The fight or flight syndrome (Walter Cannon 1932) explains that the stress response is activated through sympathetic stimulation of the central medulla region of the adrenal glands. The reaction involves the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis in which the release of catecholamines prepares the body to cope with stressful stimuli. Physiological changes induced through stress enable the body to react at peak efficiency. For example, increased cardiac output, blood pressure, ventilation rate and stimulation of glycogenolysis provide an increased flow of oxygenated, glucose rich blood to the brain and skeletal muscles, preparing the body for the means to react to danger. The fight or flight response can be perceived as advantageous for survival whenever a high level of performance is required. However, other forms of stress responses can cause illness to health.
The strain induced upon the body by individuals suffering from mental health disorders, such as emotions of anger have been linked to increased blood pressure and greater risk of myocardial infarction, according to ; . Prolonged effects of hypertension have been known to elevate the risk of coronary heart disease as it causes the walls of arteries to harden, damaging the epithelium. Consequently, this also promotes the development of atheromatous plaque in the vascular system, inducing a dangerously greater workload on the heart, (Muller and Tofler 1990). Furthermore, the effects of mental stress have also been known to increase abdominal fat deposition, which not only has severe effects on the cardiovascular system but also on obesity, (Thakore et al. 1997). Hence, there is a strong correlation between mental stress and its detrimental influence on the cardiovascular system.
In conclusion, this essay addressed some of some of the explanations to the reasons why stress in the form of mental and physical strain can pose both maladaptive and beneficial effects on health. It was discussed that stress in the form of exercise has various advantageous health outcomes, such as reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, enhanced prefrontal cortical blood flow and increase in hippocampal volume to name a few. On the contrary, the negative effects of prolonged mental stress on the body have not gone unnoticed. The rising concerns of obesity, CVD, infectious disease and mental health disorders has led to growing research, the development of which could lead to potentially, new treatments of previously untreatable cases of mental stress.
References
Bruce S. McEwen 1998, Stress Adaptation & Disease, Allostasis and Allostatic Load
Bruce S. McEwen, Brain on stress: How the social environment gets under the skin
Bruce S. McEwen, Stress and the Aging Hippocampus
Douglas Carroll, Anna C. Phillips & George M. Balanos, Metabolically exaggerated cardiac reactions to acute psychological stress revisited
Hans Selye, The Evolution of the Stress Response. From American Scientist
J Bucksch, Physical activity of moderate intensity in leisure time and the risk of all cause mortality, from The British Journal if Sports Medicine 39, 632-638
Patricia M. Dubbert, Neil B. Rappaport, John E. Martin, Exercise in Cardiovascular disease
Robert M. Sapolsky, Glucocorticoid Toxicity in the Hippocampus: Reversal by Supplementation with Brain Fuels. From the Journal of Neuroscience, 6(8), 2240-2244
Steven N. Blair, Physical inactivity: the biggest public health problem of the 21st century. British Journal of Sports Medicine
Steven N. Blair & Jeremy N. Morris, Healthy Hearts- and the Universal Benefits of Being Physically Active: Physical Activity and Health
Thomas A. Lombardo, Leonard Rose, Max Taeschler, S. Tuluy & R. J Bing, The Effect of Exercise on Coronary Blood Flow, Myocardial Oxygen Consumption & Cardiac Efficiency in Man.
Y Oguma, H D Sesso, R S Paffenbarger Jr I-M Lee, Physical activity and all cause mortality in women: a review of the evidence. From the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 36, 162-172
by
anishakaur52gmailcom (student)
