HPA axis🧠

The HPA axis is a complex set of direct influences and feedback interactions among three components: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The HPA axis is the neuroendocrine interface between the body and emotion, and is essential to our subjective appreciation of the body’s physiological condition. The HPA axis controls reactions to stress and regulates many other body processes. It is intimately connected with the unconscious and automatic systems for regulating the body and its level of arousal, for example through the autonomic control of heart rate or neuroendocrine function. In moments of stress, the HPA axis acts like the childhood game of telephone. FIrst, the amygdala tells the hypothalamus, which tells the pituitary, which tells the adrenal glands to release cortisol.

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References

• Lustig, H., Robert. (2017). The Hacking of the American Mind Chapter 4. Killing Jiminy Stress, Fear, and Cortisol (Location 861). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.

• Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (Epub p. 118). London, UK: Yale University Press.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothalamic%E2%80%93pituitary%E2%80%93adrenal_axis

Metadata

Type:🔵 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Anatomy / Neuroanatomy Status:☀️