Stress and Glucose metabolism: A Review

Nirupama R, Barathi Rajaraman and Yajurvedi HN*

Stress is an inescapable fact of life. The perceived stress induces endocrine alterations characterized

by the activation of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic adreno-medullary axis. The

glucocorticoids and catecholamines which are secreted in response to stress induce variations in the

physiology and behavior that help the individual to adapt to changing demands of the body. Glucocorticoids

are known to play a central role in inducing the stress related pathophysiology. These hormones induce

hypermetabolism in order to cope up with the increasing energy demands of the body. However when the

stress is persistent the body adapts itself to continuous demands and starts regulating the metabolism

at higher levels than the normal, termed as allostasis. This overwhelming load on the body will predispose

the individual for the development of diseases. This mini-review focuses on long term chronic stress

induced alterations in glucose metabolism and development of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance

as a result of long term allostatic regulation.

Keywords: Stress; Glucose metabolism; Allostasis

Published on: Mar 29, 2018 Pages: 8-12

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-8702.000037
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat