Home▸Medical Technology & Imaging Physics▸The HPA Axis: The Body's Stress Response Feedback Loop

🧠 The HPA Axis: The Body's Stress Response Feedback Loop

Explore the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the three-gland hormonal cascade that governs the body's stress response, its timing, negative feedback control, and daily rhythm.

Medical Technology & Imaging Physics3DModerate60 FPS

This simulator demonstrates the three-step CRH-ACTH-cortisol cascade, the roughly 15 to 30 minute delay before cortisol peaks after a stressor, the negative feedback loop that shuts the axis down, and how chronic stress flattens the normal diurnal cortisol rhythm.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Trigger an acute stressor to watch CRH, ACTH, and cortisol rise in sequence over time, then toggle chronic stress mode to see how the daily cortisol rhythm and feedback response change.

💡 Did You Know?

Did you know that the cortisol awakening response can raise cortisol levels by 50 percent or more within the first hour after waking, entirely independent of any external stressor?

⚙ Under the hood

Explore the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the three-gland hormonal cascade that governs the body's stress response, its timing, negative feedback control, and daily rhythm.

hpa axiscortisolstress responseendocrine systemneurosciencehormonesphysiologyburnout

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install