Brain–body responses to chronic stress: a brief review

Abstract

In order to survive and thrive, organisms must adapt to constantly changing environmental pressures. When there are significant shifts in the environment, the brain and body engage a set of physiological and behavioral countermeasures collectively known as the “stress response”. These responses, which include changes at the cellular, systems, and organismal level, are geared toward protecting homeostasis and adapting physiological operating parameters so as to enable the organism to overcome short-term challenges. It is the shift of these well-organized acute responses to dysregulated chronic responses that leads to pathologies. In a sense, the protective measures become destructive, causing the myriad health problems that are associated with chronic stress. To further complicate the situation, these challenges need not be purely physical in nature. Indeed, psychosocial stressors such as ruminating about challenges at work, resource insecurity, and unstable social environments can engage the very same emergency threat systems and eventually lead to the same types of pathologies that sometimes are described as “burnout” in humans. This short review focuses on very recent empirical work exploring the effects of chronic stress on key brain circuits, metabolism and metabolic function, and immune function.

GLUT1-mediated microglial proinflammatory activation contributes to the development of stress-induced spatial learning and memory dysfunction in mice

“…Systemic low-grade inflammation is a common feature of chronic metabolic disorders and stress-related diseases [ 42 ]. Metabolic disorders are also present in stressed organisms and can interact with inflammatory responses [ 43 ]. For example, it has been found that metabolic disorders can drive neuroinflammation and facilitate the development of neurodegenerative diseases [ 44 ].…”

Folie et Société: eroding the body–mind relationship via dysfunctional paternalistic systems

“…Unlike animals, the perceived threat from an EMI within the mind’s eye presents an illusion to the brain, activating an appropriate heuristic stress response to the original threatening time and space ( Hudson and Johnson, 2022 ). This activation of the mind and body is commonly reported as dysregulated stress ( Roberts and Karatsoreos, 2021 ). Although the induced individual’s reaction to the EMI is genuine, when witnessed by an external observer the response may appear dysregulated and delusional.…”

A revitalized biopsychosocial model: core theory, research paradigms, and clinical implications

“…working poverty and other forms of social exclusion) lead to chronic lack of control over salient outcomes, leading to chronic psychological stress, raising risk of anxiety and depression, while the chronic physiological arousal associated with chronic psychological stress raises the risk of dysregulation and damage across multiple biological systems and hence poor health outcomes. There is not space here nor is it the intention to review the large literature on chronic stress models (O'Connor, Thayer, & Vedhara, 2021; Roberts & Karatsoreos, 2021), but simply to give an illustration of a substantial research program on biopsychosocial causal mechanisms.…”