Physiological And Psychological Reactions To Stress

Stress is something that we face everyday. In most cases we deal with it adequately. Sometimes we don't and we get a bit 'stressed out'. We realize that we are a bit stressed out and do something to compensate for this feeling. We do something relaxing, like, go to a movie or have a soothing bubble bath. Or we do something physical, like play a game of squash. If we are sensitive enough to acknowledge that stress is affecting us we do these things to try to keep the body in balance. Stress only becomes an issue to our lifestyle when we are not sensitive to the stress and do not do things to maintain the balance. This article will discuss the responses of our physiological systems and psychological reactions to stress. It will show how these reactions are normal when used appropriately but can have serious consequences for our health if used inappropriately and excessively.

The psychological reactions we have to a situation are controlled via our brain and nervous system. Put simplistically, the nervous system is our sense of what is stressful and our scheduler of things to do within the body to respond to this stressful situation. In a normal situation, the body will sense that a situation is stressful. Giving a presentation at work is a good example. The nervous system will sense that this will be tough, embarrassing, frightening or enjoyable depending on how you respond to giving a presentation. As the presentation draws nearer the nervous system, via the autonomic part of the nervous system will schedule various things in the body's physiology to change.

The release of adrenaline and cortisol into the blood stream will occur. This will have the effect of increasing the heart rate, the person will take more oxygen into the lungs. Blood will be redirected from the stomach and extremities and the blood will become thicker in preparation for any potential injury. The muscles in the body will tighten in readiness for sudden action and the senses will become more aware. This has been famously dubbed the 'fight or flight' response of the body. It prepares the body for action by giving it a boost of energy.

At the end of the presentation you will sense that the situation has been negotiated and the nervous system will respond by scheduling the lowering of hormonal levels in the blood. It will allow the blood to return to the stomach and extremities and away from the vital organs and muscles. The hear rate will reduce. This will all be controlled by the parasympathetic system of the autonomic nervous system. The psychological reaction is to say everything is fine and it's business as usual. The body's physiology will return to normal.

If in the case of a presentation the excess energy has not had a chance to discharge from the body, the person involved might go for that squash game or indulge themselves by having a treat of some description.

All this is normal but when the stress is chronic or we, psychologically speaking, perceive our lives to be chronically stressed out then the nervous system is scheduling the body to change all the time. If this continues the various systems within the body start to get over worked and malfunction, notably the cardiovascular system and the immune system.

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