Stress is an experience that is as common in our daily lives as it is natural and, in most cases, useful. However, it is also true that many of the people who find it necessary to go to a psychologist or doctor do so because of problems triggered at least in part by stress.
That is why for decades, both Psychology, Physiology and Neuroscience have strived to help us better understand what causes us to be stressed and anxious. On this occasion we will focus on the most “micro” and psychobiological aspects of this phenomenon, giving a review of the main stress hormones
When we feel stressed, we are not experiencing a purely psychological phenomenon, much less a subjective one. Stress is a physiological and emotional mechanism that goes far beyond our consciousness and that involves a change in the state of many of the organs in our body. In fact, in practice, we are aware that we are stressed after that process has begun.
It makes sense that this is the case: our ability to enter a state of stress exists so that not all of our actions depend on us having stopped for a while to reflect and decide what to do given certain circumstances. In other words: stress shows that sometimes the most useful thing is to let our emotions guide us, not to depend entirely on reason. In this way, we are able to react quickly to signals that our environment sends us, without wasting time thinking about what our next action should be (sometimes, the simple fact of doing that already makes us miss opportunities).
Seen in perspective, stress is the fruit of millions of years of evolution shaping animal species exposed to all kinds of dangers: attacks by predators, falls, fights between clans and within clans, etc. That’s why, Natural selection has given rise to neuro-endocrine mechanisms capable of making us enter a state of stress which helps us deal with these situations.
Thus, stress hormones are the molecules used by our body as messengers between organs and cellular tissues to, in a matter of seconds, be able to react quickly to dangers and fleeting opportunities, minimizing the risk of being damaged. For example, when the body begins to secrete stress hormones, this triggers phenomena such as the contraction of superficial blood vessels (to avoid great blood loss in case of injuries), greater sensitivity to stimuli, having the glands sweat at full capacity to prevent overheating of the body, keep muscles tense and ready for a fight or flight response…
Stress hormones are, in this circuit of parts of the body that “transform” momentarily, part of the messengers that are responsible for making stress reach all parts of the body, even the most distant areas of the brain I say that they are part of them because in reality the functioning of hormones is too full of complexities and interactions to be totally reduced to a few messenger molecules; However, stress hormones are the most important and characteristic in this type of processes. Below we will see what they are.
What are the types of stress hormones?
A hormone is a molecule used by our endocrine system to trigger reactions in various areas of the body by releasing these substances into our bloodstream.
Many of these molecules are also neurotransmitters, in the sense that they can be used by our neurons to communicate with each other; However, when they behave like hormones, their effects take a little longer to occur, and the changes favored by them can last longer or even become “fixed” in the body (for example, in the development of sexual characteristics during puberty and adolescence).
In this section we will see the main characteristics of the types of stress hormones, the molecules that play a fundamental role in bringing us to a state of high psychological and physiological stress
1. Catecholamines
Catecholamines include some of the most famous hormones and neurotransmitters. Regarding stress, within this category It is worth highlighting adrenaline and norepinephrine
Both are involved in the fight and flight response, accelerating our heart rate and blood pressure, so that the body has a greater capacity to extract energy from its resources and diffuse it throughout the body.
2. Cortisol
Cortisol is secreted primarily by the adrenal glands, and involves a release of glucose so that it is available in the blood
Likewise, it slows down the biological processes associated with the functioning of the immune system to focus the use of resources on other more urgent and crucial aspects in the short term, and this also leads to a reduction in the chances of inflammation arising in the short term, although In the medium and long term it favors the deterioration of physical health.
3. Prolactin
Prolactin is another of the hormones secreted in large quantities by our body when we are stressed This protein secreted by the pituitary gland is linked to activities with great biological importance, including feeding and reproduction.
One of its effects is the inhibition of the creation of estrogen, and it is believed that this has to do with why many women with problems due to excess stress suffer menstrual disorders.
What about the psychological dimension?
So far we have briefly looked at several of the biological mechanisms involved in the stress response, but the fact of being stressed does not stop at physiological processes such as muscle tension or sweating.
When our stress level goes up, it It also involves experiencing changes on a psychological level, both in our way of thinking and in our way of feeling emotions and interacting with the environment. And this relationship between the physiological and the psychological works in both directions: sometimes, without realizing it, we ourselves favor the appearance of stress problems by having internalized dysfunctional habits and behavior patterns, which predispose us to enter those problems again and again. hormonal and brain mechanisms.
The good news is that in the same way that our actions can reinforce stress, they can also help mitigate it, something that is greatly benefited in psychotherapy.
Do you want to attend psychological therapy?
Stress problems can be effectively addressed and overcome through psychotherapy; Currently, there are techniques and treatments that allow patients to learn to better regulate their emotions and establish behavioral patterns to mitigate anxiety.
So, if you are interested in starting a psychological therapy process, contact me; I am a psychologist specialized in the cognitive-behavioral model and contextual therapies; I serve adults and adolescents both in person and online by video call.
