The General Adaptation Syndrome

The consequences could result in health issues, job issues, family issues, or just overall every day environmental, social, or psychological issues.

There are three different theories that are used when talking about how we react to stress through the physiological aspect or the psychological aspect. The first is part of the physiological aspect of stress called the Cannon Fight or Flight theory which was proposed in 1914. Fight or Flight response is a physiological stress response that evolved to help organisms to survive immediate danger. The theory states that when an organism, human being or animal, faces imminent danger (acute stressor) the body arouses quickly and is ready to act via two different systems. They are the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla which is part of the endocrine system and is the region that produces the hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones increase heart rate, blood flow, and glucose levels to prepare the body for an emergency. This response from the body suggests that the body knows how to protect itself and reach homeostasis. These two systems work together to either fight against the danger or flight away from the danger. Lord, King and Pfister in 1976 studied the Fight or Flight response in animals through a very unethical study. They administered chemicals on male hooded Wistar rats which inhibited the neurotransmitters from functioning normally. This made it very difficult for the rats to escape an electric shock. The results of the study suggest that the Flight or Fight response

When put under stress, both humans and baboons have cortisol and adrenaline found in their blood. These hormones are critical for survival, and other physical changes in the body such as a racing heart, increased blood pressure, and quickly responding muscles are all present when the body is put under stress. However, in regard to humans, these same physical responses can occur when the body is not in a life in death situation. Instead, it is common for psychological stresses such as public speaking, taking a test, paying taxes, or driving a vehicle to invoke the same physiological responses as someone in a critical situation. This can be unhealthy for the human body, as many people can get worked up over multiple stressors in one day,

You can get recurring stress such as financial problems that could make a person constantly worry about their family’s needs or short term stress which could be something small such as worrying about your child forgetting his lunch at home. Physical stress could be tension on your body such as the weight of a heavy school bag on a young child’s back or stress caused from

Hans Selye, an Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist (a doctor who treats issues with the hormones our glands release) (1936) saw that stress was the body attempting to accommodate to a stressor (as defined above). This is seen as an effective response in the short term (acute), however, serious stress-related illnesses can develop if we are open to stress for a prolonged period of time (chronic). Selye, considered the idea of General Adaptation Syndrome. This is something that sounds scary but in reality is simply our ability to adapt to stress or a specific prolonged stressor in three stages:

The three stages of the general adaptation syndrome or GAS are alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. The GAS has to do with stress and how the body is effected on a biological level. The alarm level has to do with the primal fight-or-flight reaction to a threatening situation which we all have. During the alarm stage the body sends out defense messages from the brain to the rest of the body. It sends these messages from a small structure in the middle of the brain that is connected to bodily functions known as the hypothalamus. From there a hormone called ACTH is released via the hypothalamus into the blood stream. Which is then carried to the adrenal glands and releases adrenalin into the body. After this the heart pounds, pulse races, breathing

These physiological changes are in preparation for us to make a response to either engage in fighting the stressor, or to engage in flight and attempt to escape the stressor.

Hans Selye (1956), states that there are three ways an individual reacts to a particularly stressful situation and these ideas are divided into three stages, a series of physiological reactions. Stage one, alarm - where the person is ready for action in this stage an individual's activity level increases as soon as they experience a stressful situation. Stage two, resistance - the individual attempts to manage with the threat through fight or flight, Walter Cannon (1932). In this stage, an individual tries to cope and reverse the impact of the first stage. Stage three, exhaustion - the person is unable to deal with the threat and the energy reserves have been exhausted through efforts to reduce the risk. In this stage the person shows signs of physical wear and tear, especially in organs that were weak before stage three or deeply involved in the resistance process. Selye believed that this stage could often result in depression and occasionally death. These steps are also known as the general adaptation syndrome (GAS). GAS describes the body’s short-term and long-term reaction to stress; it is the body's attempt to protect itself

Hans Selye studied the bodies response to stress and found our bodies respond in a general manner which he called The general adaptation syndrome (GAS). GAS works in three phases. Phase 1 is an alarm reaction that mobilizes the sympathetic nervous system. This raised our heart rate, more blood is diverted to our muscles and a person feels a little shock. In phase 2 called resistance, the temperature, blood pressure and respiration remain high. The adrenal glands produce hormones that are released into the blood and a person is usually fully engaged. In phase 3 if enough time passes and no relief is found from the stress, the body’s reserves start to dwindle and a person would reach exhaustion. During this phase, a person is more vulnerable

There is also the problem of prolonged and severe stress as many people’s lifestyles can easily produce stressors and this increases their chances of a stress related illness. Much of the research regarding stressors and their long-term effects on the body comes from Seyle’s General Adaptation Syndrome (1956). A lot of Seyle’s research was based on using laboratory animals and his results showed that constant exposure to severe stressors produces three physiological phases, the first phase is alarm reaction, and this showed the bodies physiological response to a situation with stressful stimuli. Phase two was known as the stage of resistance in which if the stressful stimuli (stressor) persists or is not dealt with correctly the body seeks to maintain arousal at a constant lower level. The final phase was the stage of exhaustion where by eventually the continued high arousal levels exhaust the body’s resources producing both negative physiological and psychological effects.

Stress is part of our lives. We live with it, deal with it, and above all worry about it. Our way of life, the area in which we live, the economy, and our jobs can cause a great deal of stress. Not everyone deals with the same level of stress and there are several factors that can impact our lives and cause us to have higher or lower stress levels. We can have stress caused by Cataclysmic events which according to Feldman (2009) are events that can affect many people at the same time and are “disasters such as tornado and plane crashes, as well as terrorist attacks”. (p418). Other factors are personal stressors and can be caused by events such as a divorce, death or a loved one or the loss of a job. (Feldman, 2009). The

Everybody has at least one thing in common. Can you guess what it is? If you guessed, heartbreak, you’re right, but that’s not the answer I’m looking for. The correct answer is stress. Everyone has stress in his or her life at one point or another. It’s one of many inevitable parts of life. Whether it’s busting out a research paper for Psychology at the last minute, expecting your first child to be born, to making sure you’re up in time to catch the Saturday morning cartoons, it’s clearly evident that everyone goes through stress. The real question is, how is stress handled in our society? A person is defined by how they handle the stressors in their lives and how they overcome stressful moments. This paper will explore the aspects of

The symptoms of stress are frequently conflicting and confusing. “The stress disorder is essentially a step-by-step exhaustion of the body’s fuel reserves” (Bensahel et al., 1984, p. 139) During the early 1980s, workers compensation claims nearly tripled for those reporting stress related illness due to work (Schor, 1991, p. 11). There has been a dramatic increase in the number of stress related illnesses, particularly among women.

Stress is an adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as challenging or threatening to a person’s well

Stress is a result of interaction between individual and environment, this interaction leads to a large number of demands and challenges that require the individual 's response, which cause the appearance of a state of negative feeling and self-threat due to the individual 's sense that the response is inadequate or inappropriate, this leads to the occurrence of a state of anxiety or anger or depression. Stress responses vary from person to another according to its nature, size, individual characteristics, and nature of the society in which one lives.