{"id":11674,"date":"2026-05-13T14:34:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zen2fit.com\/?p=11674"},"modified":"2026-05-20T10:47:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:47:38","slug":"biologija-stresa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zen2fit.com\/bs\/the-biology-of-stress-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Biologija stresa na poslu: od mamuta do emaila"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajla Vejzovi\u0107<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n


Imagine a giant mammoth is chasing you, and you have to find a way to survive. The cascade of biological reactions that follows is what science defines as acute stress in the body. For our ancestors, it served them well; killing or fleeing from a mammoth was a perfectly good way to end a stress episode.

Today, however, there are no mammoths. A long email, a deadline, or a toxic atmosphere can be enough to trigger stress, but without the time or the way to “shake it off” in that moment.

In this article, we’ll walk through the biology of workplace stress<\/a> and what science recommends for prevention and management.
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What is stress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stress can be defined in several ways, depending on the angle from which it is viewed. Here are three widely cited definitions:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO<\/a>): Stress is a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. It is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA<\/a>): Stress is a physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors, involving changes that affect nearly every system of the body, influencing how people feel and behave.

According to Hans Selye<\/a>, the scientist considered the father of modern stress research, Stress is the non-specific response of the body to any demand placed upon it, regardless of whether that demand is mental or physical in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What happens in the body during the stress response?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The stress response is one of the oldest biological mechanisms in existence. When the perception of a threat reaches the brain, a precisely coordinated chain of reactions is triggered, involving the nervous system, hormones, and nearly every organ in the body.

Meet the amygdala<\/a>, a small, almond-shaped part of the brain also known as the emotional chip. Its job is singular: to detect a threat and react. When the amygdala receives a danger signal, whether a sound, an image, or a negative email,\u00a0 it immediately activates the hypothalamus.

Think of the hypothalamus as a command center. It sends a signal to the autonomic nervous system, triggering the fight-or-flight response, in which the heart accelerates, blood vessels constrict, muscles receive more blood, and breathing speeds up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortisol and the stress response<\/h2>\n\n\n