Stress, The Silent Killer of Mankind

Stress that deadly killer. How do you talk about stress when it is so prevalent in our society and is responsible for so many biochemical reactions within the human body causing us all kinds of different sicknesses and diseases.

According to Wikipedia the term Stress refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism, human or animal, to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats whether actual or imagined.

Eating a good diet is known to aid the brain in delivering good energy from micro nutrients and enzymes in food to withstand the ravages of stress. If you have a poor diet and do not eat properly then your body lacks the nutrition necessary to maintain healthy cell membranes due to a lack of enzymes, anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients that are necessary for your body to function or operate at an acceptable level let alone a healthy one. Your goal should always be to have your body operating at optimum efficiency which all starts with a proper diet.

Did you know that many people can be predisposed to medical problems later in life  due to being born with a low cortisol count. Cortisol is a stress hormone within the human body. According to new clinical studies done on a daily basis most mother’s that gave birth with a lot of stress at birth, maybe due to low income, no place to live, or arguments with their spouse, then their children were born with a low cortisol count. This low cortisol count is one reason to cause many problems later on in life. So if you are a mother giving birth do everything in your power not to be too stressed at childbirth. I know this sounds like an impossibility but listening to soothing music, prayer and meditation, viewing old photo albums and reading a favorite book are just a few suggestions.

Cortisol’s primary function is to increase and store blood sugar in the liver as glycogen, aid in fat storage, protein breakdown and carbohydrate metabolism. Yes Cortisol is responsible for all of that. Furthermore cortisol counteracts insulin so that the proper secretion that is necessary to maintain a healthy body is derived so that an imbalance does not occur leading to hyperglycemia. It is a well known medical fact also that cortisol increases the amount of glycogen in the liver.

By not keeping our stress levels in check we encounter numerous problems with our adrenal glands. These glands secrete 32 hormones that are interconnected with practically all body functions such as the immune system, your metabolic rate increasing or decreasing, maintaining healthy cell membranes or allowing your body to process the intake of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. That is how important it is to keep your stress level low and not succumb to many different sicknesses and diseases that derive their birth into the human body. Stress does not affect only the human mind like many people think. Stress affects the mind and body simultaneously and instantaneously.

As a person ages hormonal deficiencies and abnormalities become the norm leading to many of our health problems due to the wear and tear on our bodies from the pollutants we’ve been subjected to  and instilled into our bodies not to mention the poor diets we eat daily that we truly believe to be healthy when in actuality they are lacking in a multitude of ways. For example a diet that is lacking in micro-nutrients and enzymes makes it extremely hard to maintain healthy cell membranes, a good absorption rate of anti-oxidants, good anti-inflammatory nutrients, a strong metabolism and most importantly a healthy immune system which is needed to fight off sickness and disease.

There is one more thing I forgot to mention. Stress also molds our taste buds making us crave certain foods that can take us down if eaten in large quantities. In a sense our taste preferences change because now our bodies crave more sugar, so what do we do? We start to eat more comfort foods like ice cream which is my favorite, chocolate bars, candy, doughnuts, muffins and pastries and the list goes on and on. The problem is the more sugar we eat, the more stress we put on our adrenal glands, resulting in a lack of energy so we eat more and more sugar to try and get more energy and the vicious cycle of weight gain begins. Now we have a problem with weight loss all because of stress.

So what is the answer to stress reduction? Well eating properly is only one avenue but another is start doing the activities  you enjoy more often. When you are doing things that you enjoy then your body automatically secretes dopamine that stress reducing hormone that has to do with the feel good part of the brain located in the cerebral frontal cortex of the brain. Start walking more, jogging if that is your thing or how about reading, with me it’s writing ( it totally relaxes me ) playing my guitar is another favorite of mine or another instrument like the piano, cello, flute, trumpet, saxophone, violin or whatever else is your thing, just start doing it more often.

I have to end with one of my favorite stress reducers for me is prayer and meditation. I was driving home from my friends cottage the other day listening to the John Tesh radio program and I heard something very interesting. Often new health tid bits are mentioned which I  put into the archives of this old well used and under used brain of mine when I heard a formidable foe to combat stress. John mentioned how there have actually been studies done on older people that go to church and sing in a choir that their hormone levels as well as other chemical levels were actually much better than those that don’t go to church  or love to sing to the Creator of the Universe. Wow that is huge if you know what I mean.  You mean that I may actually have been created to have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe, that when it is all well it is all well with in my body, mind and soul too. Just Food for Thought.