When I am stressed, especially when meeting deadlines, somehow I find myself finishing most of the requirements despite me panicking along the way. This, I considered eustress as it allows me to be productive in doing all the tasks. However, most of the time, it does not work, and I will find myself palpitating and sweating excessively. I also have headaches and muscle pain. After studying the endocrine system and stress response. I got to know how this stress manifestation occurs. I learned that our stress response usually occurs in three stages: fight or flight, resistance reaction, and exhaustion. Fight or flight reaction is responsible for my palpitations and sweating. This reaction is mediated by the nerve impulses from the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus to the anterior pituitary gland will stimulate a release of epinephrine and norepinephrine in the adrenal glands. This is a short response to stress. As our body is exposed to stress for a longer time, reaction resistance will occur. This allows our body to cope with long exposure to stress due to the releasing hormones secreted by the hypothalamus such as CRH, TRH, and GHRH. And when our body cannot keep up with the resistance stage due to the depletion of the body’s resources, exhaustion will occur. High levels of hormones in the resistance stage such as cortisol cause the suppression of the immune system which can lead to certain diseases.
Reference:
Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. H. (2017). Tortora’s Principles of Anatomy and
Physiology. 15th edition. Wiley.