Doctor Hans Selye coined the term General Adaptive Syndrome (GAS). GAS describes a sequence of chemical reactions which takes place in the body in response to chronic exposure to stress.
Stress
One good definition of stress is, any type of change that results from physical, emotional, or psychological strain, otherwise called stressors. Stress is our body’s response to anything that requires attention or action. One example is the building up of muscles with weight-lifting. When the strain of lifting weights causes damage to muscle fibers, the body repairs them with new, stronger, and bigger fibers. An athlete would see this as good stress.
Hormones from the brain and the adrenal glands, are responsible for the body’s natural responses to any situation or substance perceived as a threat or stressor. The physical and social, environment in which we live can be incredibly stressful. Talk about isolation, viruses, toxins, easy access to unhealthy food, long working hours, you name it. These stressful environments can cause exhaustion and malfunction of the hormonal system leading to chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes, in other words …..GAS. This is bad stress.
Phases of GAS
The first phase of GAS is called the alarm phase, where the hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released from the adrenal glands in response to stressors. These hormones affect receptors on the cell surface like a lock and key mechanism to manage the cells’ stress response such as allowing a person to run away or fight.
Next is the resistance or adaptive phase, where chronic exposure to a stressor, makes the receptors insensitive, making them to only respond to higher levels of stressors. This can cause damage to organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys. There comes a point when this stressful environment overwhelms the system and depletes the hormones causing poor communication at the cellular level.
The final stage is the exhaustion phase where, chronic diseases become obvious. You now have GAS!
Everyone experiences some stress which can be good (eustress) or can be harmful (distress). What makes the difference is how we respond to or manages stress. The outcome could mean life or death.
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Do you feel that your hormones are out of balance?
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Reference
Bland J, 2014 The Disease Delusion, HarperCollins e-book
Scott E, Susman D. What is stress verywellmind.com accessed Dec 21 2020