Stress and the General Adaption Syndrome
During the 1930’s, Hans Selye (1907-1982), a Hungarian doctor working in Montreal – Canada (who was the first to identify the General Adaptation Syndrome), carried out research on animals. He showed that all disease is caused by stress. Being a foreigner, he incorrectly used the word (mechanical) ‘stress’ instead of the more correct word ‘strain’. His work was so ground-breaking the word ‘stress’ meaning ‘biological strain’ has long been in common usage.
He presented his General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) in 1936. The research showed that all chronic illness results from exposure to any type of strain, which could be psychological (e.g. bereavement, loneliness, anxiety), physical (e.g. over exposure to the sun, electro-magnetic field radiation, heat, cold, malnutrition etc.), or chemical (e.g. asbestos, mercury, cadmium, nicotine etc.).
Selye showed that the physiology of exposure to stress involves an output of neuroendocrine hormones in the brain, and of corticosteroids from the adrenal cortex. Such stress hormones reduce pain and inflammation and prepare the body for mental and physical activity. It involves a rise in blood pressure to pump extra oxygen into the brain and muscles, and a rise in blood sugar to provide extra energy. There is also a physiological release of cholesterol into the bloodstream to enable biosynthesis of anti-inflammatory adrenal corticosteroids.
The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) describes a three-phase response to exposure to stress:
1. The alarm reaction
2. The resistance stage
3. The exhaustion stage
The alarm reaction
Acute stress causes an ‘alarm reaction’ due to adrenaline release from the adrenal medulla. There are unpleasant acute symptoms such as sweating, shivering, and vomiting. Smoking a first cigarette and acute exam nerves are liable to cause an alarm reaction, as do sweating or shivering in response to sudden exposure to extremes of heat and cold.
The resistance stage
With on-going stress, the acute symptoms subside in response to a physiological output of stress hormones. The stress response includes an output of cholesterol, which is the substrate for the synthesis of adrenal corticosteroids, and in consequence, there may be a physiological increase in cholesterol serum levels.
The exhaustion stage
With prolonged stress, the body’s ability to produce protective stress hormones becomes exhausted with progressive health deterioration leading ultimately to cancer, focal liver necrosis, and death.
Selye also showed that prolonged exposure to stress results in an output of harmful corticosteroids, and that these are the real cause of stress related illnesses such as depression, arthritis, and gastric ulcers. Both healthy and pathogenic corticosteroids are derived from blood cholesterol. The medical establishment has become fixated on cholesterol when it ought to be fixated on identifying and reducing the causes of stress.
“THE STRESS OF LIFE” – by Hans Selye, M.D.