Marie sat quietly in the back of the class feeling relaxed, even though this was

Question

Marie sat quietly in the back of the class feeling relaxed, even though this was her first college class. “Here goes; this is the beginning of my future,” she excitedly thought. As the teacher walked to the front of the room, Marie suddenly felt dizzy and broke into a cold sweat Marie was undergoing the first phase of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Although she did not consciously realize it, she was stressed over beginning her college career. As the teacher walked in, Marie’s body began the “fight or flight” response of the alarm stage. In this situation, the stress response is inappropriate and Marie is experiencing a panic attack. What was specifically happening to Marie? Research the stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and explain in detail the physiological events happening to Marie. What is the natural course of these events of the General Adaptation Syndrome? Think about your own experiences. Describe an incident where your system activated the ‘fight or flight response’. What caused this reaction? How did you feel? What was the outcome? Be sure to explain in your example how many of the GAS stages you experienced.

Explanation / Answer

During such a panic attack Marie is undergoing anxiety and stress at the same time without consciously knowing it. Her body is in alarm stage of general adaptation syndrome. Her intense fear of first day caused her body to react in this way.

The long term and short term responses of body to stress are given by General adaptation syndrome (GAS). The stages of GAS are:

1. Alarm

2. Resistance

3. Exhaustion

In detail the physiological events that happened to Marie were:

Her blood glucose levels and epinephrine levels rose. Her energy reserves were mobilized and her sweat glands were stimulated. Her heart rate along with her blood pressure and respiratory rate also rose.

The natural course of these events of the General Adaptation Syndrome is as follows:

When the body experiences stress, anxiety and fear then to cope with these situations it undergoes general adaptation syndrome. The first stage is alarm where sympathetic nervous system gets stimulated and body produces flight or fight response to the stressor. Body's resources are mobilized to cope with the danger or threat perceived. After this parasympathetic nervous system comes into play and starts attempting to bring the body functions to their normal levels. At this point the body resists and compensates by using resources to bring physiological balance. Finally there is an exhaustion stage where body resources are exhausted and body becomes vulnerable to disease or death.

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