Stress And Your Response
Stress , according to Hans Selye, is the "nonspecific response of the body to any demand."
Hans Selye, a world-renowned Canadian scientist and regarded as the father of stress theories, discovered that stress causes certain changes in the structure and chemistry of the body, some of which are signs of damage, others are manifestations of the body's adaptive reactions, a mechanisms of defense against stress.
Hans Selye named the totality of these changes as "the stress syndrome." He described it as encompassing three stages : The alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion. The alarm reaction is the spontaneous response of the body to whatever is causing stress, it may be a fight or flight reaction away from the stressor.
The next stage is resistance. The body tries to communicate that something is out of rhythm and that some aspects in your body cries for attention or change. Pain is a warning example that signals that some aspect of your being is out of balance.
Without any form of intervention, Selye stressed, a body under stress enters the third stage : exhaustion, imbalance, disequilibrium, or disease. He found that chronic stress frequently produces imbalances in the hormonal secretions that regulate body functions. He also asserted that chronic stress suppresses the immune system. His conception of the link between stress and illness point to the fact that all persons diagnosed with disease have one thing in common, a depressed immune system.
Hans Selye, a world-renowned Canadian scientist and regarded as the father of stress theories, discovered that stress causes certain changes in the structure and chemistry of the body, some of which are signs of damage, others are manifestations of the body's adaptive reactions, a mechanisms of defense against stress.
Hans Selye named the totality of these changes as "the stress syndrome." He described it as encompassing three stages : The alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion. The alarm reaction is the spontaneous response of the body to whatever is causing stress, it may be a fight or flight reaction away from the stressor.
The next stage is resistance. The body tries to communicate that something is out of rhythm and that some aspects in your body cries for attention or change. Pain is a warning example that signals that some aspect of your being is out of balance.
Without any form of intervention, Selye stressed, a body under stress enters the third stage : exhaustion, imbalance, disequilibrium, or disease. He found that chronic stress frequently produces imbalances in the hormonal secretions that regulate body functions. He also asserted that chronic stress suppresses the immune system. His conception of the link between stress and illness point to the fact that all persons diagnosed with disease have one thing in common, a depressed immune system.
