Today's Lesson:
The body responds to stress by going through three stages:
(1) alarm, (2) resistance, and (3) exhaustion.
As an example, assume that a car pulls out abruptly into traffic in front of you. Your initial reaction would be an alarm reaction, which may include fear of a collision or anger at the driver who pulled out in front of you. Your body physically reacts by releasing hormones (adrenaline) into your blood stream, your face gets flushed, you perspire, your arms and legs tighten up preparing you to fight or flee from the situation. The resistance stage is where your body repairs the damage caused by the alarm stage. The exhaustion stage comes about when the alarm resistance cycle is repeated too often and the body does not have sufficient time to repair any damage. Exhaustion may be manifested in such things as migraine headaches, high blood pressure, backaches or insomnia.4
(1) alarm, (2) resistance, and (3) exhaustion.
As an example, assume that a car pulls out abruptly into traffic in front of you. Your initial reaction would be an alarm reaction, which may include fear of a collision or anger at the driver who pulled out in front of you. Your body physically reacts by releasing hormones (adrenaline) into your blood stream, your face gets flushed, you perspire, your arms and legs tighten up preparing you to fight or flee from the situation. The resistance stage is where your body repairs the damage caused by the alarm stage. The exhaustion stage comes about when the alarm resistance cycle is repeated too often and the body does not have sufficient time to repair any damage. Exhaustion may be manifested in such things as migraine headaches, high blood pressure, backaches or insomnia.4