Allostasis
Maintaining stability through change.
Allostasis describes adjustments that meet environmental demands and maintain functional stability. The Chinese edition uses an explanatory translation as a reading aid and retains the English term for comparison with the research literature.
Scientific concept · UpdatedStability through adjustment
Allostasis offers a way to understand changing regulation as demands change. Sterling's account emphasises anticipation and allocation of resources, rather than treating every change as a failure of regulation.[1]
What distinguishes a regulatory explanation?
Modern homeostasis is not simply a picture of an unchanging body. Ramsay and Woods examine how multiple regulatory loops interact, and why changing a measured value alone does not settle whether a response should be called homeostatic or allostatic. Reading this alongside Sterling makes the conceptual distinction more precise.[3][1]
An adjustment and its cost are different questions
Allostatic load concerns costs associated with repeated or prolonged adaptation. The adaptive process and its possible cumulative costs should be distinguished.[2]
A note on language
The Chinese edition uses an explanatory translation and retains Allostasis for reference to the original literature. When comparing authors, attend to how they define regulation, stability and anticipated demands.
Whether a response is appropriate depends on the environment and the body's needs at that moment.
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Core reading
- Allostasis: a model of predictive regulation ↗
Peter Sterling
Study record & citations
Physiology & Behavior · 2012 - Stress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease ↗
Bruce S. McEwen · Eliot Stellar
Study record & citations
Archives of Internal Medicine · 1993 - Clarifying the roles of homeostasis and allostasis in physiological regulation ↗
Ramsay DS · Woods SC
Study record & citations
Psychological review · 2014
Editorial & review record
Record for v0.3 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Scientific review
Not yet scientifically reviewed
Editorial note
Under the editorial responsibility of the TAP Editorial Team, this publication used AI assistance for content organization and editing. Scientific review is recorded separately on this page.
Download detailed editorial record (JSON) ↓
How responsibilities and review are recorded ↗Founded and supported by Resilio.
Revision history
- · v0.2
Added the distinction between contemporary homeostasis and allostasis, with a contrasting conceptual analysis.