The concept of stress was first introduced by Hans Seyle in the 1930s, giving way to our model of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). The sciences that emanated from these considerations were broad-reaching, from endocrinologic, to neurohormonal, through the immune system, clearly the musculoskeletal system – with a systemic throughline of inflammation. While life is arguably less stressful (unintentional stressors) than it was in the 1930s, intentional stress is now omnipresent and increasingly a topic of health and wellness routines. What is intentional stress, though? How does “it” help us to mitigate the effects of the unintentional stress in our lives? In this paper, we will introduce The Challenged Life Matrix, with particular considerations for a life approach balancing the unintentional stressors with intentional stressors by examining their effect on one another. Related, this article will give consideration to society’s disappearing role of rest, to recover from each of these subtypes of stressors.
Keywords: Stress, Periodization, Allostatic Load, Hormesis, Senescence, Resilience.
Citation: Studer, M. (2025). On Resilience: Psychological, Physical, and Physiologic – Leveraging the Challenged Life Matrix to Explain and Manage Unintentional Stressors. J Psychol Neurosci; 7(4):1-15.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47485/2693-2490.1141