Allostasis/Allostatic Load Conference

May 7-8, 2007

About

Allostasis is a term that has come into increasing use in both social and biological sciences to describe the active process through which systems of the body adapt to challenges, often called “stressors”.  Allostatic load is a term that refers to the almost inevitable wear and tear on body systems from responding to challenges by events in daily life as well as to repeated major stressors.  These terms emphasize 5 aspects of adaptation and pathophysiology that are often overlooked in the conventional thinking about “stress”:  1) allostasis and allostatic load  reflect, respectively,  the response to and the cumulative effects of events in daily life involving ordinary events as well as major stressors;  2) there are multiple mediators of allostasis, which have a biphasic role in  both adaptation and damage, depending on the dose and time course over which they are produced;  3) these mediators have concurrent influences upon multiple body systems, from brain to cardiovascular, metabolic and immune systems;  4) the nervous system is the master regulator of behavioral and physiological responses to daily experiences as well as a changing environment and major stressors;  5)  the brain is also a target of the events and has the capacity to change structurally and functionally in response to experiences.   

There are conceptual and methodoloical challenges in using these concepts and they are in need of refinement and modification:  1) how to operationalize the concepts and make meaningful measurements when multiple body systems and mediators are involved in a non-linear fashion;   2)  allostasis and allostatic load mean different things in animals in the wild and in human societies;  differences in animal and human social organization may provide insights;   3)  allostatic overload in humans is strongly linked to education, income, social organization, sense of control, anxiety and social support as well as physical activity;  4) As a result, higher cortical and cognitive functions are very important to understanding them and modifying or preventing the consequences of allostatic overload;  5) How can this information be translated into policies of government and the private sector?

Organization

The meeting will be held on May 7 and 8, 2007 in 300 Wallace Hall at Princeton University.  The Center for Health and Wellbeing of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University will handle all of the logistics, (Susan Rizzo, srizzo@princeton.edu is the contact person.) Participants will assemble at noon for lunch on May 7; the conference sessions will begin at 1:00pm.  That evening there will be a group dinner at the Palmer House.  The conference participants will reconvene on May 8 from 8:30am to 3:30pm. The organizers are Christina Paxson and Burton Singer of Princeton University and Bruce McEwen of Rockefeller University. The meeting is supported by the Center for Health and Wellbeing.

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Attendees

Aizer, Anna                            Brown University
Altmann, Jeanne                    Princeton University
Cohen, Jonathan                   Princeton University
Coplan, Jeremy                      SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Dhabhar, Firdaus                   Stanford University
Evans, Gary                           Cornell University
Goldman, Noreen                   Princeton University
Gould, Elizabeth                     Princeton University
Hau, Michaela                         Princeton University
Heckman, Jim                         University of Chicago
Isabelle Bisson                       Princeton Univerity
Koob, George                         The Scripps Research Institute
Kral, John                               SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Massey, Doug                         Princeton University
McEwen, Bruce                       Rockefeller University
Nielsen, Lis                             National Institutes of Health
Panksepp, Jaak                      Washington State University
Paxson, Chris                         Princeton University
Pfaff, Don                               Rockefeller University
Sakai, Randall                        University of Cincinnati Medical Center
Seeman, Teresa                     University of California, Los Angeles
Singer, Burt                            Princeton University
Suzman, Richard                     National Institutes of Health

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Contacts

Susan Rizzo
srizzo@princeton.edu
(609) 258-6932

Debbie Nexon
dnexon@princeton.edu
(609) 258-1456

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Directions

Getting to Campus

Please visit Princeton University’s site at this link  http://www.princeton.edu/main/visiting/  for instructions of getting to campus.  This link also contains a printable and an interactive campus map.

Getting Around Campus

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