Hormesis and resilience (the ability to adapt and recover) are important concepts in health science, particularly in promoting health span and longevity. The two concepts are closely connected, with one representing a “process” and the other an “outcome”.
What is Hormesis?
Hormesis is a phenomenon in which the body or its cells are exposed to an appropriate level of mild or beneficial stress, triggering positive responses involving repair, protection and adaptation. As a result, the body becomes more robust and better able to cope with stress than before.
Put simply, hormesis suggests that an appropriate level of challenge can stimulate the body to become stronger and more adaptable.
Examples of Hormesis include:
- Exercise: The body experiences stress from physical exertion, followed by repair and adaptation that can make the muscles and other physiological systems stronger.
- Intermittent fasting: This represents an energy challenge that can stimulate cellular adaptive mechanisms.
- Appropriate exposure to heat or cold: For example, sauna use or cold exposure for suitable periods.
- Breathing exercises and meditation: These can help train the body’s responses and ability to adapt to stress.
- Quality sleep: Sleep is an important period during which the body repairs and restores itself.
These processes are associated with activation of the body’s protective and repair systems, such as:
- Improving mitochondrial efficiency and adaptability
- Enhancing the body’s endogenous antioxidant defence systems
- Stimulating the removal and recycling of damaged or ageing cellular components through autophagy
- Helping regulate and reduce chronic inflammation
The key principle of hormesis is “the right amount”. The stress must be within a level that the body can cope with and adapt to. If the stress is excessive or prolonged, it may cause harm rather than provide benefits.
What is Resilience?
Resilience is the ability of the body and mind to adapt, remain flexible, recover and return to a state of balance after experiencing stress, challenges, crises or other changes.
Resilience can be considered at both physiological and psychological levels. Examples include:
- Recovering well after exercise
- Being able to cope effectively with stress
- The immune system responding appropriately and returning to balance
- Sleeping well and recovering effectively
- Maintaining metabolic balance when faced with changes
- Psychological resilience: the ability to cope with problems, disappointment or obstacles and continue moving forward with strength
Therefore, resilience does not mean “never experiencing stress”. Rather, it refers to how effectively we can adapt, recover and return to balance after experiencing stress.
How Are Hormesis and Resilience Related?
The relationship between these two concepts can be explained quite simply:
- Hormesis can be thought of as the “training”.
- Resilience is the strength and recovery capacity developed through that training.
When the body is regularly exposed to an appropriate level of stress or challenge, its various systems learn to adapt, repair themselves and increase their capacity to cope with stress. As a result, resilience can improve at the level of cells, organs, physiological systems and the mind.
In other words, Hormesis is one mechanism or tool that can help develop Resilience.
Using exercise as an analogy:
- Hormesis is training with an appropriate level of intensity.
- Resilience is the increased strength, endurance and ability to recover that result from the training.
The relationship can therefore be summarised as:
Hormetic Stress (hormesis) → Adaptation → Recovery → Greater Resilience
Or:
Appropriate Stress → Adaptation → Recovery → Improved Ability to Cope and Recover
Summary
- Hormesis is an appropriate stimulus or challenge that encourages the body to repair and adapt.
- ▪️ Resilience is the developed ability to adapt and recover, enabling the body and mind to cope more effectively with stress and return to balance.
Hormesis and resilience are therefore closely interconnected concepts and are important to the promotion of health span and longevity. The goal is not simply to live longer, but to maintain a body and mind that are strong, adaptable and capable of recovering effectively, while preserving a good quality of life throughout the lifespan.
- Hormesis is the process of training the body to face an appropriate level of challenge.
- Resilience is the strength and recovery capacity that develops as a result of that adaptation.
References
- Calabrese, E. J., Dhawan, G., Kapoor, R., Iavicoli, I., & Calabrese, V. (2015). What is hormesis and its relevance to healthy aging and longevity? Biogerontology, 16(6), 693–707.
- Calabrese, E. J., & Mattson, M. P. (2017). How does hormesis impact biology, toxicology, and medicine? Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, 3, Article 13.
- Calabrese, E. J. (2018). Hormesis: Path and progression to significance. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(10).
- Calabrese, E. J. (2021). Hormesis mediates acquired resilience: Using plant-derived chemicals to enhance health. Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, 12, 355–381.
- Calabrese, E. J., et al. (2023). Hormesis defines the limits of lifespan. Ageing
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- Merry, T. L., & Ristow, M. (2016). Mitohormesis in exercise training. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 98, 123–130.
- Musci, R. V., Hamilton, K. L., & Linden, M. A. (2019). Exercise-induced mitohormesis for the maintenance of skeletal muscle and healthspan extension. Sports, 7(7), Article 170.
- Ristow, M., & Zarse, K. (2010). How increased oxidative stress promotes longevity and metabolic health: The concept of mitochondrial hormesis (mitohormesis). Experimental Gerontology, 45(6), 410–418.
