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Faculty of Philosophy, University of PIM , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
The continuation of life depends on the ability of an organism to maintain a state of dynamic equilibrium or homeostasis. Homeostasis is constantly disturbed by entropic forces, the stressors: the state of threatened homeostasis is called stress. A complex set of behavioral and physical reactions the adaptive response is employed by the organism to reestablish balanced physiological conditions. In antiquity, Hippocrates regarded health as harmonious balance of the four key elements of life – water, fire, air, and earth – and defined states of imbalance among these elements as disease. He also described the adaptive response as the “healing power of nature.” (Chrouses, & Gold, 1992). The actual term stress was originally adopted from physics by Hans Selye. In physics, it describes the resistance of a body to applied pressure, following Hook’s law of elasticity. An acting force may distort a body elastically in linear fashion or, if applied excessively in quality, quantity, or time, may produce nonlinear deformations. Similarly, stress may be a transient and time – limited responses of the organisms, whereas the physiological and behavioral defense mechanisms, rendering them inefficient or deleterious. Unraveling the mechanisms and pathways that the immune system uses for communication between its various parts has proven to be fascinating and complicated endeavor that is far from completion. Studies of the structure and function of the immune system have produced information that can provide investigators with important lessons in psychoneuroimmunology. Indeed, education is an integral component of the function of the immune system; once the immune system has encountered an antigen, instructions are given so that the experience will be remembered. Stress plays an important role in individual and species survival, but it also participates in the development and aging of every individual. The quality, intensity, and duration of stress are important in determining the positive or negative effects on the organism. There are two main condition of the stress system that led to pathology: an excessive and prolonged or a defective adaptive response to a stressor. In both cases, the dose – response relation between the potency of a stressor and the adaptive response of the organism is shifted to the left or right respectfully. There are pathological conditions of the stress system leading to disease and, vice versa, disease that alter the activity of the stress system in pathological fashion.
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