A little over 50 years ago, the endocrinologist
Hans Selye (1956) published The Stress of Life,
summarizing his research on the physiological
consequences of stress.1
Because he was working
with laboratory animals, Selye conceptualized
stress (or stressors) as exposures to noxious environmental
stimuli, such as extreme temperatures,
electric shocks, or food deprivation. He identified
three stages of physiological reactions to noxious
events: the alarm, resistance, and exhaustion
stages. Further, he linked the exhaustion stage, i.e.,
the depletion of bodily defenses against stress, to
subsequent risks of high blood pressure, heart disease,
and other diseases of adaptation. This cascade
of physiological reactions to stressors and
their harmful consequences for physical health
were later confirmed in human subjects. But population
studies of the impacts of stressful experiences
did not take off until psychiatrists Thomas
Holmes and Richard Rahe (1967) created the