Adaptation Syndrome When a Person

¶ … Adaptation Syndrome

When a person experiences stress, the brain responds by initiating 1400 different responses due to General Adaptation Syndrome, which includes the dumping of a variety of chemicals to the blood stream. Furthermore, This gives a momentary boost to do whatever needs to be done to survive, however, if it is not dealt with, the person can have a heart attack or stroke. "Many people start drinking alcohol. They get depressed, find it difficult to sleep, experience chest pain. The body runs out of the immunity to fight diseases. So, very often, these persons die of disease such as cancer, pneumonia, etc. The stress will never be identified as the cause of the death. I call the stress the proxy killer. Some other disease always takes the blame for it" (Our Body's Reaction to Stress (General Adaptation Syndrome). Therefore, General Adaptation Syndrome is very serious since it can lead to depression or death.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Doctors and experts claim that the body's reaction to stress is called General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), which has three stages. General adaptation syndrome is described as the body's short-term and long-term reactions to stress. Broken down the term can be analyzed such that:

In the Alarm Phase, they reacted to the stressor (What Stress Is - the Underlying Mechanisms).

In the Resistance Phase, the resistance to the stressor increased as the animal adapted to, and coped with, it. This phase lasted for as long as the animal could support this heightened resistance (What Stress Is - the Underlying Mechanisms).

Once resistance was exhausted, the person entered the Exhaustion Phase, and resistance declined substantially (What Stress Is - the Underlying Mechanisms).

The alarm phase lasts for seconds, it may last even less than a second (adrenaline secretion and manifestation of its effects alone, take less than a second). In the second stage of the stress reaction, adaptation, the pituitary stops that large secretion of hormones and the effects of the alarm phase lessen. The actual relaxation of the organism, however (sympathetic and parasympathetic systems return to normal balance) happens much later. The symptoms of the alarm phase continue long after the stressor has disappeared. During adaptation the organism adapts to the stressor - if there is high noise for example, little by little we get used to it and it does not irritate us that much. Nevertheless we continue to feel it as stressor. Another example is adapting to a threat - suppose someone has tried to rob you on the street. After the initial panic you will "adapt to the robber" - he will not look to you that fearsome and the feeling of fear will soon be swapped by reasoning whether and how to fight or flee. You will no longer care about the aggressive impression he makes by his look and voice, but rather you will care about his actual actions and motives. We adapt not only to harmful stressors - after hearing a good news we react with joy in the first moment but gradually we calm down and the feeling of happiness is not so strong. Whenever you deal with a stressor you get to know it better and next time your organism and your psyche will be better prepared to tackle it. It is easier for the organism to adapt to a stressor if it appears rhythmically. Adaptation to pain has been observed in individuals who suffer chronic diseases, with pain appearing in definite intervals" (General Adaptation Syndrome 2007).

During stage two, if the stress continues, the body adapts to the stressors that it is exposed to. There are changes at different levels take place in order to reduce the effect of the stressor, which indicates they are starving. At this point, thee person might experienced a reduced desire for physical activity to conserve energy, and the absorption of nutrients from food might be maximized (General adaptation syndrome).

The second stage is the body's response to long-term protection. It secretes further hormones that increase blood sugar levels to sustain energy and raise blood pressure. The adrenal cortex produces hormones called corticosteroids for this resistance reaction. Overuse by the body's defense mechanism in this phase eventually leads to disease. If this adaptation phase continues for a prolonged period of time without periods of relaxation and rest to counterbalance the stress response, sufferers become prone to fatigue, concentration lapses, irritability and lethargy as the effort to sustain arousal slides into negative stress" (GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (GAS) 2006).

However, during the final stage, the stress has continued for some time. The body's resistance to the stress may gradually be reduced, which indicates that the immune system, and the body's ability to resist disease may be almost totally eliminated. Patients who experience long-term stress may succumb to heart attacks due to their reduced immunity. A person with a stressful job may experience long-term stress that might lead to high blood pressure (General adaptation syndrome).

Causes

The general adaptation syndrome is also influenced by such universal human variables as overall health and nutritional status, sex, age, ethnic or racial background, level of education, socioeconomic status (SES), genetic makeup, etc. Some of these variables are biologically based and difficult or impossible to change. For example, recent research indicates that men and women respond somewhat differently to stress, with women being more likely to use what is called the "tend and befriend" response rather than the classical "fight or flight" pattern. These researchers note that most of the early studies of the effects of stress on the body were conducted with only male subjects" (General adaptation syndrome).