Allostasis and Happiness

I've been reading a lot about allostasis and allostatic load lately. Primarily because I am trying to understand where happiness and its beneficial effects fit in. Leading advocates of the concept claim that it makes sense of why some societies (such as the UK, the rest of Europe and the US) are experiencing a surge in the numbers of people who are developing obsesity, metabolic disorders (e.g., Syndrome X or type II diabetes) or addictions. At its highest level, allostasis implies that social policies have a critical impact on how we experience our lives, and therefore influence our resilience and ability to withstand disease and to recover from illness.

I've borrowed this following explanation of allostasis from Dr. Salt's summary of a classic paper:

[stress has] many mechanisms, but among the most prominent are the manifestations of physiological stress responses as a result of living and working conditions, inter-personal conflict, as well as the sense of control of one’s environment and optimism/pessimism toward the future. "Allostatic load" refers to the cost of adaptation to a stressful environment, which elicits repeated and sometimes prolonged adaptive responses ("allostasis") that preserve homeostasis in the short run but can cause wear- and-tear on the body and brain. Functional symptoms and syndromes, decreased cognitive function during aging, abdominal obesity, increased risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, insulin-dependent diabetes and decreased immune responses are all manifestations of allostatic load.

We have powerful ways of modulating the harmful output of the stress response systems that include belief systems and behaviors. An important quote attributed to Dr. McEwen is, "We must also remember that the biggest problems for the human race in the future are those associated with our own behavior and misbehavior and the impact of the social and physical environment on our bodies and brains."

I'm still struggling to think through all of the material so I doubt that I'll be able to post on this for some time. However, in the interim, I keep coming across fascinating observations that are new to me and offer tantalising glimpses of why correlates of happiness (e.g., good social interactions and networks) are such an essential contribution to our well-being.

There was a study of diabetic children who experienced chronic bouts of ketoacidosis despite being treated with treatment with beta-adrenergic antagonists. The children could be stabilised in the hospital but repeatedly relapsed upon return to the family home. Observations of the families of the children suggested that the children's metabolic disturbances were a reflection of parental conflict that involved the children ("Who is right, Daddy or Mommy?"). During stress interviews, the fatty acid levels of all the participants were measured. The parents' levels would rise during conflict but soon returned to baseline: however, for some of the children, the levels would remain elevated for hours.

The emotional demands on the children stimulated multiple physiological mechanisms that overrode the beta-adrenergic mechanism. Salvador Minuchin reported this as a poignant demonstration that "behavioral events among family members can be measured in the bloodstream of other family members". When the parents were coached in techniques that allowed them to resolve their conflicts directly, and without involving the children, the children could be stabilised at home without the use of the beta-blocker. There was an improvement in the children's medical outcome as a result of a successful intervention between people other than themselves.

I find the above result to be fascinating. Particularly in light of recent reports that children's health can be affected when their parents row and are in unresolved conflict. Apparently, these children have a poorer quality of sleep that leaves them tired the next day. And tired children can display the sort of behaviour that can lead to them being labelled with ADD or ADHD. Parental conflict is far from being the whole story with ADD and ADHD, but the role of sleep-disorders in the (mistaken?) diagnosis of children with ADHD is receiving a lot of attention and suggests that the combination may be a useful avenue for investigation in some families.

I'm sure that there is a strong connection between allostasis and happiness. It needs some more thought. As does my justification for how this fits in with my Happystance work.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project