The widespread interest in "stressful" aspects of contemporary society which contribute to its burden of illness and diseases (e.g. gastro intestinal, cardiovascular) has led to a large number of state ments and reports which relate the manifestations to a maladaptation of the individual. Furthermore, recent research suggests that under some condi tions stress may have a more generalized effect of decreasing the body IS ability to combat destructive forces and expose it to a variety of diseases. Breakdown in adaptation occurs when an individual cannot cope with demands inherent in his environment. These may be due to an excessive mental or physical load, including factors of a social or psychological nature and task performance requirements ranging from those which are monotonous, simple and repetitive to complex, fast, decision-taking ones. Experience shows however that not all people placed under the same condi tions suffer similarly, and it follows that to the social and psychological environment should be added a genetic factor influencing, through the brain, the responses of individuals. It is clear that, besides human suffering, this "breakdown in adaptation" causes massive losses of revenue to industry and national heal th authorities. Thus a reduction in "stress", before "breakdown" occurs, or an improvement in coping with it would be very valuable.

The widespread interest in "stressful" aspects of contemporary society which contribute to its burden of illness and diseases (e.g. gastro intestinal, cardiovascular) has led to a large number of state ments and reports which relate the manifestations to a maladaptation of the individual. Furthermore, recent research suggests that under some condi tions stress may have a more generalized effect of decreasing the body's ability to combat destructive forces and expose it to a variety of diseases. Breakdown in adaptation occurs when an individual cannot cope with demands inherent in his environment. These may be due to an excessive mental or physical load, including factors of a social or psychological nature and task performance requirements ranging from those which are monotonous, simple and repetitive to complex, fast, decision-taking ones. Experience shows however that not all people placed under the same condi tions suffer similarly, and it follows that to the social and psychological environment should be added a genetic factor influencing, through the brain, the responses of individuals. It is clear that, besides human suffering, this "breakdown in adaptation" causes massive losses of revenue to industry and national health authorities. Thus a reduction in "stress", before "breakdown" occurs, or an improvement in coping with it would be very valuable.

A text that explores how humans adapt to conditions of physical stress

The Impact of the Human Stress Response: The biologic origins for human stress is a humanitarian work intended to educate the public world wide about the true costs of preventable human stress. It is priced so that most people world wide can access this information affordably. Millions or lives are lost every year and trillions of dollars are wasted world wide because of our preventable exposure to modern stressors. Dr. Wingo examine one of science's burning issues - the epidemic of stress related diseases, disability, and early death currently ravaging the Western world. Preventable stress is devastating our health and destabilizing our communities.But what exactly is ?stress? And what gives it the potential to cause so much damage? In a groundbreaking account twenty years in the making, researcher and biologist Dr. Mary Wingo explains the root causes of modern stress, and how it harms our bodies, as well as our communities.Understand the root causes of stress and learn how to manage it effectivelyFind out why the stress response is essential for helping you adapt to your environmentProtect your health ? learn how to avoid over-loading your body's stress responseSharing astonishing insights into the way we cope with everything from excessive multitasking to social unrest, Dr. Wingo tells a fascinating story of how humans alter their physical states and how our bodies literally open or close their biological borders with the environment to help us adapt. Using simple, everyday language, Dr. Wingo vividly illustrates our current understanding of how the stress response works, and presents a how-to manual of science-based effective stress management. If you've ever wondered how you adapt to your environment and why constant exposure to stress is dangerous - this is a book you must read.

In the years following World War II the health and well-being of the nation was of primary concern to the British government. The essays in this collection examine the relationship between health and stress in post-war Britain through a series of carefully connected case studies.

The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.