The physiology of stress is still being studied, since not all aspects have been fully disclosed and proven. What is already known today is quite sufficient to combat this reaction of the body, which a person provokes independently with words, thoughts, and actions. If you do not pay attention to stress, the consequences will be disastrous.

To suppress stress, experts advise analyzing the stress factor, finding the cause, and only then starting treatment. Adaptogens, herbs and meditation have proven themselves to be effective in suppressing negativity, but there are contraindications that should definitely be taken into account so as not to make things worse for yourself.

Physiology of stress: what, how and how

Stress is a set of protective and damaging reactions of the body that arise as a result of neuroendocrine and metabolic changes in response to emergency or pathological factors manifested by adaptation syndrome.

Stress is a state of the body in which homeostasis is disturbed. The factor that caused a disturbance in homeostasis is called a stressor.

Stress response is a neuroendocrine reaction of the body to a disturbance in homeostasis.
The concept of stress was first formulated by the Canadian scientist Hans Selye in 1936. Initially, the term general adaptation syndrome (GAS) was used to refer to stress. The term “stress” began to be used later, only in 1946.

•    General – causes a systemic protective phenomenon.
•    Adaptive – promotes the acquisition of a state of habit (adaptation) and maintains this state.
•    Syndrome - its individual phenomena are coordinated and partly interconnected.

Stress is a specific syndrome in nature, but nonspecific in origin.

•    The specificity of the nature of stress is determined by the totality of persistent symptoms.
•    The non-specific origin is determined by the fact that it occurs under the action of various stimuli (mechanical, physical, biological, mental).

Nonspecific manifestations of the disease in humans (malaise, loss of appetite and interest in life, weight loss) are a clinical manifestation of nonspecific stress.

Processes aimed at ensuring motor reactions (fight or flight): increasing blood sugar levels for energy supply, dilation of the pupil (increasing the field of vision), increased blood pressure and increased heart rate, improved blood supply to muscles, increased activity of the central nervous system, increased sweating of fluid into the joints cavities.

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“You are what you eat” - only people who are completely indifferent to their lifestyle have not thought about the meaning of this catchphrase of Hippocrates, as well as the direct influence of the quality of nutrition on health. The food we eat directly affects our functioning, well-being and quality of life.

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Processes aimed at preparing for mechanical tissue damage: increasing blood clotting (preventing bleeding), increasing the proliferative activity of connective tissue cells (to compensate for tissue defects).

Processes aimed at activating physiological barriers that prevent the penetration of a pathogenic agent into the body: reducing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, activating the detoxification function of the liver, etc.

3 stages of stress

There are three stages of development of stress syndrome; they were identified by Hans Selye back in the 30s, but they are still relevant today. All doctors and psychologists use these three stages.

Alarm stage

Develops 6 hours after exposure to a stressor and lasts 24-48 hours. It is characterized by two phases: the shock phase and the anti-shock phase.

The shock phase is characterized by shock changes: hyponatremia, hypotension, increased membrane permeability, blood thickening, leukocytosis, negative nitrogen balance, that is, the manifestation of catabolic processes, tissue destruction processes, hypoglycemia, muscle hypotension, and so on. All this occurs against the background of activation of the production of glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids and catecholamines - internal biogenic amines.

The counter-shock phase is characterized by counter-shock changes to smooth it all out. That is, the opposite condition occurs: hypernatremia, hypertension, activation of the sympathetic nervous system, sympathetic-adrenal nervous system, and what all nutritionists are most afraid of - activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and everything that follows from this. During this phase, along with motor reactions, auxiliary, visceral service respiratory systems are activated, which are activated through the central nervous system. These are very complex mechanisms.

During this phase, along with motor reactions, auxiliary visceral service systems are activated - cardiovascular system, breathing, etc., which are triggered and controlled by the central nervous system.

Resistance stage

2 stages: transitional and stable adaptation (resistance).

During the transitional stage:
•    The general excitability of the central nervous system decreases.
•    A functional system for managing adaptation in new conditions is being formed.
•    The intensity of hormonal changes decreases: the hormones of the adrenal cortex - “adaptation hormones” - increase their effect.

The body's adaptive reactions gradually switch to a deeper tissue level. Increased nonspecific resistance of the body to harmful influences.

The resistance stage is characterized by some normalization of the activity of the endocrine glands and the thymic-lymphatic system.

Anabolism increases with the restoration of normal body weight.

Main features of this stage:

•    Mobilization of energy resources.
•    Increased synthesis of structural and enzymatic proteins.
•    Mobilization of immune systems (the body acquires nonspecific and specific resistance).

Exhaustion

The reaction of the endocrine glands is close to that observed in the first stage of stress.
Glucocorticoids predominate over mineralocorticoids, the activity of the thyroid and gonads is reduced, the thymic-lymphatic system, the connective tissue system, and immunity are depressed.

The onset of exhaustion is not the only outcome of stress.

Against this background, the action of an additional stressor and a further increase in the body’s resistance is possible.

