20/01/2026
The Stages of Stress we work with every day
• Stage 1 – Compensation •
This occurs when our healthy adaptive responses to short term stress remain on for extended periods of time, but our ‘reserve’ capacity remains high.
Towards the latter stages of Compensation symptoms associated with overload often begin but remain infrequent and short lived.
• Stage 2 – Dysfunction •
This occurs when your body can no longer compensate for the sustained changes caused by ongoing stress. Individual body systems begin to dysfunction and tissues are physically overloaded causing inflammation and pain. Symptoms progressively build with repeat episodes in this stage.
• Stage 3 – Dysregulation •
In this stage one or more systems in your body can no longer self-regulate, a basic requirement for health. Because of this, diagnosed conditions appear in this stage (if systems were continuing to self-regulate there would be nothing to diagnose).
Symptoms become constant or severe.
• Stage 4 – Breakdown •
This occurs when multiple systems break down or fail.