ABSTRACT
The term “stress,” as it is currently used, was first coined by Hans Selye in 1936; and the term “stressors” (or stressful stimuli) identifies any physical or psychological event that might threaten the homeostatic balance of an organism (1). Exposure to stress triggers a complex, multi-level response involving neuro-vegetative, hormonal, and motor systems whose function is to restore homeostasis in response to the perturbation (2). Activation of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis represents the major neuroendocrine response to stress.
