Stress can be loosely defined as anything that is experienced as a threat to your stability or equilibrium. A portion of your nervous system is activated to ready the body to meet the demands brought on by an emotional upset. The stress responses is a physiological response to stress that results in heightened mental and physical awareness such as elevated heartrate, faster breathing, dilated pupils, and tense muscles. Stress can be broken down into three stages. The initial reaction to stress is the alarm response or the fight or flight re ....