Stress
Effects of chronic stress
Due to the way we live today, we expose ourselves to stresses that are more complex than the simple survival needs we originally had. Our body has self-regulating mechanisms. Stress affects our nervous system to the extent that we often live our entire life in a state of active alert. This keeps us in our sympathetic nervous system, shutting out the parasympathetic or unconscious nervous system which then has a tough time doing its job of breathing and digesting food. This also creates all sorts of unnatural conditions where germs can thrive.
The body doesn’t distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When you’re stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, traffic, or finances, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be “on” most of the time. This also involves your nervous system. The more your body’s stress system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off
Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress can be debilitating and disrupts nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, weight gain or loss, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression. It is possible to treat the body with the respect it deserves, healing only by supporting the systems and organs rather than, as a primary approach, chemically wiping out a whole mass of bacteria both good and bad. Germs need very specific conditions to survive and when these specific conditions alter then the germs die. Instead of using broad-spectrum anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral drugs to wipe out the germ and cause immense damage to the liver and body as a whole, another noninvasive approach is to change those conditions. This can work as the body was designed to heal itself. Hippocrates is famous for his quote “Do no harm”. If the temperature, pH balance or light conditions are correct the germ cannot survive. Pasteur found different conditions suited different germs, and therefore very specific treatment is required to change the environment to one that is not conducive to anything but a good health. This is very far from the approach we take today.
Part of the body’s mechanism to survive is shown through the process of cellular functioning in the two basic areas of growth and protection. There are two basic areas of protection. The first deals with external threats. In response to stress, the hypothalamus and the pituitary secrete hormones that cause the adrenals to turn on the secretion of the “fight or flight” hormones. These hormones release into the blood vessels of the digestive tract, forcing the blood to nourish the tissues of the arms and legs that enable us to get out of harm’s way. This blood that was previously involved in the growth response that occurs in the digestive track responding to the foods you consumed to nourish, is no longer available for that purpose. The organs stop doing their life-sustaining work of digestion, absorption, excretion and other functions that provide for the growth of the cells and contribute to the body’s energy reserves. This also interferes with our ability to think clearly as the brain is also impacted from all vital resources going to fight or flight. This feature is meant to happen in short spurts and only on occasion.
The body’s second protection system is the immune system. It can also consume much of the body’s energy supply. An example is how weak you can get when fighting a flu, cold or infection. When we are responding to external stress, as previously mentioned, the adrenals repress the action of the immune system.
If you were eating very healthy or not, a body that functions frequently if not constantly in this stressed state would not experience a healthy digestive process and would not be strengthening immune function. You would be wide open and susceptible to many ailments and disease.
How is your DNA involved in all of this? If there does exist a genetic predisposition in the family history towards a certain illness, it is at a time as this the body would produce an environment that could allow this gene to express itself or “turn on”. In an optimal environment those genes will not turn on. It takes a weakened or debilitated environment to allow that to happen. Stress, which includes malnutrition and does not allow the immune system to work properly, will aid in turning on those genes. Environmental factors will trump genetic factors every time! Chronic stress is debilitating!
I received my training as a Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's cutting-edge Health Coach Training Program.
During my training, I studied over 100 dietary theories, practical lifestyle management techniques, and innovative coaching methods with some of the world’s top health and wellness experts. My teachers included Dr. Andrew Weil, Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine; Dr. Deepak Chopra, leader in the field of mind-body medicine; Dr. David Katz, Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center; Dr. Walter Willett, Chair of Nutrition at Harvard University; Geneen Roth, bestselling author and expert on emotional eating; and many other leading researchers and nutrition authorities.
My education has equipped me with extensive knowledge in holistic nutrition, health coaching, and preventive health. Drawing on these skills and my knowledge of different dietary theories, I work with clients to help them make lifestyle changes that produce real and lasting results.