Skip to main content

Stress Response Termination

Meaning

Stress Response Termination is the essential physiological process by which the body’s acute, protective reaction to a perceived threat is rapidly and completely deactivated once the stressor is resolved. This critical phase involves the swift clearance of stress hormones, primarily cortisol and catecholamines, and the return of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to its resting, basal state. Efficient termination is a hallmark of high physiological resilience, preventing the transition from acute, adaptive stress to chronic, detrimental allostatic load.