Allostatic Load

One of my sons is an osteopath and a general knowledge guru. In conversation with him a couple of days ago, the subject of “Allostatic Load” came up: as usual, he has extensive knowledge on the subject, but a slightly different “take” on its importance, compared with my medical/surgical point of view. Anyway, the subject piqued my interest and I spent a while this morning, reading it up on the web.

Here it is, in a nutshell! – The graphic from Wikipedia’s “Allostatic load”

Note from Wikipedia: the graph represents the effect of increased stress on the performance of the body. The lower the stress levels are in the body, the less likely the allostatic load model will have a significant effect on the brain and health. Although, an increase in stress levels results in an increase in stress on the brain and the health of individuals, making it more likely for the body to have significant effects on homeostasis and cause breakdown of the body systems.