Allostasis and allostatic load of diseases

Abstract

Introduction: Homeostasis is the fundamental property of biological systems to preserve the internal environment. Blood pressure, pH, plasma sodium and glucose concentrations are examples of homeostatic variables, where the purpose of physiological regulation is to fix each internal parameter at a set point, detect errors and correct them with negative feedback. Physiologists have shown that many errors are not constant but adaptive.

Objective: To expose novel concepts about the influence of a stressful environment on our physiology and its deleterious long-term effects.

Methods: A literature review was performed, in the academic Google search engine, the descriptors: homeostasis, allostasis and allostatic load.

Conclusions: Novel concepts about the influence of a stressful environment on our physiology and its deleterious long-term effects were exposed. Allostasis is the price the body pays for being forced to adapt to adverse psychosocial or physical situations. Obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, arterial hypertension, are allostatic variables, not homeostatic, they are not constant parameters, but adaptive, the organism will change its internal environment to face the challenge or perturbation that comes from the outside. Thinking about many of these pathologies under an allostatic model can enrich the conceptual resources of the physician and modify the approach to prevalent diseases.