People have always been interested in studying stress medically, but it wasn't until 1929 that a physiologist by the name of Walter Cannon discovered that stress response is part of the human's mind-body system. Through observation, he was able to discover that extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and emotion-arousing incidents cause an outpour of stress hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, from the adrenal glands. This is one part of the sympathetic nervous system's response. A number of brain pathways alert the sympathetic nervous system of the release of the stress hormones, causing the sympathetic nervous system to increase our heart rate and respiration, divert blood from digestion to the skeletal muscles, dull pain, and release sugar and fat from the body's stores, which then prepare the body for our adaptive response of fight or flight.
There is also another stress response system. This stress response system is triggered when the cerebral cortex (via the hypothalamus and pituitary gland) orders the outer part of the adrenal glands to secrete glucocorticoid stress hormones, such as cortisol. The 2 systems are very different, even though they are both related to stress. In the fight-or-flight response, epinephrine is the stress hormone that is handing out guns meanwhile the glucocorticoids draw the blueprints for new aircraft carriers needed for the war effort.
There are other solutions to fight-or-flight, other than of course to either fight or flee. One is to withdraw, which is a common response of someone to the stress of losing a loved one to death. Another one that's most common among women is to seek and give support to others, also known as to "tend and befriend."
A Canadian scientist by the name of Hans Selye researched stress for 40 years, and eventually made it a major concept in psychology and sociology. Through studying animals, especially rats, and their reactions to injections of an ovarian hormone extract, he discovered that the body has an adaptive response to stress that was very general, he called it the general adaptation syndrome(GAS).
There is also another stress response system. This stress response system is triggered when the cerebral cortex (via the hypothalamus and pituitary gland) orders the outer part of the adrenal glands to secrete glucocorticoid stress hormones, such as cortisol. The 2 systems are very different, even though they are both related to stress. In the fight-or-flight response, epinephrine is the stress hormone that is handing out guns meanwhile the glucocorticoids draw the blueprints for new aircraft carriers needed for the war effort.
There are other solutions to fight-or-flight, other than of course to either fight or flee. One is to withdraw, which is a common response of someone to the stress of losing a loved one to death. Another one that's most common among women is to seek and give support to others, also known as to "tend and befriend."
A Canadian scientist by the name of Hans Selye researched stress for 40 years, and eventually made it a major concept in psychology and sociology. Through studying animals, especially rats, and their reactions to injections of an ovarian hormone extract, he discovered that the body has an adaptive response to stress that was very general, he called it the general adaptation syndrome(GAS).