가톨릭대학교 의과대학 강남성모병원 가정의학과
Department of Family Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
The accurate "measurement" of stress is one of the most important issues in stress research, and could be of great value in clinical medicine. The biological model of stress measurement is derived from the well-established biochemical and physiological effects of stressors: namely, autonomic system activation (particularly, activation of the sympathetic-adrenal medullary [SAM] system), and activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Developing reliable biochemical indicators for stress with good validity, reliability and specificity is a major challenge in the field of stress medicine. In this context, I will focus on substances in the body which are influenced by mental stress and accessible to detection in body fluids. (Korean J Str Res 2006;14:53∼56)