stress responses are beneficial for the body, provided they are moderate and cortisol returns to normal levels after the stressful situation ends.
    • Chronic stress occurs when the body's stress levels remain too high for too long and do not return to normal levels for long enough.
    • Chronic stress takes a more significant toll on the body than does acute stress.

  • 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

  • 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.
    • If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress.

  • 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.
    • The HPA axis is a major biological mechanism of stress and stress response
    • Describe the role of the endocrine system in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  • The Fight-or-Flight Response

    • The fight-or-flight response (also called the acute stress response) was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon.
    • The stress response halts or slows down various processes, such as sexual responses and digestive systems, to focus on the stressor situation.
    • Prolonged stress responses may result in chronic suppression of the immune system, leaving the body open to infections.
    • 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

  • 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.
    • There is consistent evidence from MRI volumetric studies that hippocampal volume is reduced in post-traumatic stress disorder.
    • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to psychological trauma.
    • Describe the role played by the endocrine system in stress and disease

  • 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.
    • With organisms as complex as humans, stress can take on entirely concrete or abstract meanings with highly subjective qualities, satisfying definitions of both cause and effect in ways that can be both tangible and intangible.
    • Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor (any stimulus that causes stress), real or imagined.
    • If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress.
    • Explain how the endocrine system reacts to stress in the resistance stage

  • Fibromyalgia

    • 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.

  • 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.
    • This response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms.
    • Males and females tend to deal with stressful situations differently.
    • 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.

  • 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.