The human function curve - a paradigm for our times.

Abstract

Persistent overloading causes fatigue followed by exhaustion and then ill-health resulting from homeostasis violation and reduced resistance. A breakdown is inevitable if the struggle continues. This course can be illustrated by a shaped performance-arousal curve. The paradigm clarifies the effects of psychosocial handicaps (low curves), of training (high curves), of arousal reduction (= relaxation), and of arousal rising from normal to destructive levels. The paradigm accommodates catastrophe theory and provides an unambiguous basis for screening and intervention in hypertension and coronary heart disease where there is a self-defeating struggle to close the ever widening gap between the actual performance capability and the intended.