Introduction
This articleprovides an insight into what happens at a physiological level when aperson becomes stressed. Although this article may seem rathercomplicated, it is an oversimplification of what happens. It issuggested that readers interested in increasing their understandingabout this topic refer to advanced texts that are available.

The Stress Response
When people perceive that they are in threatening situations that theyare unable to cope with, then messages are carried along neurones fromthe cerebral cortex (where the thought processes occur) and the limbicsystem to the Hypothalamus. This has a number of discrete parts.

The Anterior Hypothalamus produces sympathetic arousal of the AutonomicNervous System (ANS). The ANS is an automatic system that controls theheart, lungs, stomach, blood vessels and glands. Due to its action wedo not need to make any conscious effort to regulate our breathing orheart beat. The ANS consists of two different systems: the sympatheticnervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Essentially, theparasympathetic nervous system conserves energy levels. It increasesbodily secretions such as tears, gastric acids, mucus and saliva whichhelp to defend the body and help digestion. Chemically, theparasympathetic system sends its messages by a neurotransmitter calledacetylcholine which is stored at nerve endings.

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