What happens in the body under stress ?

The so-called “stress hormones” – adrenaline (which gets active within seconds) and cortisone (which produces a long-term effect) – are released from the adrenal glands. They cause stress reactions, such as:

Heart
Pulse and blood pressure rise. The heart beats faster to speed up the transport of oxygen and nutriments to the organs.

Liver
Stored sugar is released into blood to support muscles.

Muscles
Blood vessels widen to support the supply.

Lungs
Breathing gets faster and more intensive; more oxygen is absorbed.

Brain
“Stress alarm” is released - the senses get more sensitive.

During the second phase, the body functions get normalized again. However, if no recovery phase follows, a real problem may occur, since the released amount of cortisone still remains on a high level. The consequences are depressions, burnout and sleep disturbance.

The reasons for stress can be quite different, starting from such serious problems as death of a close relative, loss of work, moral or physical loneliness – up to less significant like emotional and physical tiredness, constantly accelerating rhythm of life and massive daily flow of information.