Lecture Notes: Stress, Allostasis, and Allostatic Load

Introduction

• Speaker: Rob from Active Health Clinic
• Topic: Stress, allostasis, and allostatic load

Stress

• An everyday experience that is not always negative
• Necessary for survival in small doses
• Excessive stress can lead to chronic health conditions

Homeostasis

• Definition: The body's set point for functioning
• Includes:
  • Heart rate
  • Breathing rate
  • Digestive rate
  • Metabolic rate
  • Blood pressure
• Homeostatic Zone: When the body operates at its set point without external pressures

Allostasis

• Definition: The body's ability to adapt to challenges by temporarily altering homeostasis
• Example: Standing up increases heart rate and blood pressure
• Healthy as long as there is recovery back to homeostasis

Allostatic Load

• Occurs when recovery is inadequate, and stress accumulates
• Body adapts to constant stress by upregulating homeostasis
• Results in a chronic increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and stress arousal
• Leads to a new set point different from the original (allostatic load)

Impact on Health

• Finite capacity for stress management
• Excessive allostatic load leads to dysfunction
• Potential outcomes:
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Chronic pain
  • POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)
  • Mental health conditions

Conclusion

• Stress and its management are crucial to prevent chronic health conditions
• Additional resources available in other videos on the Active Health Clinic YouTube channel

• Note: This lecture provides foundational understanding of how stress impacts physical and mental health through mechanisms like allostasis and allostatic load.