enter into a state of frank distress, with attendant morbidity and mortality (Selye, 1950). Importantly, the process of adaptation comes at a cost to the organism, as stress effector systems are chronically mobilized to meet the homeostatic demands of prolonged stress. Thus, stress alters the physiological milieu in a long-term manner (adaptation through change, or “allostasis”) (Sterling and Eyer, 1988), and the body's response to these changes lies at the center of both successful stress resilience as well as its transition to pathology.
