Basal Redox Status Influences the Adaptive Redox Response to Regular Exercise
James N. Cobley, Gareth W. Davison in Oxidative Eustress in Exercise Physiology, 2022
Eustress is defined as moderate or normal physiological or environmental stress that is beneficial to the organism. Distress occurs when physiological or environmental stress is of sufficient duration or intensity to overwhelm the system and cause damage or dysfunction to the cell, tissue, organ, or organism. Acute exercise is a powerful physiologic eustress altering metabolic flux to meet the demands of the contracting skeletal muscle. Repeated application of this physiological stimulus, as in regular exercise training, leads to steady-state changes in protein content and beneficial health effects. These favorable adaptions are regulated in part by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production during the exercise bout – oxidative eustress. ROS accumulation initiates redox reactions with protein thiols that act as redox switches, altering protein localization, turnover, interacting partners, or enzyme activity (Nikolaidis et al., 2020; Kramer et al., 2015). Thus, an acute exercise bout can temporarily alter the vicinal milieu within a subcellular compartment to a more oxidized microenvironment leading to constructive changes in redox status, and subsequently resulting in beneficial long-term adaptations through changes in gene expression and protein content (Piantadosi and Suliman, 2006; Henriquez-Olguin et al., 2016, 2019a,b; Cobley et al., 2014, 2015) (Figure 6.1).
Mood and Food, Cravings, and Addiction
Emily Crews Splane, Neil E. Rowland, Anaya Mitra in Psychology of Eating, 2019
Most people eat differently when they are “stressed” (Zellner et al., 2006). Stress has diverse causes and descriptions, so more precise terms have been introduced. Eustress is stress that is associated with positive experiences, and distress is stress associated with negative experiences; these can be thought of as on opposite ends of a stress continuum. However, despite our polar opposite reasons for feeling stressed (from encountering a bear in the woods, to hearing your professor announce a pop-quiz, to walking into a surprise party), our bodily response is quite similar. When we perceive a situation as stressful, our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is activated, triggering an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and also the release of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol that perpetuate the elevated physiological state. Typically, hunger is suppressed with short-term exposure to a severe stressor (like the bear in the woods). However, longer-term exposure to non-life-threatening stressors (e.g., preparing for final exams) is more associated with increased eating.
Pathophysiology of the Sympathetic System
Hooshang Hooshmand in Chronic Pain, 2018
The stress that is beneficial was termed eustress by Dr. Hans Selye, a Canadian physician, in 1953. Some examples of eustress are Pleasant physical exercise, such as recreation to balance the mental fatigue. Jogging, running, swimming, tennis, golf, etc., in moderation may reduce mental fatigue. Eustress helps normalize blood pressure, body weight, anxiety, and depression.Pleasant mental exercise, such as good music, pleasant reading, biofeedback, meditation, prayer, good companionship, playing a relaxing game of cards, etc. The mental eustress balances the stress of excessive physical exercise and has similar beneficial effects on life as mentioned above.Good sex, good food (see 4–F diet, Chapter 12), and proper natural sleep, that is sleep not induced by drugs.
Factors associated with stress impacting academic success among post-secondary students: A systematic review
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2023
Konrad T. Lisnyj, Nafisa Gillani, David L. Pearl, Jennifer E. McWhirter, Andrew Papadopoulos
Perceived stress encompasses an individual’s subjective appraisal of their psychological state by weighing situational demands against their ability to cope.1,2 The source of these demands can be external when they originate from one’s social and ecological environment or it can be caused by a person’s internal perceptions.3 Stress, in its beneficial construct, is referred to as eustress,4,5 which is integral in facilitating motivation, adaptation, and optimal performance.3 The beneficial properties of eustress can be diminished when individuals lack adequate resources to meet the demands of a situation, thereby increasing their likelihood of experiencing stress in its negative construct (ie, distress) that may threaten their well-being.6 The literature has widely documented the adverse implications of stress on various behavioral,7,8 psychological,9 and physical health outcomes,10 notably amongst post-secondary students pursuing higher education.
Relations between stress, coping strategies, and prosocial behavior in U.S. Mexican college students
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2022
Madison K. Memmott-Elison, Mansoo Yu, Sahitya Maiya, J. Logan Dicus, Gustavo Carlo
The additive model of stress suggests that greater exposure to stress leads to distress, which includes a heightened risk of negative development as well as a decreased likelihood of positive development,11 particularly when stress is perceived as taxing, disconcerting, and harmful.17 This theory is well supported by research that shows increased exposure to stress is associated with a greater likelihood of negative adjustment among Hispanic college students, including increased depression and decreased life satisfaction.15 Theories of eustress, on the other hand, suggest stress can be a positive factor in individuals’ lives, particularly when stress exposure occurs in optimal amounts, is not chronic, and is perceived as positive.10,18 This type of stress is referred to as eustress and can act as a facilitator of adjustment outcomes. For example, one study on primarily European American college students and adults suggested that experiencing stress makes individuals more aware of others’ suffering, which is in turn related to engagement in future prosocial behavior.19 Taken together, not all stress similarly influences adjustment outcomes, and eustress might actually facilitate positive social adjustment outcomes like prosocial behavior.
Brain mechanisms of HPA axis regulation: neurocircuitry and feedback in context Richard Kvetnansky lecture
Published in Stress, 2020
James P. Herman, Nawshaba Nawreen, Marissa A. Smail, Evelin M. Cotella
Selye also noted that pleasurable or appetitive events are able to generate physiological indices of stress. He subsequently distinguished “distress” and “eustress,” with the former referring to responses to noxious, adverse or aversive stimuli, typical of what is usually thought of as “stress.” “Eustress” essentially refers to responses generated in positive as opposed to negative contexts, and reinforces the notion that physiological responses are required to help the organism perform optimally in both conditions. The distress-eustress continuum has proven hard to reconcile and difficult for the literature to navigate (Selye, 1975). Indeed, a consensus paper suggests limiting discussion of stress to negative conditions, so as to minimize ambiguous definitions (Koolhaas et al., 2011).
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