by: Mike Lovell, N.C.
In most people’s mind, stress equates to worry, a perceived weakness in character associated with emotional breakdowns and mental collapses. While worry can be a stressor, it is far from being the only cause of stress. Let’s face it, life is stress, and as in life there is good and bad, so we find the same with stress. Yes, there is good stress such as exercise which keeps the bones and muscles strong, and mental challenges that keep the mind sharp. These are often overlooked when considering how stress affects our body, soul and spirit.
Stress occurs when your body encounters a perceived threat to the system. This can be caused through internal or external sources. For example, a large burly man carrying a knife and walking toward you will trigger your hypothalamus to set off the alarm system in your body. This system is a series of nerve impulses and hormone signals telling your adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol hormones into the blood supply. This is called the fight-or-flight reaction. Stress is just a response to what the body perceives as a threat. These threats are called stressors and they can be external conditions such as cold or heat, or internal conditions like worry, fear, anxieties or toxic metals.
Dr. Hans Selye, MD., who proposed the stress theory of disease in his book entitled, “Stress Without Distress”, presents three stages of stress that will be referred to here with discussions of their effects on the body. They are:
- Alarm Stage of Stress
- Resistant Stage of Stress
- Exhaustion Stage of Stress
The alarm stage of stress is also referred to as the fight-flight reaction. The fight-or-flight response is intimately associated with an acute disease stage. As a result of the body’s attempt to contain the stressor, acute symptoms such as pain, inflammation and fever commonly result. Thyroid and adrenal hormone levels increase to above normal values causing:
- Higher energy levels
- Elevated blood pressure
- Rapid heart rates
- High blood sugar
- Profuse sweating
This is all part of the fight-or-flight syndrome. If the stressor is overcome, the alarm ceases and the body returns to its resting state.
The resistant stage of stress occurs when the initial alarm stage cannot overcome the stressor. High circulating levels of cortisol begin to produce pronounced effects on the circulatory, digestive, immune, and other systems of the body. As the body continues in this condition we start to see things such as shock, ulcers and lowered resistance to infection. It is here, when we start to see the decline in the body’s main sex hormone, GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone).
If the resistant stage of stress is not up to the task of overcoming the stressor, the body will eventually decline into a state of exhaustion. In this stage, we see a continuing loss of essential nutrients which result in the further impairment of adrenal and thyroid activity. This is where a majority of adults suffer chronic diseases.
Due to the continual activation of the stress-response system, the body has been subjected to a long-term exposure of cortisol and other stress hormones, which disrupt many of the body’s processes. This can result in a multitude of health problems, such as:
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Constipation
- Allergies
- Fatigue
- Hypoglycemia
- Anxieties
- Depression
- Sleep problems
- Digestive problems
- Headaches
- Weight gain
- Memory and concentration impairment
As you can see there are enough stressors to deal with on a daily basis, causing all kinds of havoc in the body. Worry and fear shouldn’t be included for the Christian. One of the best ways a Christian can avoid the worry and fear that leads to stress is found in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Mike Lovell
Hormone and Nutritional Solutions, LLC
Ofc: 225-928-1791
http://hormonenutritionsolutions.net/