Figure 1.

Allostasis and allostatic load. The brain perceives and responds to stimuli and stressors. The major function of cortisol and other mediators of allostasis is to promote adaptation. However, overuse and/or dysregulation among allostatic mediators can lead to allostatic load (or overload) and accelerate disease processes such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and affective disorders. Adapted from McEwen BS, Akil H. Revisiting the stress concept: implications for affective disorders. J Neurosci. 2020;40(1):12–21, with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.³