Allostasis and the human brain: Integrating models of stress from the social and life sciences.

Abstract

We draw on the theory of allostasis to develop an integrative model of the current stress process that highlights the brain as a dynamically adapting interface between the changing environment and the biological self. We review evidence that the core emotional regions of the brain constitute the primary mediator of the well-established association between stress and health, as well as the neural focus of "wear and tear" due to ongoing adaptation. This mediation, in turn, allows us to model the interplay over time between context, current stressor exposure, internal regulation of bodily processes, and health outcomes. We illustrate how this approach facilitates the integration of current findings in human neuroscience and genetics with key constructs from stress models from the social and life sciences, with implications for future research and the design of interventions targeting individuals at risk.

Bright Light Therapy to Promote Sleep in Mothers of Low-Birth-Weight Infants

“…Lee et al, 2005; S. Y. Lee & Kimble, 2009), it could also become a stressor for mothers in its own right, causing these women's allostatic loads to exceed their thresholds and leading to adverse mental health effects (Ganzel, Morris, & Wethington, 2010). The majority of mothers in this study experienced high levels of depressive symptoms, which is consistent with earlier findings that mothers with LBW infants have a greater likelihood of experiencing depressive symptoms as compared to mothers with full-term babies (Vigod, Villegas, Dennis, & Ross, 2010).…”

Brain on stress: How the social environment gets under the skin

“…1). The social environment as well as the physical environment have powerful effects on the body and the brain through the neuroendocrine, autonomic, and immune systems (1)(2)(3). Two important processes are evident: The first process is the biological embedding of early experiences, the subject of this symposium, that determines operating ranges of physiological systems for the effects of later experiences, and the second process is the cumulative wear and tear of the physical and social environment on the brain and body acting through the neuroendocrine, autonomic, metabolic, and immune systems.…”

“…Two important processes are evident: The first process is the biological embedding of early experiences, the subject of this symposium, that determines operating ranges of physiological systems for the effects of later experiences, and the second process is the cumulative wear and tear of the physical and social environment on the brain and body acting through the neuroendocrine, autonomic, metabolic, and immune systems. This review focuses on the central role of the brain in both processes (2,3) and the interaction of biological embedding with cumulative wear and tear over the life course; it considers the nature of interventions that can alter the predispositions and risks created by biological embedding as well as those interventions caused by life experiences and the health-damaging and -promoting behaviors by which individuals live their lives. In particular, increasing understanding of the plasticity of the mature brain offers some hope for finding better strategies to help those individuals whose lives have been burdened by adverse early-life experiences.…”

Joint association of sleep problems and psychosocial working conditions with registered long-term sickness absence. A Danish cohort study

“…A reverse association of sleep problems affecting the reporting of psychosocial working conditions is also possible, given previous evidence (49), and the temporality of the association between sleep problems and working conditions cannot be disentangled in the present study as they were both measured simultaneously. Any causal effects of psychosocial working conditions on both sleep problems and long-term sickness Sleep, psychosocial working conditions and sickness absence absence may be related to stress-reactions, which could be triggered by psychosocial working conditions and increase the risk of sleep problems, health problems, and consequently sickness absence (50)(51)(52). It should be noted, though, that the empirical evidence regarding the role of biological stress mechanisms in explaining associations between psychosocial working conditions and health outcomes is mixed (53)(54)(55).…”