Stress helps you meet your daily challenges and motivates you to reach your goals, ultimately making you a smarter, happier, and healthier person. However, when you are stressed, what body reactions or clinical manifestations do you often experience? After studying the endocrine system and the stress response, can you explain how these clinical manifestations occur?
Eustress is a positive type of stress that makes us motivated to reach our goals. On the other hand, distress makes us feel agitated and helpless depending on its severity. Whenever I experience stress, I often feel restless, tired, pressured, and frustrated. Stress also manifests through body reactions such as sweating, increased heart rate, and shaking.
In dealing with stress, the nervous system and endocrine system work together to respond to a stressor. The fight or flight response of the sympathetic nervous system enables the body to release epinephrine and norepinephrine which increases blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar level. Adrenal hormones cause bodily reactions such as sweating, increased heart rate, and shaking which prepares our body to deal with stressful situations. On the other hand, the endocrine system increases the production of cortisol in the body. The hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to release hormones which will instruct the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. Cortisol, also known as the “stress hormone”, triggers the release of glucose. Glucose is the major source of energy in the body, and increasing the amount of it during a stressful situation allows our body to stay alert and have the energy needed to cope with the stress.
Reference:
Stress effects on the body. (2018, November 1). American Psychological Association. Retrieved October 15, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/stress/body