Stress

Stress is such an important variable when it comes to someone's overall health and wellness, it could be the catalyst to someone reaching their goals and finally being alive again, or it could be the push over the edge of sickness. First of all we need to define what stress is. Stress as defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as “How the brain and body respond to any demand.” These demands can be good or bad for the body depending on how effectively managed they are, and can be broken down into two main categories, and they are internal and external stress.

Internal stress is any demand that happens within the body, an example of internal stress is disease or a hormonal imbalance. Some subcategories of internal stress are chemical, mental, and thermal stress. There are good and bad amounts of stress for all of these, some examples of good stress being balanced hormones setting goals, and being able to maintain body temperature . Bad amounts of stress include synthetic drugs and pesticides throwing hormones out of balance, negative self talk, and too hot/cold. Making sure we are balancing our internal stress can insure that we are creating an environment for growth instead of destruction. The effects of too much mental stress was illustrated perfectly in the study Mental Fatigue Impairs Physical Performance In Humans where it was stated that “Individual time to exhaustion was shorter in the mental fatigue condition in 13 of 16 subjects.”

External stress is any demand placed on your physical body. The subcategories of external stress are physical, electromagnetic, and nutritional stress. If we are too stressed externally it can cause injury, fatigue, and a decrease in performance. This can also cause hormonal imbalances that can cause issues later down the line. Some good forms of external stress are beneficial exercise, sunlight, and eating organic food. This will ensure that you maintain muscle, keep your metabolism up and allow you to get all the nutrients your body needs. The Mayo Clinic stated that some symptoms to show if you’re too stressed are anxiety, sadness, fatigue, restlessness, anger, etc..

If we think of our bodies' stress capacity as a bucket being filled with water, as we add stress throughout the day that bucket continues to fill. Good and Bad stress all get thrown into one bucket, and if there is too much stress, the bucket will overflow. When the bucket overflows consistently is when chronic diseases or unrelated disorders show themselves. This is due to the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). In a healthy environment in the ANS there will be a balance of sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) nervous systems. When the ANS has an unhealthy amount of stress, There will be an unbalanced ratio of SNS to PNS activation. The SNS will take over and be the primary driver, which adds too much cortisol to the body. Cortisol, being very catabolic will start to cause that fatigue and breakdown in the body that will cause the disease in the body.

Now that we know the different types of stress and how they can be good or bad to the body, here are the steps you need to manage it! The first thing you need to do is to identify what's causing you the most stress in your lifestyle. Once we have the primary stressor identified, we can start to mitigate the bad stress that has accumulated in the body. This could be as simple as going to bed earlier, or as complex as reversing the effects of adrenal fatigue depending on the plan we create. Making sure we are getting regular movement and nutrition that is right for our bodies, and that we are growing mentally is the glue that holds this whole process together. Consulting and working with a Holistic Health Practitioner is a great way to figure out your stressors as well as create a tailored plan to guide you back into health and help you feel alive again!

New Heights Wellness Center

7049 Taylorsville Road Suite A,

Huber Heights, OH 45424

937-233-1755

other sources:

CHEK Institute

Mind Pump EP 1402

Mind Pump EP 1394