The brain is the key organ of the response to stress because it determines what is threatening
and, therefore, potentially stressful, as well as the physiological and behavioral responses …

Chronic exposure to stress hormones, whether it occurs during the prenatal period, infancy,
childhood, adolescence, adulthood or aging, has an impact on brain structures involved in …

Over 60 years ago, Selye 1 recognized the paradox that the physiologic systems activated
by stress can not only protect and restore but also damage the body. What links these …

Adaptation in the face of potentially stressful challenges involves activation of neural,
neuroendocrine and neuroendocrine‐immune mechanisms. This has been called “allostasis” or “…

The allostatic load model expands the stress-disease literature by proposing a temporal
cascade of multi-systemic physiological dysregulations that contribute to disease trajectories. By …

The term “allostasis” has been coined to clarify ambiguities associated with the word “stress.”
Allostasis refers to the adaptive processes that maintain homeostasis through the …

Over the past 5 yr, we have examined some of the sharpest edges of the pathology of aging.
We have studied the capacity of aged organisms to respond appropriately to stress and the …

▪ Abstract The hippocampus is a target of stress hormones, and it is an especially plastic and
vulnerable region of the brain. It also responds to gonadal, thyroid, and adrenal hormones, …

Stress promotes adaptation, but prolonged stress leads over time to wear‐and‐tear on the
body (allostatic load). Neural changes mirror the pattern seen in other body systems, that is, …

A scientific consensus is emerging that the origins of adult disease are often found among
developmental and biological disruptions occurring during the early years of life. These early …