As human beings, it is normal to experience all kinds of stress in our everyday lives; stress may come from daily hassles or events that we may perceive as life-changing or overwhelming. With that being said, as a student, I often am met with eustress, a type of stress that helps me take the initiative in order to reach my goals with regard to my academic life; I often feel rattled when under stress, and it makes me more inclined to promptly act upon my stressors.
Personally, the body reactions or clinical manifestations that I often experience whenever I am under stress are increased heart rate, headaches, loss of appetite, and increased irritability. Subjectively speaking, stress puts me in “fight mode,” wherein my mind is always centered on getting whatever job or errand needs to be done.
These clinical manifestations, all natural responses to stress, are due to the work of the body’s endocrine system as it attempts to counteract stress. This is done through a cascade of events involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. During events of stress, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to produce a hormone, which will then signal the adrenal glands to increase the production of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. During a stressful event, an increase in the production of cortisol provides the body with the energy required to deal with the prolonged extreme challenges posed by the stressor.
References:
American Psychological Association. (2018). Stress effects on the body. https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body#:~:text=During%20times%20of%20stress%2C%20the,increase%20the%20production%20of%20cortisol.
Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. H. (2020, October 13). Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (16th ed.). Wiley.