Chronic Physiological Stress

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Stress is a feeling of strain and pressure; it is the individual’s perception that the task they are presented with has too high of a demand or exceeds their adaptive capacity to handle the situation (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007). Stress initiates a response of the body’s biological system that in turn monitors and responds to deviations in the environment that produce an rush of hormonal, neurophysiological, and behavioral responses (Lenow, Constantino, Daw, & Phelps, 2017). Chronic physiological stress has been associated with increased biological aging (Aschbacher et al., 2013) and has been linked to the pathogenesis of physical disease (Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, & Miller, 2007).
Stress can be defined as an inciting agent or situation …show more content…
Cortisol is able to cross the blood brain barrier, bind to receptors throughout the brain, and produce an appropriate behavioral effect (Lenow et al., 2017). Salivary cortisol is a beneficial tool in measuring the response of the HPA axis to stress and is considered a reliable measure (Hellhammer, Wüst, & Kudielka, 2009). Cortisol exhibits a diurnal pattern peaking 30 minutes after waking and sloping off throughout the day untill it reaches a baseline around midnight. The initial rise is known as the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and the decline of cortisol throughout the day is known as the diurnal cortisol slope (DCS). A robust CAR and DCS is associated with a healthy HPA axis. Ongoing stress is associated with alterations in the CAR and DCS (Stawski et al., …show more content…
Shields and colleagues (2016), hypothesized that the capacity to control the body’s response to stress involves the degree to which the individual can regulate their cognition. In their study, a stress evoking video was showed to half the participants, while the control group viewed a non-stressful video. The cognitive control of the participants was assessed using the Stroop task. A least square means was used to assess the relationship between Condition and Emotional Stroop. The results demonstrated that superior cognitive control was associated with less emotional response and reactivity to stress. (Shields, Kuchenbecker, Pressman, Sumida, & Slavich, 2016). Furthermore, multiple studies have indicated that heightened cognitive control while experiencing a cognitive stressor produced less cortisol reactivity (Compton, Hofheimer, & Kazinka, 2013; Shields et al., 2016). Robustness or heartiness of the individual undergoing stress can be theorized as a beneficial tool to help the body optimize performance in stressful situations and tasks (Aschbacher et al., 2013). In a study conducted by Daubenmier and colleagues (2014), regression analysis was used to determine if self-reported mindfulness helped control the relationship between psychological distress and the CAR. Results indicated that mindfulness can help moderate physiological
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