Chronic Stress Essay

Cortisol also partially shuts down the immune system when levels are high. It interferes with T-cell production and function, making your body more susceptible to invading pathogens. Ever notice how people who are constantly stressed are always getting sick? Or how a person can go through a major stressor and right after overcoming it

The documentary “Stress the Portrait of a killer” was quite interesting. This documentary teaches you about stress and the effects it has on both animals and humans. Stress plays a huge factor on our daily lives. There are two hormones that are the workhorses of the whole stress response. These hormones are the adrenaline and glucocorticoids and they tend to come out along with each other. However, there happens to be positive and negative stress. For instance, roller coaster rides are considered to be positive stress. In addition, fat can be considered as negative stress because fat that is brought on by stress is known as dangerous fat. Ultimately, there are different levels and outcomes of stress.

The nervous, endocrine, and immune systems share a close relationship critical to maintaining homeostasis during psychological and immune stress (Carlsson, Anneli, Ludvigsson, & Faresjö, 2014). Chronic stress, primarily mediated by the glucocorticoid cortisol, is associated with deleterious health outcomes and immune deficiency. However, acute stress is associated with protective health effects and immune enhancement. Stress has generally been regarded as adaptive when acute and short-term but maladaptive when chronic (Dhabhar, 2006; Carlsson, Anneli, Ludvigsson, & Faresjö, 2014; Johnson, Riley, Douglas, & Riis, 2013; Flinn and England, 2003; Wiegers, Reul, Holsboer, & de Kloet, 1994).

Adverse childhood experiences, for one, can potentially cause extreme childhood trauma and lead to chronic stress. Overloading the Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA axis) has the ability to cause recurring complexities and sends the body into an overdrive-like state. Paul Tough describes it as, “Overloading the HPA axis, especially in infancy and childhood, produces all kinds of serious and long-lasting negative effects—physical, psychological, and neurological.” (Tough, 13).

The biological purpose of the stress response is to help the body to survive either some sort of attack or a serious illness like a stroke or heart attack. During the stress response glucocorticoids divert the bodies energy to the areas necessary for survival like the muscles and the brain and it shuts down the areas that are not necessary for survival like the digestive and immune systems (Sopolsky, 2009). Chronic Stress in this context, is to experience this physical effect on regular or long term basis. This has become a public health issue for humans because we experience this chronic biological response on a too frequent a basis for psychological reasons (Stress, 2008).

The components of stress are referenced through a cohesive explanation on the HPA axis function, and how it monitors and reacts to stress. Tough introduces this by which he writes, “Our bodies regulate stress using a system called HPA axis … the way that chemical signals cascade through the brain and the body in reaction to intense situations … most of our stress today comes from mental process .. and the HPA axis isn’t designed to handle that stress … overloading the HPA axis, especially in infancy and childhood, produces all kind of serious and long-lasting negative effects - physical, psychological, and neurological” (Tough 12-13). In accordance to Tough, the HPA axis is an elaborate stress response system in our bodies. However, it is not a system without flaws. As mentioned previously, the HPA axis is not meant to handle stress due to an inability to

Stress is known to negatively impact health. Psychological responses, such as mood, emotion and coping, influence the way we perceive stress and the impact it has on the physiological response (Chida & Hamer, 2008). Past studies have used the hormone cortisol to test the stress response(Dickerson &

Cortisol has a main function, this is to restore homeostasis following exposure to stress (Randall’12, 2011), the effects of cortisol are felt over the entire body and “impact several homeostatic mechanisms. While cortisol’s primary targets are metabolic, it also affects ion transport, the immune response, and even memory” (Randall’12, 2011). Stress even over relatively short periods and in different contexts, “tend to produce similar results: prolonged healing times, reduction in ability to cope with vaccinations, and heightened vulnerability to viral infection. The long-term effects of constant cortisol exposure associated with chronic stress produces further symptoms, including impaired cognition, decreased thyroid function, and accumulation

In an acute stressor, the immune system is heightened. But is suppressed in a chronic stressor. In this situation the cortisol levels rise, and weaken the immune system. This weaken system can make the human body more susceptible to serious disease, infections

These adaptive mechanisms can become maladaptive if unresolved after precipitating events have passed, leading to interferences in emotional regulation (Liston, McEwen, & Casey, 2009; Juster et al., 2011). Imaging studies show alterations in the brain structures that assist in regulation of the stress response—the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex—due to prolonged exposure to stress (Carrion et al. 2010; Rao et al. 2010). The over activation of this fear circuitry in the brain can lead to distorted processing, contributing to depression (Thienkrua et al., 2006; Neria, Besser, Kiper, & Westphal, 2010; Rao et al., 2010), anxiety (Derryberry and Reed, 2002; Goldin et al., 2009; Graham and Milad, 2014), and mood impairments (Kobasa, 1979; Linehan, 1993; Haller and Miles, 2004). These cognitive changes can also contribute to insomnia, chronic pain, addictive disorders, impairment of immunity, and development of coping mechanisms such as smoking, use of alcohol or drugs, overeating, and other survival mechanisms (Raja, 2012). The allostatic load of a chronically over-activated hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system can lead to development of comorbid health conditions such as cardiovascular disease,

Chronic Stress affects the whole body, and especially the brain. In the brain, there is a balance of hormones, and the two stress related hormones are Epinephrine (Adrenaline) and Cortisol. Epinephrine is a hormone that is released quickly and dissipates quickly. However, Cortisol stays, and when you have too much of this stress hormone, it can cause diseases such as Osteoporosis and Heart disease. It also causes weight gain and mood swings. This increase in Cortisol actually causes brain cells to die, due to assisting in creating “free radicals”, which are unattached oxygen molecules, that punctures the brain cell walls, killing brain cells. Even though brain cells are created daily, Cortisol stops and slows the production of proteins (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor) that keep brain cells healthy and

The hormones released during the acute stress response is considered the “master switch” in controlling the person’s behavioral and physiological adaptation to stress. (Mannironi, et al., 2013) The targets of these hormones are the cognitive, wake sleep, and reward and fear centers of the brain. (Chrousos, 2009) The growth, gastrointestinal, cardiorespiratory, metabolic, reproductive and thyroid hormone axis, and immune systems are also effected. (Chrousos, 2009) Optimal basal

“The ‘stress hormone’ cortisol is believed to create a domino effect that hard-wires pathways between the hippocampus and amygdala in a way that might create a vicious cycle by creating a brain that becomes predisposed to be in a constant state of fight-or-flight” (Bergland, 2014).

They have also found that there are strong links between prolonged stress and disorders, mentally and physically. Kiecolt-Glaser et al 1995 also carried out research into the relationship between Stress and the Immune System. Kiecolt-Glaser et al 1995 = == ==

Stress can get bad enough to where it starts to affect your body system. Things like depression, heart attacks, diseases, rashes and a low immune system can all occur to people dealing with stress bad enough. The number of common signs and symptoms is outrageous and is depressing to see that there are so many people dealing with this and how it’s such a common thing in this world. On stress.org, they talk about the different body systems and how they’re affected. The nervous, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastro and reproductive systems are all affected in some way and in many ways to say the least. If your stress ever gets so bad, I consider seeing a doctor or specialist seeing how dangerous this can get.