Picture yourself hiking in a narrow canyon in Utah. The canyon is dry and it hasn’t rained for weeks. You see some thunderhead clouds in the sky, but not one drop of rain all day. Nevertheless, a small rush of water starts to run through the canyon, turning it into a creek. There must have been a heavy rainfall somewhere nearby. Water runs down the sides of the canyon, forming little waterfalls. You realize that there could be a flash flood coming! You turn quickly up a side trail to higher ground before you are washed down the canyon.

Soon, you are safe above the canyon. It’s scary watching the wild, brown water rushing through the canyon bottom where you were just hiking. That was a stressful situation, but it lasted only a short time. What if this were an action movie? Next you might have to run away from a herd of stampeding cows and then put out a wildfire. The stress would go on and on.

Describe the effects that constant stress can have on your body functions.