“Stress research has important implications in that it can advise us on how to manage our own and other stress reaction.” Discuss how research into the physiological response to stress has enabled the development of physiological approaches to reducin

This essay will explore the research that has been conducted into the physiological stress response. It will look in particular at psychologists such as Seyle and his extensive study into the physiological aspects of stress as well Glaser et al., who studied the link between stress and the immune system. Finally this essay will examine stress management in regards to reducing the physiological aspects of stress.

The first psychologist to examine the physiological aspects of stress was a man named Hans Seyle. Seyle is a significant figure in the history of psychology, made so by the model he produced in 1956 known as the General Adaptation Syndrome. This model termed GAS focused mainly on the physiological aspects of the stress response. The model consisted of three main stages – Alarm reaction, Resistance and Exhaustion. The first stage of the syndrome (Alarm Reaction) was determined as being the stage in which the body’s level of arousal is heightened, the heart rate and blood ...