The 3 types of hormones associated with stress

Stress is such a frequent experience in our daily lives as it is natural and, in most cases, useful. However, it is also true that many of the people who find themselves in the need to go to the psychologist or doctor do so for problems triggered at least in part by stress.

That is why for decades, both Psychology and Physiology and Neurosciences have worked hard to help us better understand what it is that leads us to be stressed and anxious. This time we will focus on the more "micro" and psychobiological aspects of this phenomenon, giving an overview of the main stress hormones.

• Related article: "The 6 stress hormones and their effects on the body"

The biological bases of stress

When we feel stressed, we are not experiencing a purely psychological phenomenon, much less subjective. Stress is a physiological and emotional mechanism that goes far beyond our consciousness and that involves a change of state of many of the organs of our body. In fact, in practice, we are aware that we are stressed after that process has begun.

It makes sense that this is so: our ability to enter a state of stress exists so that not all of our actions depend on having stopped for a while to reflect and decide what to do given some circumstances. In other words: stress shows that sometimes the most useful thing is to let our emotions guide us, not to depend totally on reason. In this way, we are able to react quickly to signals sent by our environment, without wasting time thinking about what our next action should be (sometimes just doing that already makes us lose opportunities).

Seen in perspective, stress is the fruit of millions of years of evolution shaping animal species exposed to all kinds of dangers: attacks by predators, falls, fights between clans and within clans, etc. So, natural selection has given rise to neuro-endocrine mechanisms capable of putting us into a state of stress, which helps us cope with these situations.

Thus, stress hormones are the molecules used by our body as messengers between organs and cell tissues. in a matter of seconds, to be able to react quickly to dangers and fleeting opportunities, minimizing the risk of being damaged. For example, when the body begins to secrete stress hormones, this triggers phenomena such as the contraction of blood vessels superficial (to avoid a great loss of blood in case of receiving injuries), a greater sensitivity to stimuli, have the glands sweatpants at full capacity to avoid overheating the body, keeping the muscles taut and ready for a fighting response or on the run ...

Stress hormones are, in this circuit of parts of the body that "transform" momentarily, part of the messengers that are responsible for making stress reach all parts of the body, even the most remote areas of the brain. I say they are part of them because in reality the functioning of hormones is too full of complexities and interactions to be wholly reduced to a few messenger molecules; however, stress hormones are the most important and characteristic in this class of processes. Next we will see what they are.

• You may be interested in: "Endocrine system: anatomy, parts and functions"

What are the types of stress hormones?

A hormone is a molecule used by our endocrine system to trigger reactions in various areas of the body, by releasing these substances into our bloodstream.

Many of these molecules are also neurotransmitters, in the sense that they can be used by our neurons to communicate with each other; However, when they behave like hormones, their effects take a little longer to occur, and the changes favored by them can lead to stay longer or even become "fixed" in the body (for example, in the development of sexual characteristics during puberty and adolescence).

In this section we will see the main characteristics of the types of stress hormones, the molecules that play a fundamental role in bringing us to a state of high psychological and physiological stress.

1. Catecholamines

Catecholamines include some of the most famous hormones and neurotransmitters. Regarding stress, within this category noteworthy adrenaline and noradrenaline.

Both are involved in the fight and flight response, speeding up our heart rate and pressure. so that the body has a greater capacity to extract energy from its resources and to diffuse it through the organism.

• You may be interested in: "Adrenaline, the hormone that activates us"

2. Cortisol

Cortisol is secreted primarily by the adrenal glands, and involves a release of glucose to make it available in the blood.

In the same way, it slows down the biological processes associated with the functioning of the immune system to focus the use of resources on other more urgent and crucial aspects in the short-term, and this also entails a reduction in the chances of inflammation in the short term, although in the medium and long term it favors the deterioration of health physical.

3. Prolactin

Prolactin is another of the hormones secreted in large amounts by our body when we are stressed. This protein secreted by the pituitary gland is linked to activities of great biological importance, including nutrition and reproduction.

One of its effects is the inhibition of the creation of estrogens, and it is believed that this has to do with the fact that many women with problems due to excess stress suffer menstrual alterations.

What about the psychological dimension?

So far we have briefly looked at several of the biological mechanisms involved in the stress response, but the fact of being stressed does not remain solely on physiological processes such as muscle tension or sweating

When our stress level goes up, that it also implies experiencing changes on a psychological level, both in our way of thinking and in our way of feeling emotions and interacting with the environment. And this relationship between the physiological and the psychological works in both directions: sometimes, without realizing it, we ourselves favor the appearance of problems stress due to having internalized dysfunctional habits and patterns of behavior, which predispose us to enter these hormonal mechanisms again and again and cerebral.

The good news is that in the same way that our actions can reinforce stress, they can also help to mitigate it, something that is used a lot in psychotherapy.

Do you want to attend psychological therapy?

Stress problems can be effectively addressed and overcome through psychotherapy; Currently, there are techniques and treatments that allow patients to learn to better regulate their emotions and establish behavior patterns to mitigate anxiety.

So, if you are interested in starting a psychological therapy process, get in touch with me; I am a psychologist specialized in the cognitive-behavioral model and in contextual therapies; I serve adults and adolescents both in person and online by video call.