The concept of stress is not confined, as is sometimes supposed, to a description of what happens when the human organism is pushed beyond its coping capacity. The stress concept is integrally connected to the concepts of homeostasis and restoration.
Homeostasis, as conceived by Walter B. Cannon, MD, is a condition marked by an equilibrium of forces inside the human body. The concept is basically concerned with the workings of the endocrine system, but it also is intended to define a state in which all the elements and factors involved in the proper functioning of the human body are in vital balance with one another.
Restoration is the natural drive of the human body to reassert its physical and mental integrity against assault or breakdown. It is natural for the body to right itself, to resist illness, and to overcome disease when it takes hold. The human body has had