Allostatic load

Louise was making naughty signs to me during the break, I might add, on this Zoom thing.

So last week we introduced a very new concept to foster care, that of allostatic load.

In other words, it's about our mental health and the load we carry.

I will say now we are just finalising the big... mental health survey for foster carers it's never been done before and we're hoping to it might not be as big as our general one but we really want everyone to share share share like mad me it's the foundation of everything and it gets ignored but listen for a recap louise can you recap us on what allostatic load is

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Right.

OK.

If we could help people look at themselves that way and look at the way then they've organized around that bucket overflowing, which I believe is what chronic illness is.

like it is based on that principle, as well as many mental health challenges that we face, especially the persistent, that if we could just address that, and that's called allostatic load, the ability to maintain stability through change.

But it's the bucket that overflows because we just can't keep up with all the challenges that come our way.

And then our whole biology organizes around that to keep us safe.

You are part of the equation, and if we're going to work toward creating a life that really feels more sustainable, We have to include you in that plan.

I want to revisit a concept we've discussed before, this idea of allostatic load.

And if you forget what that is, that's okay.

I'll give you a quick refresher.

Your body may not distinguish between the urgent problem in front of you and the ongoing sense that something else could happen at any moment.

That's where chronic stress becomes important.

Allostatic load refers to the cumulative physiological burden that can develop as the body repeatedly responds to stress and works to maintain stability.

In simple terms, your body is continually adjusting to the demands placed on it.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I'll just give a brief idea of what allostatic load is.

And then you can say why you think it's important.

We discuss it as well.

And they're open to everybody all up and down the UK because they're not to talk about the children specifically, not to talk about your LA or agency.

It's about you, you and your mental health and the things that affect it and how you can help and how we can help you with, you know, help you with that.

So it's not new and it's not ours, this term of allostatic load.

But we are bringing this hard now because it goes to the heart of retention and stable loving homes for children and, of course, recruitment.

And what happens next in the body is very real.

And neuroscientists have coined that term called allostatic load.

Right.

The stress response is essentially what allostatic load looks like.

Right.

And it's protective in the short term because it's meant to kind of switch on to its job and switch off.

But when it's activated over and over and never really fully gets to kind of settle, the wear and tear builds up across the body.

And neuroscientists have repeatedly stated this in more ways than one, that ordinary everyday work stress is one of the things that constantly feeds that allostatic load.

But really the bigger picture I've been becoming more aware of the past few years is the total accumulation of stressors combined with inefficient... insufficient and inefficient recovery relative to the demands I was creating in my body.

And you'll hear the word allostatic load.

Think of it as accumulation of physiological burden associated with repeated inputs adapting to that stress.

Those signals.

That is generational transmission, too.

But how does trauma get under the skin? And to understand that notion, we need to talk about something else called allostatic load.

Imagine your body's stress response as an emergency alarm.

When danger appears, your brain activates systems involving cortisol, adrenaline, heart rate, blood pressure, metabolism, and inflammation.

Imagine the fire alarm going off every day.

Eventually, something begins to wear down.

That cumulative physiological wear and tear is called allostatic load.

Chronic stress can affect the cardiovascular system, the endocrine system, metabolism, immune function, inflammation, sleep, mental health.

You've just read an article about how your business sector is about to go into the toilet.

And your allostatic load starts to go up.

You're scrolling Twitter and all of a sudden you're pretty clear on who you're supposed to hate and all this stuff.

And your allostatic load, which is that load, that amount of stress that's in your body at any given time.

So when you're kind of in a great place and you're on vacation and everything's working, your allostatic load is low.

But most of us are walking around with that allostatic load up to our necks so that we don't have a lot of capacity or room to give people mulligans.

So that same conversation that if you were in a great space with low allostatic load, you would be able to handle it or work through it if it was tough.

Now you don't have any room for that.