General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Описание: #generaladaptationsyndrome #Stress #psychologystudents

Based on: Sarafino, Smith. “Health psychology” Biopsychosocial interactions, Wiley, 2022. pp. 62, 63

Transcription:
Hey today we will talk about general adaptation syndrome. Its a series of physiological reactions the body makes when stress is long-lasting. General adaptation syndrome was first described by Hans Selye who is considered the father of stress.
First stage of the GAS is an alarm reaction, it’s basically the fight or flight response to an emergency. So the sympathetic nervous system gets activated and that results in adrenal glands activation and the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine. There is also a slowed response from the HPA-axis resulting in cortisol release. We will talk about the HPA axis properly in another video.
The next stage is the stage of resistance. During this stage, the body tries to adapt to the stressor. The initial reactions of the sympathetic nervous system become less pronounced and HPA activation dominates. Physiological arousal remains higher than normal, and the body replenishes the hormones the adrenal glands released. Despite
this continuous physiological arousal, the individual may show few outward signs of stress. But the ability to resist new stressors may become impaired. According to Selye, this impairment may eventually
make the individual vulnerable to the health problems
He called it the diseases of adaptation, it includes ulcers, high blood pressure, asthma etc.
The final stage of GAS is stage of exhaustion. In this stage the prolonged physiological arousal produced by the long-term stress has depleted the body's energy, the immune system is weak and there is limited resistance. When stress continues in this stage there will be damage to internal organs and even death can occur. This is the stage that presents with insomnia, burn out or depression.