The general adaptation syndrome has three phases: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. The body releases adrenaline during the alarm stage, prepares for action, and shuts down nonessential systems. During the resistance stage, the body tries to adapt to new conditions, investing extra energy in the immune system. In the exhaustion stage, the body can no longer maintain its state of alarm or resistance and stops fighting.
General adjustment syndrome, also known as the stress response, has three phases. The syndrome begins when the body encounters a stressor, such as emotional anxiety or the threat of physical injury. In the first stage, the body prepares for action by initiating the fight-or-flight response. During the second phase, the body remains in a state of alertness, although it tries to normalize to the new conditions caused by the stressor. In the final stage of general adaptation syndrome, the body becomes exhausted and ceases to fight against stress.
When a person is exposed to a stressor, chemical changes occur in the body that are designed to help that person successfully deal with the stressful event. The first stage of general adaptation syndrome, called the alarm stage, is characterized by the release of adrenaline into the bloodstream. Adrenaline elicits the fight-or-flight response, which, as the name suggests, prepares a person to flee or fight danger. During the first stage of general adjustment syndrome, blood pressure rises, respiration and heart rate increase, and nonessential systems, such as digestion, shut down. Fear and anxiety are also part of this stage because these emotions help keep the person alert and able to focus on the immediate danger at hand.
After the alarm stage, a person enters the second stage of the general adjustment syndrome, the resistance stage. Although many stressors can lead to death, if a person survives the danger without overcoming it, that person’s body tries to adapt to the new conditions as best it can. The extra energy is invested in the immune system, and while the person may appear relatively calm, the body works much harder as it moves through the resistance phase than in a state of low or no stress. The person may continue to be in a state of physical and emotional arousal, as in the alarm phase, although the level of arousal is much lower in this second phase.
Eventually, the body cannot keep up with the extra energy needed to stay in the resistance phase, and the person then enters the third phase of the general adjustment syndrome, the exhaustion phase. At this point the body can no longer maintain its state of alarm or resistance and stops fighting. If the stressors continue after reaching this stage, the person may become susceptible to certain types of illnesses, as the extra energy to invest in the immune system is no longer available.
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