2 types of stress

Short-term stress

Short-term stress is the body’s reaction to a brief but significant impact of a stress factor. It always proceeds according to the same evolutionary mechanism, common to humans and all animals.

What happens when some strong stressor affects a person for a short time? Firstly, in order to obtain quick energy for the muscles, to fight or run away from danger, hormones are produced and sent to the fatty cells of the liver, to quickly obtain energy.

The next thing to do is to increase the flow of glucose into the blood, in order to again get quick energy and run right now, saving your life.

Next, this acceleration of the heartbeat occurs in order to increase blood flow so that it can even more supply oxygen and glucose to large muscles (large muscles, large muscles, in particular, legs, back, arms), and increased breathing. There is an increase in blood pressure because the accelerating blood flow makes the arteries more rigid so that they can withstand the pressure. They thus narrow and the pressure increases.

The next thing that happens is that long-term projects that are not needed right now are turned off. In particular, growth hormone, gonadotropin, ceases to be produced. It is produced most in humans during childhood and adolescence; this hormone also affects the ability, for example, to regulate one’s weight. If the release of this hormone constantly slows down, weight loss becomes more difficult, because it also affects adipose tissue, the processing of fats within the body.

Hormones that are responsible for the hormonal cycle, arousal and sexual activity are turned off. For example, when people are tired in their everyday life, or experience some kind of stress at work or in the family, their libido level usually decreases significantly.

What should every person do every year to be healthy?

Proper health care begins with prevention. Even if a person feels well, he cannot be sure that he is absolutely healthy. To identify problems at an early stage, when there are no symptoms yet, you need to regularly undergo a complete examination of the body in an express format - a basic annual check-up.

The check-up differs from the standard medical examination procedure precisely in that the examination is carried out as quickly as possible, within 1-2 days. This is very convenient for the lifestyle of a modern busy person.

Early diagnosis can save thousands of people. For example, the success rate of treating cancer in the early stages is about 90%, depending on the type of oncology. Therefore, regular monitoring of the condition of your body can preserve not only health, but also life.

Many diseases can be prevented by adjusting habits, physical activity and nutritional habits. Therefore, the basic check is the minimum that every person needs to pay annually.

Digestion also turns off, because now this is something that is irrelevant. Digestion takes a lot of energy, and when a person needs to run away from danger, the body will not waste energy.

The immune system is activated because the body is preparing to encounter some possibly pathogenic organisms that may enter if injured. To a certain extent, analgesia of pain occurs.

The brain begins to consume more oxygen and glucose in order to work better.

Long-term stress

Hans Selye himself believed that long-term stress develops like this: first, the activation phase occurs, that is, the influence of a stress factor that triggers the stress response and turns on the systems for restoring homeostasis. Next comes the struggle phase, that is, the body fights this stress factor and tries to restore homeostasis.

An activation phase occurs, a struggle phase occurs, and the exhaustion phase looks like this: if the impact of the stress factor continues, then constant imbalances in hormones and the constant work of stress hormones inside the body, changes in the work of neurotransmitters and the nervous system begin to cause damage to the body itself. That is, the production of cortisol does not end, that is the problem. It continues to be produced, and the part of the nervous system that is responsible for adaptation to stress and its very activation, the very work of these hormones begins to cause harm. 

This harm to the body becomes over time more destructive than the stress factor itself that caused it.

Systems Involved in Stress

General adaptation develops with the participation of systems :

•    hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal sympatho-adrenal;
•    hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.

Hormones:

•    ACTH;
•    corticosteroids (glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, estrogens), catecholamines (adrenaline, norepinephrine) TSH and thyroid hormones;
•    STG.

After a stressful stimulus, the secretion of adrenaline increases simultaneously with the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. GAS activity develops and decays more slowly.

Causes of stress

Stress is anything that disrupts the homeostatic balance. When a stress factor occurs, the body, with the help of hormones and neurotransmitters, seeks to restore homeostatic balance.

If in the case of an animal stress is only an already existing disturbance in the homeostatic balance, then in the case of a person it is also the idea that the homeostatic balance may be disturbed!

This is a critical moment in the occurrence of stress and stress-associated diseases, since the stress response will be the same both when the stress factor is actually exposed and when it is thought about its impact. The problem is that our body is not designed to constantly experience stress in response to thoughts rather than an actual disruption of homeostasis.

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The cerebral cortex and limbic system (emotional brain) tell the hypothalamus to produce hormones. And they also activate the autonomic nervous system, including the sympathetic section of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for the stress response.

•    Our thoughts trigger a stress response.
•    Our memories trigger a stress response.
•    Our fantasies trigger a stress response.
•    Our emotions trigger a stress response.

If animals experience acute stress only at the moment of a directly influencing stress factor, then people can experience stress even imagining a negative development of the situation or events dangerous to health/life/well-being. Thus, a large proportion of stress is caused not by actually occurring “bad” events in life, but by our mental activity.

Treating stress with adaptogens

The concept of “adaptogens” appeared thanks to the Russian scientist N.V. Lazarev. The Soviet physiologist back in the 50s of the twentieth century described the state of nonspecific increased resistance (SNHR), considering it the most optimal.