What good are glucocorticoids if some of their actions occur long after your typical dawn-on-the-savanna stressor is over with? Some glucocorticoid actions do help mediate the stress-response. Others help mediate the recovery from the stress-response. As will be described in chapter 8, this probably has important implications for a number of autoimmune diseases. And some glucocorticoid actions prepare you for the next stressor. As will be discussed in chapter 13, this is critical for understanding the ease with which anticipatory psychological states can trigger glucocorticoid secretion.
