The concept of “allostasis”(Sterling and Eyer, 1988) was in part introduced to take into
account regulatory systems which (1) have variable set points,(2) show individual
differences in expression (McEwen and Stellar, 1993),(3) are associated with anticipatory
behavioral and physiological responses (Schulkin et al., 1994), and (4) are vulnerable to
physiological overload and the breakdown of regulatory capacities (bone demineralization,
brain deterioration etc., from, for example, high levels of cortisol for long unrestrained�…